Following Madrid's decision to get super skinny models off its ramps, London Fashion Week organizers have come under attack for allowing the so-called 'size zero' models to sashay down the catwalk.
UK's Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, invoking Madrid's reputed fashion event Pasarela Cibeles example, urged the British Fashion Council (BFC) to stop models from misleading young girls that being several pounds underweight was fashionable and sexy. “The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin is damaging to young girls' self image and to their health. Young girls aspire to look like the catwalk models - when those models are unhealthily underweight it pressurizes girls to starve themselves to look the same. The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves. I applaud the decision taken by Madrid to ban super-thin models, and urge the organizers of London Fashion Week to do the same,” she said in a statement.
However, the call did not find favor with the BFC, which cancelled its photo shoot but only to prevent the issue from snowballing into a controversy. “The BFC has cancelled the photo call on Sunday because it is unwilling to add any more impetus to the publicity surrounding this complicated issue,” the organizing body said in a statement but added, “The BFC does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show.”
The controversy began when the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers decided to ban models with a body mass index (BMI) of lower than 18, the lower limit recommended by the United Nations for a healthy weight. Many models, including supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, have BMIs that are below 18, making them underweight, a trend that is considered normal in the fashion industry. However, teenaged girls, especially those who religiously follow fashion trends, are susceptible to unhealthy eating habits to achieve bodies like the models. Many develop anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.
Madrid's move is likely to affect other upcoming fashion events as well. New York, Milan and Paris fashion weeks usually follow the London one. In fact, Milan's mayor Letizia Moratti has been quoted as saying that she might also follow Madrid's example, with Edinburgh Fashion Festival creative director Colin McDowell being another known name to voice similar opinions. “When I go to a fashion show I see the most incredible bodies because the purpose of them is the idealization of the clothes. Using people off the street to model clothes is not the answer, but there is a balance to be struck,” McDowell said. Madrid's move seems appropriate at a time when a 22-year-old South American model Luisel Ramos died due to heart failure after three months of severe dieting to 'make it big' in the modeling world.
Not everyone, however, was in favor of banning size zero models from a stint on the ramp. London modeling agency Storm owner Sarah Doukas felt that BMI was not a correct measure of a model's health. “It is useless to talk about body mass indices. Who knows what that means apart from your doctor? It depends on different body types. Some people have different muscle density. I believe that girls should just eat healthily, exercise and just be normal. We just wouldn't use someone who was really underweight or too thin,” she said. But Council of Fashion Designers of America president Stan Herman drew attention to a different perspective. “It would be the same as banning somebody who's too fat. Those people (models) could sue; in America they could sue everywhere for prejudice or discrimination,” he said.
