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.

The Madrid decision was made as part of a voluntary agreement with the Madrid regional government, Jesus del Pozo, a designer who is part of the association, said Thursday. The show runs from Sept. 18-22.

The association said in a statement it wanted models to project "an image of beauty and health" and shun a gaunt, emaciated look.

Last year's edition of the show, also called Madrid Fashion Week, drew protests from medical associations and women's advocacy groups because some of the models were positively bone-thin.

This time the Madrid regional government decided to intervene and pressure organizers to hire fuller-figured women as role models for young girls obsessed with being thin and prone to starving themselves into sickness, said Concha Guerra, deputy finance minister of the regional administration.

Fashion shows, Guerra said, "are mirrors for many young women."

Del Pozo said this was the first time skinny models have been snubbed at a major international fashion show.

Ryan Brown, director of marketing and public relations in North America for the Elite modeling agency in New York City, agreed. "It is very unprecedented," said Brown, who has nothing to do with the Spanish show.

He welcomed the decision saying "I think it is great to promote health."

Madrid's show — which features mainly Spanish designers — is not as prestigious as catwalks in Paris or Milan but "it is not at the bottom of the pile," he said.

The impact of rejecting skinny women would have been greater at those other glitzier venues. Still, he said, "I am sure the industry is taking note."

The body mass index is a tool for doctors who study obesity. In metric it is obtained by dividing a person's weight in kilos by their height in meters squared. In the English system it is calculated by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared, and multiplying that total by 703.

If the resulting number is between 18.5 and 24.9, the person's weight is normal. Below 18.5 they are underweight. In the case of the Madrid show, organizers rejected women with indices under 18.

Brown of the Elite agency said fashion shows are basically slaves to clothing designers, who for now prefer the Kate Moss look as opposed to the curvier dimensions of models like Cindy Crawford a few years ago.

"They don't want voluptuous girls any more," he said. "It would be nice if fashion got back to that."