Flipping through the pages of any fashion magazine or watching runway shows at any of the fashion capitals reveals the sick fascination with thinness pop culture holds.  The obsession with skinny can be traced back to the 1960’s, when moderate to full-figured women began disappearing from magazines. The focus turned to models such as Twiggy in the 60’s and Kate Moss in the 90’s, whose figures started a new trend among fashion designers.

While Twiggy was not anorexic (some said she ate like a horse), the trend has caused models and non-models alike to resort to drastic measures to fit the new size of pretty. Eating disorders have become a stereotype of fashion models, but the industry is starting to demand change along with much of the public. In a timespan of four months, two well-known foreign fashion models died as the result of anorexia, prompting some fashion shows to take action. In the same year, Madrid and Milan fashion shows created BMI requirements for models and Brazilian modeling agencies began requiring medical certificates of health.

Demands for change have also reached France. In 2008, a battle in the lower house of the French National Assembly passed a law to make extreme dieting a crime, punishable with up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $47,000. It failed to be approved by the upper house, but prompted further change. The French fashion industry has signed a voluntary charter introducing bans similar to those in Madrid and Milan on unhealthy BMI’s.  Those who signed also agreed to use healthier images in the media to stop the promotion of unhealthy weights.

Britain and New York originally opted out of model health and weight regulations, but now for the British Fashion Week, models previously suffering from eating disorders must show certificates that they are being treated.  The New York fashion industry has issued non-binding recommendations to encourage healthy models. Though the desire for skinny may remain for years to come, hopefully these measures will discourage the trend of unhealthy eating.

Originally published in the October 2009 edition of Classic Columns