Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Features

Weight debate

For models, how thin is too thin has become an issue as designers start unveiling their spring collections.

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 19, 2006

Ultrathin models walked the runways at London's Fashion Week on Monday, opening the weeklong event with a clear rejection of arguments that waiflike young women should not be permitted to showcase designs.

Despite a ban on superskinny models that Spanish organizers imposed at their fashion week in Madrid, slinky women in London were ready to flaunt the spring and summer collections of designers such as Julien Macdonald, John Rocha and Zandra Rhodes.

The British capital was hoping to recapture a bit of bling and ditch its reputation as the poor cousin of more glamorous events in New York, Paris and Milan, Italy.

"We are not a traditional capital for fashion, but we are a very creative crucible," said Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion Council, which organizes London's twice-yearly Fashion Week.

A debate over whether models were too thin has raised this London Fashion Week in the headlines, with a government minister's calls to follow Madrid's lead and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.

"The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin is damaging to young girls' self-image and to their health," Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said Saturday.

Rose dismissed calls for a ban as "a knee-jerk reaction," but said that the debate was legitimate and that he would discuss the issue with colleagues. Fashion Week canceled its opening photo shoot to avoid giving the issue more publicity.

"I think that it's a debate that will happen all in good time, and all opinions are welcome," supermodel Erin O'Connor said.

Hilary Riva, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, which organizes the event, has said that the council "does not comment on or interfere in the aesthetic of a designer's show."

American designer Ben de Lisi, who showed his collection in London on Monday, said, "I choose my models because they are beautiful and healthy and because they are naturally thin. ... As long as they are beautiful, healthy and thin, they will be on my catwalk."

Spain's top fashion show kicked off Monday in Madrid with one designer saying he had to replace all the models in his catwalk lineup because of the "skinny" ban. "I had to change the whole lot in one day. Eighteen models," Antonio Pernas said. "It gave us problems, but look, this industry sets an example to young women. We want to project a healthy image, so I'm not against the measures."

Under pressure from Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show, organizers imposed restrictions on any model with too low a body mass index.

The index is a calculation doctors normally apply to study obesity. 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, a person's weight is normal. Below 18.5, a person is underweight. In Madrid, organizers rejected models with an index below 18.

Milan's mayor, Letizia Moratti, said last week that she may seek such a standard for the Milan event.

- Information from the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP was used in this report.

[Last modified September 19, 2006, 05:45:40]