London fashion week came and went butthe issue still remains. UK fashion bosses want to ban the obviouslyunderweight models and let our more "real" size women talk to the Catwalks.Where do we draw the line? The issue has been around for years and is alwayspresent in the media. Substantial changes have not come about. We hear ofdesigners who condemn the use of "size 0" models in their clothing lines butthis makes us to think "Is this just a marketing tool?" a way to get the moremass market on the companies side? The brand is, of course, going to look moreappealing if it appears to be ethically correct, standing on the moral highground.
The question is, why do we want tosee the end of "thin" models, do we really want to see a size 18 woman on the catwalk?I believe the fashion industry would loose its sparkle, the wow factor. We wantto see perfection, polished perfection- this does not necessarily meanunhealthily thin women (or even men for that matter) there is nothing wrongwith the curves, but let us not venture into "normal". Nobody likes normal.What makes "size 0" automatically unhealthy?
The hard truth of the industry isthat these models are, whether we agree with it or not, a vision of perfection,after all who would want to buy into a collection modelled by a size of theopposite end of the spectrum. The mistake we make is that every time we see askinny girl modelling the latest range we automatically assume she isdrastically unhealthy, when in fact our attention is taken away from the girlswho actually are in serious danger suffering from such conditions as anorexiain order to gain acceptance into the world of fashion. There is nothing wrongwith thin- anorexic yes.
Recently three models have beenbanned from a top fashion show in Madrid for being "too thin". The show inCibeles bans models with a Body Mass index of less than 18, suggesting anythingbelow this is an unhealthy vision to set upon young teenage girls. All themodels that were rejected had a BMI of less than 16. "Their health might befine but their appearance is extremely thin" said the shows organisers. Surelythis is discrimination? Research dictates that the typical model is of 5ft9inches and weighs around 12Ib- a BMI of 16. What should be banned are womenwho are quite obviously making themselves ill. Since when has dieting beenunhealthy? I thought starvation was.
Despite so called public opinioncondemning the use of "size 0" models, fashion gurus still give the girls thego ahead to walk at their shows. Guidelines set down last year advise theindustry to go against using mega-thin girls. However the fashion council donot ban models of a certain size or weight claiming this would bediscrimination, fashion designers would know not to use girls of an obviouslyunhealthy figure. Finally sense. You can not tell someone they are too thin towork just because of their measurements. Surely it is common knowledge whetheror not a girl is making her self throw-up.
Ruling out certain weightmeasurements would drive our superstars away from the industry, who wants that?Where would we be without Kate Moss?
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