N.Y. considers banning ultrathin fashion models
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York City Council member Thursday proposed pushing sponsors to ban abnormally thin models from walking New York Fashion Week's runways.
Council member Gail Brewer wants fashion houses to ban any model with a body mass index of less than 18.5 -- the cutoff for the World Health Organization's definition of "normal."
Brewer said she wants models to be educated on nutrition and designers to encourage healthful lifestyles. (
Watch stick-thin models strut the runway )
"We want the designers to offer some clothes that are a little bit more robust," she also told CNN, "and we certainly don't want people under the age of 16 to be modeling."
Madrid Fashion Week set a BMI limit of 18 in September, and Italian designers in December agreed to health and age guidelines for runway models, The Associated Press reported.
On Wednesday, Assemblyman Jose Rivera of the Bronx introduced a resolution in the state legislature to generate standards to protect the health of teenage models and entertainers, AP reported.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America issued recommendations in January to help bulimia, anorexia and other health problems among models.
Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died in November at age 21. She was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed just 88 pounds, for a BMI of 13.4.
WHO defines normal BMI as 18.5 to 24.9.
"Being exposed to an environment with a lot of emphasis on thinness can put someone with a predisposition to eating disorders in a very high-risk situation," Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer, an associate professor of medicine at Albany Medical Center, told AP.
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As much as I like it that runways are trying to make images of women "healthier" this whole BMI banning is kind of silly. Simply just say that if you look to skinny, you can't go on the show. BMI measures weight to height. Not necessarily muscle & body fat. (Hello, muscle weighs more than fat) I, personally am in the 17s when it comes to BMI (currently around 17.4-17.7) and I am NOT deathly skinny or even close to modelesque. Silly, no? IN FACT, I'd probably have to lose some more weight just to be considered. Therefore, dumb.
Obviously when a model lives off of lettuce and diet coke (OR the real coke haha) that's an unhealthy lifestyle but I also see NOTHING wrong with letting a girl who is NATURALLY really skinny who IS healthy on the runway... they should start banning models who have eating disorders and use drugs and diet pills to stay thin off the runways, those are the ones who are giving off a bad body image to young women all around. But then again, while I like my Kate Moss', I also LOVE my Victoria Secrets angels... yum!
Women in general need better "body image role models"... I noticed that up and coming actresses, singers, women in the lime light slowly gravitate to losing weight and being skinny. All of the more "thick" or "voluptous" women who are also seen as beautiful, seem to be older, more mature women. Catherine Zeta Jones, Kate Winslet, Salma Hayek, etc.. all beautiful gorgeous women. Latina & African women seem to be more accepted as they are when beautiful and curvey than an Asian woman would be. You don't even SEE "voluptous" Asian women in the entertainment business.... rareeeeely! And all I can think of right now is the comedian, M. Cho. *argh* LAME!
OK, I'll continue this rant later, I have work that needs to be done.
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