Second City Style has covered this issue before. Now that models are dropping like flies. It’s still obviously a big issue. In fact, WWD did a major story on it today. Read below.
In the fashion world, thin will always be in — just not too thin. What
qualifies as too thin is a debate raging from New York to Milan, and no
matter where one stands, there is one thing almost everyone agrees on:
enforcing any kind of body-type rule for models is nearly impossible.
Following
the much-ridiculed move last fall by officials in Madrid to ban what
they considered too-thin models and the death last month from anorexia
of 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, the issue is
forefront once again because Italy’s Camera Della Moda plans to promote
a nationwide campaign against anorexia, recruiting the fashion industry
as a key ally. The Council of Fashion Designers of America also said it
is considering drawing up guidelines for American designers, editors
and stylists.
At a time when size zero is becoming increasingly
common, many in the industry said that the plans to regulate model size
are a noble effort but are impractical. They point out that every body
type is different and that in many cases, models are thin either
because they are young and not physically mature or it is in their
genes and not necessarily indicative of an eating disorder.
Didier
Grumbach, the president of France’s Chambre Syndicale, believes that
though anorexia is a "serious public health problem," it won’t be
solved by regulating the size of girls allowed to walk in shows.
"The
best way to solve the problem is to talk and write about it," said
Grumbach, adding that imposing rules on the size of girls would become
"too subjective" and tricky to manage. "It’s a false remedy to think
that by slapping down a bunch of rules that you’re going to solve a
serious problem. Paris isn’t interested in creating those type of
rules."
Even the man who is stimulating the latest debate — Mario Boselli,
president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana — admits the
difficulties. "The idea is that a doctor certifies a model’s health
based on different parameters even if they’re skinny, because skinny
doesn’t mean anorexic," he said Wednesday. "Take Gisele [Bündchen]:
She’s thin but in great shape and healthy. It’s like the doctor’s
certificate that you need to get your driver’s license. We want to push
a healthier and sunnier woman."
