Fashion chiefs agree to discuss ultra-thin models

The powerful fashion federations of France, Italy, the United States and Britain have decided to address the controversy over ultra-thin models, the French body said today. The fashion industry has been widely attacked for promoting the kind of stick-thin images which critics say contribute to eating disorders in young women and some countries have taken cautious measures to bring more weight onto the catwalks.

Spain barred models below a certain body mass from Madrid fashion shows in September and organisers of New York's fashion shows this month issued guidelines to tackle the problem, although stopping short of banning them. "All actors concerned must get involved in the matter of information," France's fashion federation said today, adding delegates from Italy's, Britain's and America's fashion bodies had discussed the issue jointly at talks yesterday.

"La Federation de la Couture, la Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the British Fashion Council ... decided to participate in this reflection, in liaison with respective public authorities." The federation did not give any details on the form of cooperation. The French industry group had agreed to hold talks with the French health ministry on the issue, it added.

No extra measures to ban skinny models will be taken
Didier Grumbach, the head of the French fashion federation, said Paris would not take extra measures to ban ultra-skinny models from catwalks because its rules on their health were already strict. "We must be attentive and inform young women but not regulate even more," Grumbach said on the sidelines of an haute couture show in Paris on Monday.

France's health minister has said he wants a working group to assess the impact that images of skinny models have on young women. The fashion world has been debating the issue of ultra-thin models, with many designers and models shrugging off concern that they encourage eating disorders in girls and young women.

Italy's government and its fashion chiefs have signed a pact aimed at keeping models who appear sickly thin off the catwalk by requiring them to prove they are in good health. Brazil has also launched a campaign to ban underage, underweight models from its catwalks in response to the death of a Brazilian model from complications due to anorexia. - Reuters