Versace & Prada join fight against size-0 models! Gisele Bundchen risks…
December 10th, 2006
… to get banned! As another model dies, the worldwide campaign against ‘unhealthy waifs’ grows. One of the world’s premier fashion centres is to take the lead in driving size-zero off the catwalk. The Italian government and leading couture houses have joined forces in a move that will ban dangerously thin models from Milan’s fashion week.
Milan stands alongside Paris and New York as one of the world’s most important fashion events. Like the other two, it has, until now, resisted demands to stamp out the waif look. The minister and the industry announced that by January they intend to produce a “common plan of action” to induce all players in the fashion business to sign up to a self-regulating programme that will force unhealthily thin models to plump up or get out. And for the first time the industry in Italy is talking about body mass index (BMI), the recognised measure of healthy weight.
The change is part of a growing movement around the world to deal with ultra-thin models and the influence they have on girls and young women. Madrid’s fashion week has already banned models with a BMI below 18, following the death of the Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos, and Brazil and Argentina have joined the campaign. Italy initially refused to take action. Mario Boselli, the head of Italy’s Camera Nazionale della Moda, which represents houses such as Prada, Versace, and Armani, said: “Our models have no need of regulation.” But following the death of a second model, the Brazilian Ana Carolina Reston, in November, the chamber has had second thoughts. The 21-year-old, who was 5′8″ tall, weighed just over six stone at her death.
Until now, the fashion shows of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and other Italian designers have been dominated by cadaverous waif models. So it was a momentous event when Italy’s minister for youth, Giovanna Melandri finally persuaded Mr Boselli and his colleagues that Italy’s models do need rules.
The January deadline has been imposed with the aim of getting new rules agreed in time for Milan’s fashion week in February. The two sides hope that “the greatest number possible of those in the fashion industry will sign up”. “The Camera della Moda will take action against designers who do not respect the manifesto,” he said. “They could be removed from the fashion calendar, or in the most serious cases, banned from the fashion week altogether.”
As Flaminia Spadone, an aide to the youth minister, said: “In the Third World, if someone has an index of less than 18.5, they send in humanitarian aid.”
At risk models with a BMI of less than 18
Claudia Schiffer
Age: 36
Model for: Chanel, Guess
BMI: 17.7
Kate Moss
Age: 32
Model for: Gucci, Burberry, Topshop, Dior
BMI: 16.1
Erin O’Connor
Age: 28
Model for: Dior, Versace
BMI: 16.5
Gisele Bundchen
Age: 26
Model for: Louis Vuitton
BMI: 16
Naomi Campbell
Age: 36
Model for: Lauren
BMI: 16.5
8 Comments Add your own
1. yvonne | December 19th, 2006 at 10:53 am
what i don’t understand is why everyone gives people like nicole richie hell for having the exact same BMI as models who constantly get praised for their bodies.
2. Sz | December 20th, 2006 at 4:14 am
models are born, not made… get that through your head.
A natural and healthy 5′10 woman with a BMI of 16 is a rare and SPECIAL case where God decides to put a MODEL onto this Earth.
The real blame is not on those who like to hire skinny girls for their shows… but those who hire SICK looking skinny girls. Luisel Ramos had under eye circles sooo dark that it could still be seen under all the make-up she had on for the runway.
A model with a BMI of 18+…? That is just another tall girl.
3. Tessa | February 16th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Yes, but it’s much better if a model is just another tall girl than if she’s just another bag of bones! Those really don’t make clothes look good. A BMI of 16 is just too thin, whether you’re healthy or not, and unfortunately for naturally skinny girls, there should be rules to protect all those people who pretend to be healthy but aren’t - the majority of models.
4. JayT | February 21st, 2007 at 7:38 am
WRONG PEOPLE!!!!
Thin gals and women are beautiful! Any girl with BMI over 19 does not look good. period.
The best bodies are between 16 and 18.
5. jenni | April 27th, 2007 at 2:45 am
A true model is not just another tall girl. She is an exotically beautiful freak of nature. Her facial features must be unique to set her apart from other, not her body. Any tall girl can get skinny, but she can’t try to be exotically beautiful. That is what makes models rare. And the comment: A natural and healthy 5′10 woman with a BMI of 16 is a rare and SPECIAL: I may be a little judgemental bu I don’t think that exists. A 5′10″ woman with a BMI of 16 can’t eat more than 800 calories a day to stay that way. At 5′9″ and 110 I stopped having my period and grew downy hair on my body. I was surviving on 800 calories and day and still had a BMI of 16 or 17.
6. kristine | December 1st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I’m 5′10, 115 lbs (sometimes less) and perfectly healthy. I think the BMI has to take into account people’s natural bone structure. I have some of the finest bones you will ever see, as do my three sons. That ‘big boned’ thing isn’t a myth. Lay off the skinny folk, some of us can’t help it!
7. kala | February 27th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
your mum
8. mary hinge | February 27th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i like skinny girls!
they are hot peices of meat
init blood
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