Thin Supermodels Face British Backlash

A British Cabinet minister called Saturday for London Fashion Week to follow its Madrid counterpart and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.

"I applaud the decision taken by Madrid to ban super-thin models, and urge the organizers of London Fashion Week to do the same," said Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.

Fashion Week organizers rejected the call — but said they were canceling the event's opening photo call to avoid giving the issue more publicity.

Last week Madrid's Fashion Week, the Pasarela Cibeles, announced it was banning models with a Body Mass Index, or height to weight ratio, below 18.

Organizers said they wanted models to project "an image of beauty and health" during next week's show.

The World Health Organization considers people with a BMI below 18.5 underweight. To achieve a BMI of 18, a 5-foot-9 model would have to weigh 125 pounds. The average runway model at that height is 115 pounds.

"The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin is damaging to young girls' self image and to their health," Jowell said in a statement.

"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 British Fashion Council, which runs Fashion Week, said in a statement that it "does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show."

"The BFC has canceled the photo call on Sunday because it is unwilling to add any more impetus to the publicity surrounding this complicated issue," it added,

London Fashion Week opens Monday and runs through Friday.

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[hermit22]

Natural "beanpoles", didn't I read somewhere, are only about 1%or 2% of the population or something. The problem comes when other people are trying to be something they are not.

[Miriam321]

Anorexia and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and 1 million men (primarily teens and young adults) in reported cases in the U.S. and can be fatal.

Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature fatality rate of any mental illness.

The average age of sufferers is dropping rapidly (as young as elementary school), with peak onset among girls ages 11-13.

It's estimated that another 25 million people suffer from binge eating disorder.

One in ten cases of anorexia nervosa leads to death from starvation, cardiac arrest, kidney failure, other medical complications, or suicide.

Without treatment, up to twenty percent (20%) of people with serious eating disorders die.