Sep 19, 2007

Very Thin Models Still Not Banned, Dr's note will do fine

It was about this time last year that the great model weight debate took it up a notch when Maddrid banned models from the runway whose BMI index was below 18. It is currently fashion week in London and already the weighty issue is popping up again.

-Outside a major venue for the models are being given a brown bag lunch, and you thought they just got free makeup and designer clothes. They contain a range of food including salads, fruit and flapjacks. All the food is labeled with detailed nutrition information. The lunches were designed by a group of dietitians in an effort to help designers tackle the culture of eating disorders by providing "good quality" food and nutritional advice for models backstage. [Daily Mail]

-A woman named Naomi Hooke has informed us that we should not be blaming the modeling industry for pressure to be thing but men and sex. "As London Fashion Week continues," she writes, "the controversy surrounding 'size zero' models is once again up for discussion." Hooke, who claims to have battled anorexia since age 11, says, "to believe that the fashion industry causes eating disorders is to completely misunderstand this most complex of illnesses."
Anorexia has often been perceived as a quest for model-like beauty, as a teenage fad or as a diet gone wrong. It has even been described as a lifestyle choice. Seldom is anorexia acknowledged as the life-threatening medical condition that it is... I, like many of the eating disorder patients I have met, never sought beauty; instead, I spent years trying to make myself look as ill as possible in order to avoid male attention.
Understanding Anorexia: A Thin Excuse

-London will not be banning models based on their BMI index this year, but want a note from their doctor saying they are in good health. Are these the same doctors prescribing celebrities ADHD medication and pain killers? I'm pretty sure they'll do anything to have a client who is remotely famous. The British Fashion Council recommended that models "should" provide a certificate that assures their health and that models under the age of 16 years old should be outlawed on the catwalk. This among 14 other reccomendations came at the conclusion that models are at a high risk for developing eating disorders. [No Thin Model Ban]

-Here is the article from almost a year ago when Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier made his own statement by putting a size 20 model on the runway.
-The New York City Fashion Week in February banned drinking and cigarettes behind stage. One model told a reporter the backstage smelled of vomit. Delicious. The only way from here is up for the model weight issue in my opinion.

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