London Fashion Week has zero to say on skinny models

Published on Tuesday 13 February 2007 02:05

Key quote: "I would like to see any girl with a body-mass index of less than 18, essentially the size-zero, banned. In my opinion, the British Fashion Council have been behaving totally irresponsibly." - Dee Doncey, Lib Dem culture spokeswoman

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SIX months ago, Lily Cole was routinely vilified because it was argued she exemplified everything that is irresponsible about the fashion industry. Yesterday morning, she strolled down the runway at Noir's London Fashion Week show looking the same height, weight and slender shape as ever. If anyone has been force-feeding this porcelain doll-like 18-year-old, it simply doesn't show. She still measures just 81-63-89cm; she still hasn't sprouted love-handles.

Clearly, despite widespread concerns about the promotion of unrealistic body images, London's designers still think that thin is in. Yet no-one - no fashion editor, commentator, stylist or store buyer attending yesterday's shows, and most certainly not the models themselves - was batting an eyelid. The body-image debate did not surface in chit-chat during the inevitable delays before the start of each show. Model choice was not the measure by which individual designers were judged. The men and women attending London Fashion Week were obsessing over frocks that appeared on the runways, rather than concerning themselves with the body-mass index of the girls who modelled them.

Ever since the death of an anorexic model in Brazil last year, which prompted the introduction of minimum body-mass requirements for models at fashion weeks in Madrid and Milan, there has been pressure on the British Fashion Council to follow suit - eradicating what Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has referred to as "the tyranny of thinness".

Yet, despite widespread public concern, despite Jowell's energetic intervention, even despite the threatened withdrawal of funding from the London Development Agency, London Fashion Week has proceeded without a ban on super-skinny size-zero models.

In the continuing absence of formal regulation, there's nothing to stop London's designers populating their runways with stick-thin freaks whose appearance demands medical intervention. And, in principle, the uppermost echelons of the British fashion industry are still free to go their own indulgent and potentially irresponsible way without care for the damage which may be done. For, despite her public statements of concern, and despite persistent lobbying from health and diet specialists, Jowell has accepted the British Fashion Council's official line that "regulation is neither desirable or enforceable."

However, this doesn't mean that the industry has remained impervious to influence. New guidelines have been set out in a voluntary code of practice, discouraging use of underweight and overly-young models. Phillip Green, the owner of Topshop, is one of a gaggle of industry figures already pledging their brands will not use super-skinny models. Even Victoria Beckham has promised not to use overly-thin models in the promotion of her clothing line - ironic, perhaps, given that the pop-starlet-turned-designer is probably thinner than almost any model. Although British fashion remains, officially, a law unto itself, employment prospects for super-skinny models have reached a low.

According to David Hayes, features editor of Happy magazine: "Some designers were certainly using extremely slender girls, although in truth size-zero was almost as great a rarity as size-12 on any designer runway. But there's definitely an awareness that wasn't there before. The hysteria of the body-image debate has unleashed a new sensitivity, and designers are now unlikely to allow even the tiniest glimpse of bony rib-cage or pipe-cleaner-like arm. Super-skinniness has simply gone out of fashion."

Cole is most certainly not US size-zero (UK size-4). Yet there's no question that she is slender. With an appearance that's striking, she most certainly does not look like the average 18-year-old. Which, of course, is precisely why she came to be celebrated as a fashion icon. For fashion finds beauty in the quirky and unconventional. Consider Erin O'Connor's nose, Cindy Crawford's mole, or Lauren Hutton's celebrated gap-tooth smile.

In four short years, Cole has starred in an extraordinary number of advertising campaigns and brought her own highly individual grace to countless designer runways. There's absolutely no evidence that Cole is (or ever has been) unhealthy. But in an industry where appearance is everything, may she be considered a bad role model? Perhaps it would be useful to make mention that she's proved herself a straight-A student with a concern for social responsibility sufficiently great to have precluded acceptance of lucrative work from De Beers, the diamond specialist - but inspired support for the ethical clothing line, Noir, on whose runway she appeared yesterday.

But, of course, fashion professionals are unlikely to take any more notice of a model's scholastic achievements than of her body-mass index. Frankly, they're only here, this week in London, for the frocks.

• Fashion commentator, John Davidson, writes for titles ranging from The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday to Russian Vogue. He is also involved in projects supporting emerging fashion designers in Scotland.

'THIS ALL COMES DOWN TO PROFIT'

For a ban

DEE Doocey, the Lib Dem culture spokeswoman for London and a former fashion-house executive, has campaigned vociferously for the banning of size-zero models.

Last night, she said: "I would like to see any girl with a body-mass index of less than 18, essentially the size-zero, banned. In my opinion, the British Fashion Council have been behaving totally irresponsibly. Certainly, they have said that they are concerned about the issue, but they have done nothing.

"It's the same with the rest of the industry. I've spoken to designers, fashion magazines and model agencies, and while they all make the right noises, in the end they don't want to know.

"It comes down to profit, but also the fact that designers prefer girls that look like coathangers, because they won't ruin the lines of their clothes. They need to re-learn their approach to design."

Within the industry, there are high-profile critics of the waif-like models.

Fashion legend Valentino hit out at size-zero models stating: "I want a more fuller woman, proud of her femininity with fuller sides, more life and a fuller bust."

Nicole Farhi, Ben de Lisi and Paul Smith have said they would not be using size-zero models.

A spokeswoman for Ben de Lisi said: "It's not a look we go for. We all have a responsibility to look after the welfare of the models."

'REGULATION WOULD JUST ADD FUEL TO FIRE'

Against a ban

DESPITE the controversy surrounding size-zero models, and the decision to ban girls with body-mass indexes of under 18 from New York and Madrid Fashion Weeks, the British Fashion Council continues to resist such a ban.

Last night a BFC spokeswoman insisted : "To ban size-zeroes would be to discriminate against naturally skinny girls.

"We don't want unhealthy girls being used, but if you were to speak to any eating-disorder expert, they would tell you that you cannot tell just by looking at somebody whether they have an eating disorder or they're just naturally thin.

"Hopefully, once the controversy dies down, we will be able to move the discussion forward and get to grips with the complexities."

Fashion designer and former owner of the Red or Dead label, Wayne Hemingway, said: "We always used normal models, but fashion is full of artistic and opinionated people who will always react against what they are told. They like a scrap and have fought their way up to reach the position they're in. To ban size-zeroes would be just to fuel the fire of this controversy."

Beat, the eating disorders organisation, also resists a ban, saying that while it was "not helpful" to use these types of models, they had not evidence of anyone developing anorexia or bulimia because they had seen examples in magazines.