Should size zero models be kept off the catwalks?

I was thinking about what I should write about in this article. What fell under the heading of ‘Health and Lifestyle’ I even searched it a couple of times on Google, when I realized pretty much everything could be placed under this heading. You’d think this would make it easier for me to decide what I could write this article on however I still couldn’t make my mind up. Then today at lunch my friends and I were talking about the new size 0 ban for runway models. We all had such different and strong views I thought that I should put our ideas onto paper, so I could argue my opinion and hopefully get you thinking about this issue too.

The debate over super-skinny models at fashion shows seems to still be able to grip people everywhere. On one side, you’ve got those who agree with Spanish fashion authorities, who banned size-zero models from the catwalks during recent shows. And on the other you have those who think the size zero ban is just a cunning ruse to make sure that the top designers are in the spotlight.

Although I do believe that the ‘perfect model size’ (zero) is not the right image to be placing in front of young woman, I do believe that ‘thin sells.’ Can you imagine picking up a copy of a fashion magazine, Vogue for example and seeing an ‘average’ size 16 British woman? Do you think that if you saw this woman wearing high fashion clothes you would rush out to buy them? Do you think that these types of clothes look as good on her as a ‘skinny’ model? A recent study by the University of Bath found that more than two-thirds (67 per cent) of women surveyed preferred pictures of thin models to those of a larger size, saying the thinner ones were elegant, more interesting and generally more likeable,"

Anorexia is undoubtedly a problem in this country with 1 in 100 women having an eating disorder; nevertheless I do believe that a greater dilemma is Obesity. If as all the politicians, fashion directors and the general public say; young women are copying the eating habits of top models and are finding themselves becoming skinnier and skinnier then why is it 1 in 5 people in Britain are morbidly obese?

How can we as a country say that the size zero models are underweight and unhealthy when we are as a country are hypocritical when it comes to body shapes and sizes of models and celebrities. On one level, we’re vilified for using thin models on the catwalk. But women are the first to bitch about anyone who dares have an ounce of flesh hanging over their waistband.

I am ashamed to say I bought a celebrity magazine earlier today (‘Heat’?) anyway I was flicking through it and was thinking to myself how can they ban size zero models when half the celebrities in the magazine are underweight. Are we to ban whippet-thin Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Paris Hilton, etc. from our screens and celebrity magazines? No. But we might make it our duty to learn from the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, who have all admitted eating disorders, and talked about the health consequences to those ordinary girls who aspire to mimic their look. So how can we ban size zero models when there are still skinny actresses and pop stars still out there?! I say you cannot ban the skinny models until we have gotten rid of all skinny celebrities, and do you think that would ever happen? No, didn’t think so.

In my opinion there should be no ban on the size of a model, if they want to be a size zero let them, on the other hand I do think that the model agencies and casting people should check a models health before casting her to a job. For example if two models walked in for the same job same weight and size but one was healthy e.g. ate three times a day drank water and exercised in moderation and the other took dieting tablets drank smoked and exercised as much as she could then I do feel that the healthy model should be chosen. A model that looks after herself is radiant, whereas the unhealthy girl would promote the wrong kind of look. I don’t think bags under the eyes and premature wrinkles are very ‘attractive’ do you? Yet I do know this isn’t always the case and without the ban you my never get healthy skinny models, but I do believe this ‘fashionably skinniness’ is just a craze. Since time immemorial, there has been a female ideal, be it ever-changing: from Botticelli’s curvaceous lovelies through to the flappers of the 1920s, back to the voluptuous starlets of the 1950s, the Amazonian supermodels of the early 1990s (an equally unachievable physique for most ‘real women’) and a current fad — which will pass soon enough — for pre-pubescent silhouettes.

The famous Lily Cole; known for her amazing face, long red hair and her skinniness.

(The new fad)

Back in the 90s supermodels like Naomi Campbell were known for their Amazonian figures

So, I put it to you is banning a model from the catwalk because of fear a young girl might copy her right, or can we put enough trust and hope into the youth of today to do the right thing and be smart enough to know that following models ways and lifestyles is wrong?

Natasha Richmond-Illing