Skinny Models Banning Controversy Shocks Fashion World

The organisers of Madrid Fashion Week have announced they are banning skinny thin models women in order to develop a more healthy image for the event this month, an unprecedented swipe at body images blamed for encouraging eating disorders among young people. This fashion banning has caused outrage among modeling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other catwalk pageants. If any very thin models do turn up, they will be classed as unhealthy and in need of medical help.
The association said Friday it wanted models at the show running from Sept. 18-22 to project “an image of beauty and health” and shun a gaunt, emaciated look. Madrid’s fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that young girls and women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.

Last year???s show, also called Madrid Fashion Week, drew protests from medical associations and women???s advocacy groups because some of the models were positively bone-thin. Fashion shows, Guerra said, “are mirrors for many young women.” The image of emaciated women posing in the latest Christian Dior or Versace ads wrongly perpetuates that dangerously thin is in. The obsessive focus on weight control can lead to anorexia, bulimia and the danger of spreading bad subliminal messages to adolescents and teenagers.
Spain’s top fashion show is rejecting almost a third of its models because they are too skinny, based on a body mass index that measures weight in relation to height. A woman who is 5 feet, 7 inches, for instance, is considered unhealthy if she weighs less than 118 pounds. And many of these models clearly weigh far less than that. The decision was made as part of a voluntary agreement with the Madrid government, said Jesus del Pozo, a designer who is part of the association, said Thursday.

Ryan Brown, director of marketing and public relations in North America for the Elite modeling agency in New York City, agreed. “It is very unprecedented,” said Brown, who has nothing to do with the Spanish show. He welcomed the decision saying “I think it is great to promote health.”
Madrid’s show, which features mainly Spanish designers, is not as prestigious as catwalks in Paris or Milan but “It is not at the bottom of the pile,” he said. The impact of rejecting skinny women would have been greater at those other glitzier venues. Still, he said, “I am sure the industry is taking note.”
But Cathy Gould, of New York’s Elite modeling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia. “I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer,” said Gould, Elite’s North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally “gazelle-like” models.

The council promised that a nutritional expert would be on hand to check every model taking part in the shows, and that any woman found to have a BMI of less than 16 would receive medical treatment. The body mass index is a tool for doctors who study obesity. It is calculated by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared, and multiplying that total by 703.
The ban comes amid a row in Spain about the trend for extreme thinness on the catwalks and in shop windows. Esther Canadas, Spain’s best-known model, does not qualify under the new fashion models rules as she is said to have a BMI of only 14. Almost a third of the women lined up appear to have been barred.

According to the World Health Organisation, a woman is underweight if her BMI is less than 18.5, but Jesus del Pozo, vice-president of the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers, said that up to 40 per cent of the models who took part in last year’s event would have fallen foul of the new rules. Eating disorder activists said many Spanish model agencies and designers oppose the ban and they had doubts whether the new rules would be followed.
“If they don’t go along with it the next step is to seek legislation, just like with tobacco,” said Carmen Gonzalez of Spain’s Association in Defense of Attention for Anorexia and Bulimia, which has campaigned for restrictions since the 1990s.

The organisers of London Fashion Week, which begins next Monday, said they would not be introducing a similar restrictions rule on what type of models its designers use. U.S. fashion houses would be wise to follow Spain’s lead and give the boot to models who are so skinny they are unhealthy. Although US focus usually skews toward obesity when it comes to weight control, statistics indicate that Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa in the United States affect between 5 million and 16 million people.
Another meaningful strategy would be to encourage clothes designers to hire normal-size fashion models, a trend that would have a trickle-down effect beneficial to the nation’s younger consumers. Brown of the Elite agency said fashion shows reflect the tastes of clothing designers, who for now prefer the Kate Moss look as opposed to the curvier dimensions of models such as Cindy Crawford in years past. Assuming Kate Moss and the rest of the glamorous gang beefed up a bit, they also have a chance to become something really special: role models.

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Posted by woman on Sep 13 2006. Filed under Women Beauty, Women Fashion, Women Health, Women Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry