U.K. fashion: Skinny-model ban not desirable…
January 30th, 2007
Organizers of London Fashion Week said Thursday they would not ban ultra-thin models from the catwalk, but stressed they had asked designers to use only “healthy” people in their shows.
The British Fashion Council said barring stick-thin models – as fashion weeks in Madrid and Milan have done – “is neither desirable nor enforceable.”
The council, a consortium of major fashion retailers and publishers that oversees London’s twice-yearly fashion weeks, said it recognized its responsibility to help promote a healthy body image.
“We have asked designers, model agencies and image makers to respect this responsibility and to use only healthy models for their collections. Additionally, we recommend that only models aged 16 or over are used,” the council said in a statement.
“We believe that regulation is neither desirable nor enforceable. What will make a difference is the commitment of the fashion industry to change attitudes through behavior and education.” The council said it was setting up a task force to create new guidelines for the fashion industry.
The debate over waif-like models has intensified in the past year as many models and celebrities appear increasingly thin.
In September, Madrid’s Fashion Week, the Pasarela Cibeles, announced it was banning models with a Body Mass Index, or height-to-weight ratio, below 18. A 5-foot-9 model weighing 125 pounds would have a BMI of 18. Milan’s fashion week also tightened its restrictions on underweight models.
The issue was back in the headlines in November, when 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died of causes linked to the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.
A British Cabinet minister who previously called for ultra-thin models to be banned backed the fashion council’s call for self-regulation.
“I urge strongly the designers taking part to support this,” said Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.
“Too many teenage girls try to starve themselves into unhealthy thinness, at great risk to their health,” she said. “The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitudes of young women and their feelings about themselves. Teenage girls aspire to look like their role models. If their role models are healthy, it will help inspire girls to be the same.”
Designers including Betty Jackson, Nicole Farhi and Julien Macdonald are due to showcase their autumn/winter collections at London Fashion Week beginning Feb. 12.
5 Comments Add your own
1. Alessandra | February 16th, 2007 at 3:57 am
There is so much in the news lately about underweight models etc. Sadly a girl died, who happened to be a model, but this does not mean all models have eating dissorders. I work with models all day , every day, from around the world. My own daughter is a model, so am very wary of everything about the industry. But I must say, I very rarely meet a model with an eating disorder. Most are just healthy teenagers, who go dancing at night, walk for miles every day from casting to castings and eat like a horse! Most are thin, because they are young and still able to eat a pizza and not gain a pound, like a lot of us at 18 years old. Most are just geneticaly thin and have the annoying ability to eat huge amounts and not gain weight.
Most would love people to stop asking them, if they eat! These kids are out in the world early, making a living, that is not easy. There not at home bludging off family or governments, so lets give them a break and show them some respect.
2. Tessa | February 16th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Some may be naturally thin, but most of them look underweight, and that’s the point: they don’t look pretty, whether they’re healthy or not. A BMI of 18 is a good rule, which means models are still allowed to be slim, but are protected from having to starve themselves.
Self-regulation doesn’t work in this case; rules are needed. If the fashion world knew what was healthy, their ‘ideal’ of beauty wouldn’t have escalated like it has.
3. Tessa | February 19th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
And this girl wasn’t anorexic and happened to be(come) a model - she became anorexic because she was a model and the fashion world demanded rediculous, unhealthy things from her. Let’s show some respect indeed, but by accepting a healthy weight as beautiful.
4. JayT | February 21st, 2007 at 7:53 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 30th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
OMG. Alessandra, you must be high. Models are “eating like horses” and stuffing their faces while maintaining a 5′11″ and 100 figure? What are you smoking? Just because you’re 18 doesn’t mean that you have the metabolism of a bird. I’d like to meet a model that doesn’t have an eating disorder.
At 14, I have to STARVE to maintain 110 at 5′9″. I’m taking 900 calories a day. I most certainly was not stuffing my face with pizza and eating like a horse. I wish. More like stuffing my face with diet pills.
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