Ultra-thin models banned from Madrid fashion show
Filed under: Health & Safety: Babies, Media
You won't see any super-skinny models on the catwalk in Madrid at a major fashion show later this month, and it isn't because they are barely there: it's because they won't be there at all. A Spanish health organization helped the government come up with the criteria that would determine who was too thin to participate. They did this to "help ensure public opinion does not associate fashion, and fashion shows in particular, with an increase in anorexia, a disease which, along with bulimia, is considered ... as a mental and behavioural problem."
Spanish daily ABC said that this was the first time that models had be on the heavier side of a certain height-weight ratio, but a recent Barcelona wedding dress show only allowed models who were a size 8 and up (Spanish size 38, British size 10).
I think this is excellent news, and I sincerely hope it turns into a fashion trend that never goes out of style.












ReaderComments (Page 5 of 9)
9-17-2006 @ 9:17PM
Maria said...As a mother of a 14 year old daughter battling anorexia, I was happy to read that in Spain people have a brain. Here in the US I get sad everytime I see pictures of severely malnourished girls on the cover of supermarket magazines and cheap tabloids. Are they supposed to be beautiful? I don't know anyone who thinks they are, yet the media insists on depicting them as models of whatever is in voghe that week.
Maybe we should look abroad to see how other people are fighting this very serious problem.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:00AM
erica said...i believe that every person has a different body type and different "ideal" body weight. some bodies feel healthier at a higher weight, but it doesn't mean that they look bad or big. they may even look too thin. it just depends on your body. did you all realize that different countries have different "ideal" body weights and different ideas of what a "healthy" diet are and what a "healthy" looking body are?? since we are in the united states, we only hear what the food & drug administration CONSIDERS healthy. everyone is different. everyone's body and metabolism is different, therefore everyone has a different level of calories and whatnot they should be consuming depending on their body type, metabolism, etc. i don't listen to what the fda considers healthy...remember a few years ago when carbohydrates were good for us and diets were filled with them? then, carbs are bad. now, there are "good carbs" and "bad carbs". they'll eventually change that, too. it's all a buncha marketing crap. pay attention to your own body and do some research...don't just take it for granted that the fda is right. find out for yourself and be good to yourself! exercise! be a healthy you!
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9-14-2006 @ 11:03AM
Rese said...thank you karrine for taking up for us naturally thin people. i have two children and i still barely am 130lbs.i'm 5'7 so that is average weight for my height. i am a big junk food eater and i rarely exercise but i am and always have be thin.i am getting back into modeling and i've had people tease me my whole life about be skinny.but why should i be made to feel bad about my god given genes?i am still a size 2 after 2 children should i be penalized for not turning into ms.piggy????
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9-14-2006 @ 11:01AM
robin said...Why not just use models of all sizes, including those at both extremes? Not all women are built the same and the fashion industry needs to realize that. Instead of picking the perfect body type, using all body types would allow women of all shapes and sizes to be comfortable with themselves, thus reducing eating disorders. Girls of all body types wouldn't idolize perfection because they would get the message that there is no such thing. Remember if we were all alike this would be a very boring world. Variety is the spice of life!
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9-14-2006 @ 11:06AM
tina said...Rese I completely agree with you, I am a size 2 after 2 kids and I constantly get the remarks about how thin I am and I can't help it, I tell them you have 2 kids not even a year apart, chase after them and see if you still need to buy a gym membership!
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9-14-2006 @ 11:10AM
Tammie said...I think it's great that Spain is thinking about the young girls. However, I believe that healthy eating and exercise is something that should begin at an early age. Some people will always have a tendency to be big, or thin.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:30AM
Cynthia Brown said...I am glad to see that someone is taking the reins in the fashion industry and letting people know that not all cultures view skinny woman as sexy. I agree with the poster above that mentioned the fact that most of the woman posting posted their weight after having kids and not the fact that they are happy with healthy kids. I was a size 5 when I was 20 and most women after having kids are not a size 6 or even an 8. The average size is a size 14 and in most cultures a size 6 is still way to thin. I am a sie 10 and depending on the fit of the jeans a size 8. The clothing industry does that on purpose to make us think that we are actually thinner than we are, so if you think size 6 you might actualy be an 8 or even a 10. I have a child with Autism and I think that having healthy kids far more outweighs what we look like afer being pregnant. I am hispanic and in my culture men love woman with boobs and a butt, and this could be one of the reasons for why the spanish have decided not to have too thin models. I have lost 20 pounds and that comes from not eating fast food and menapause, I am 42 and I know that I will never be a size 5 again and I am happy being where I am at now, I have boobs and a butt and most men like it that way.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:24AM
Sal said...Good for Spain! It would be a good thing if the weight loss advertisements were not allowed to tout the fact that " now I can finally feel good about myself, since I went to a size 2 from a 10". This is rediculous! A size 10 is not large- unless you are 3 foot tall.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:29AM
maureen said...Finally some common sense! You know, thoses sickly thin girls were/are not even attractive. A thin healthy body is beautiful. A stick figure is a sick joke.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:30AM
Marianne said...I am glad that there are all different sizes of clothes. If it weren't for size 0 pants, my tall and thin 11 year old daughter would be wearing "floods" to school. And it's not just GAP that carries those sizes. I welcome all varieties of sizes... from 0 to Plus Sizes!
