Yahoo Lifestyle France To Ban 'Skinny' Models
It seems France is finally taking note of the pressure on models to be "Paris thin" at fashion week, with a new law proposing that '"super skinny" girls be banned from the runway.
To get a job during Paris Fashion Week, models will have to maintain a Body Mass Index of at least 18, and a weight of about 54kg for a height of 5'7."
The law is up for legislation today, and stems partially from the 2007 death of French model Isabelle Caro, who died after a long bout with anorexia.
Currently, Israel, Spain and Italy are the only other countries to establish such guidelines - with harsh penalties in place for those who disobey the law (in France it will mean a fine of up to $80,000 and potentially six months in jail.)
The law has not yet hit Australia, which became abundantly clear during the 2014 season.
At the time, Jackie Frank, marie claire's editor/publisher, rang one of the major model agencies to complain about a girl on the runway at Australian Fashion Week.
"When I saw a particular girl at the Alex Perry show coming down the runway, I got an absolute shock," said Frank. "I felt I needed to do something; it just wasn't sitting right with me. I was really worried for her, so I picked up the phone and called her agent."
Frank says she didn't want the coverage of the week to be about the "skinny models" but she knew the conversation would start once she spotted the model in question on the runway.
"There are fantastic designers here this week doing incredible things, but that girl stood out and looked unhealthy," said Frank.
"I said to her, I don't think (the model in question) should be on the runway at the moment," Frank said. "I think she needs to work on her body and take time off to become healthy again."
A number of models at Australian Fashion Week also participate in Paris Fashion Week, where the pressure is on to look "Paris thin" in order to fit the sample sizes.
"The girls have to fit the samples or they don't get work. The onus is on the designers, who need to create bigger sample sizes," said a source.
Models are under enormous pressure during fashion week, with some working 14-16 hours non-stop, with limited access to food.
But Frank said there was no need for undernourished models on the runway.
"The focus needs to be on the fashion, not the state of the runway models."
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