New Article
Body Mass Index and the Fashion Industry
November 18, 2006
Months ago, Madrid’s regional government banned underweight models during fashion week (Hay). Some supported these measures, others complained, and we at demandit.org stroked our imaginary beards. Should America do the same, and how reliable is body mass index in determining models’ health?
Hello I just read your article and I think that you make very interesting points; however when it comes to the last question “should America ban underweight models?” you answer no. I don’t agree with that comment.
I believe that only women that are genetically skinny and women who are healthy should work as models.
You probably don’t know this but last week two young women (both 21 years old) died in Brazil because of Anorexia. One of these women was a model and the other was working with a famous Brazilian model agency to become one.
What did the government of Brazil as well as the major model agencies did about their deths? They banned underweight models and models with eating disorders right away. However they did it in a very intelligent way. To become a model in Brazil in the very near future you are going to need to pass a medical exam that will determine if your underweighted or not and if you have any eating disorders. Any model will have to pass the same test every six months for as long as she works as a model.
I think that what they did is incredibly smart, because it does not discriminate women who are genetically skinny, and at the same time it sends a very clear message “if you are healthy you can work as a model”.
Personally I think that every country in the world should follow the Brazilian example and impose health check on models and future models.
Cheers
Comment by Luna — November 21, 2006 @ 9:36 pm
Luna,
I’m supportive of those Brazilian measures, but they are a bit different than the ones I was reffering to in the article (specifically what happened in Madrid). As far as I know, that was sort of sprung on to the fashion industry, and some models who were underweight but healthy were rejected. Bi-annual health tests (not simply based upon BMI) are a great idea, and I hope that soon the American fashion industry will follow their example.
However, one of my site goals is to encourage companies to portray more “realistic” looking women. Banning anorexic models isn’t going to make the fashion industry embrace a variety of shapes. Models will still be very thin. Consumer pressure, on the other hand, may persuade the fashion industry to present an array of skinny and curvy women, which may in turn help American women outside of the fashion industry who are at risk for eating disorders, etc. I would be thrilled to know that models are healthy, but I want non-models to be healthy too–physically and mentally. So, in repsonse to your comment, I love the Brazilian idea but to me it’s probably not enough.
Comment by demandit — November 22, 2006 @ 12:51 am