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9-14-2006 @ 11:31AM
Raejean French said...You know, the great and gorgeous Emme was on CNN talking about this last night, and even she missed the boat. She kept referring to "inclusion," which is not the point, either. HEALTH IS THE POINT. It's kind of an open secret around the world that "high fashion" models live a hideously strict, fast, and frequently unhealthy life. Most of them are NOT naturally so willowy, or naturally a size 2 or whatever it takes to succeed in that world. Cigarettes, drugs, and eating disorders figure prominently in achieving the look.
Good for Spain. I hope others follow the example. I'd love to see a fashion show of strictly REAL plus-size models, 14, 16, 18 and up. Some of them really are quite beautiful and shapely.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:32AM
maureen said...Ole Spain. Boy am I tired of the unattractive bodies of those models. If I never see Kate Moss & company again I will be happy. Bring back the girls with a little muscle definition.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:39AM
erin said...I am a twenty-six year old mother of two. I am 5' 4" and weigh only 100 lbs. I had always been slim and returned to my normal size within three months of the birth of both of my children (without exercise or dieting). All my life I have been ritaculed and teased about being anorexic and asked if I ever eat. I dont walk up to heavy people I know and say "Oh my God, you are so huge, do you ever stop eating?" I have taken weight gainers and spent nearly a year lifting weights at the gym and am still a rail thin 100 lbs. I am so offended when I read articles about real women being a size 8 and "curvey". REAL WOMEN COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES!!! We all struggle with our own self image so why are we always so judgemental about other women? Why are we always trying to make ourselves feel like we belong in the "normal catagory" when that doesn't exist? Next time you see a skinny girl at the mall and you want to nudge your friend and make an anorexic joke remember that maybe that girl doesn't like her body and did not choose to make it that way (just like a heavy girl) and realize that whether you weigh 200 lbs and wear a 44D or you are 100 lbs and wear a 32A, WE ARE ALL THE SAME INSIDE, WE ARE ALL "NORMAL"
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9-14-2006 @ 11:43AM
Tina said...Right on Spain!!! Being a makeup artist in Las Vegas, I see how the pressure to be thin affects stars, as well as the general public. We women hold the power to stop this fashion Don't! We don't have to buy the clothes from those designers who continue to only feature bone thin models! We owe it to our daughters to remove this useless and unhealthy burden. Shall we unite?
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9-14-2006 @ 2:20PM
Cynthia Brown said...I also thinks that weight depends on height, I am by no means overweight. I am a between a size 8 and a 10 and 5 foot 2 and I look great for my age. I can fit into my clothes and I get positive comments from many people.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:51AM
DonnaRN said..."What is such a tiny, childish figure even considered desirable? Are you afraid of growing up. Even size 2-4, as an adult is freakishly thin." --Suri
Suri, that is about as obnoxious as healthy women of normal size calling others fat whales. There are plenty of people who eat right and exercise and are sizes 2 and 4. I happen to be 45 years old, a registered nurse, 5-2, 110# and measure 36-26-36. There is *nothing* "childish" or "freakishly thin" about my body. Your jealousy shines through clearly. In light of the fact that 66% of Americans are overweight, with 33% of them being OBESE, I have no objections whatsoever with "skinny" models. Clearly it hasn't caused 66% of the people to push away from the table.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:44AM
Devynn said...only in america would any of this matter. i'm a size 2. and at my height, with my bone structure, i'll probably reach only a size 8 in my lifetime. and that size will be b/c i got pregant. but b/c i'm so small i get slammed by ppl who won't do anything to maintain their own health and end up fat b/c of it just to make themselves feel better. it's a shame, really. if you go to other countries and see what these ppl do in their everyday lives, how active they are and how they eat, the "thin look" reigns! but i bet a lot of models won't get work now b/c of some arbitrary size decider. even the healthy ones. and then we'll end up with a bunch of "plus sized" models and i know for ALOT of ppl that won't be an image of health. but one of laziness and glutney. but if it makes ppl feel better, i guess it's ok.
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9-14-2006 @ 9:25PM
Reeny said...Isn't banning a model for being too thin just as bad as banning one for being not thin enough?
BTW...I am 5'4" and a size 00 (have 4 kids) but I exercise, am a vegetarian, and do not eat junk food. I do, however, eat my favorite full fat ice cream from time to time.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:57AM
The Believer said...I am so glad that this change has happened in Spain and I wish that the fashion centers in: London, Paris, Milan,and New York would incorporate this change. Too many women have eating disorders in the United States and taking ultra thin women off the fashion runways is a start. Now all the women magazines need to also not allow ultra thin models to be photographed in their advertisements. I believe not only has this help create anoxerics but obese women. How? Well, it all starts when an American girl reaches her teenage years and looks through fashion magazines and wants to emulate the models. She thinks she is fat and starts the yo-yo dieting and gains several pounds each time she goes off the diet and over the years ends up obese.
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9-14-2006 @ 11:58AM
M. Jean said...Being overweight or underweight creates health issues. I've been extremely overweight and then becoming so fragile looking I looked like I would break if someone hugged me, I was obsessed with losing weight. Well, now I'm obsessed with being healthy and happy. I know that being thin is what so many young girls strive for as they look at models in fashion magazines and think that's what they should look like. Realistically if they are at a healthy weight then that should be good enough. Not everyone is meant to be a size 2. I'm happy that we will finally see fashions on realistic models.
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