Madrid fashion week bans 'thin' models

Madrid: Protests against fashion models starving themselves for that rail-thin figure is not new.

But now the issue has pierced the world of high fashion itself. Madrid's decision to ban what it deemed 'too thin' models from its fashion week has stirred up a controversy.

The Madrid ban is not because designers have decided that thin is no longer in — but because organisers want to promote healthier models, saying some put themselves through ridiculous diets to secure top modeling jobs.

So, how do Madrid officials define too skinny? By something called the body mass index calculation that factors in both height and weight.

And just who would they ban?

Well, the average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 164 pounds. If she shrunk down by 60 pounds and weighed anywhere under 105 then she wouldn't be allowed to model in Madrid.

"I certainly wish and hope that for the good of all these youngsters this step will be followed by others as well," director, Madrid Catwalk, Cuca Solana said.

The head of this Milanese modeling agency says that if the ban was widespread then 80 per cent of his clients worldwide — more than 600 girls — would be out of work.

"Rules is a big word, you know there is so much rumour about it, which is correct, but don't make too much because designers know what they want and they can be free," director of a modelling agency, Piero Piazzi said.

But officials in Madrid do have a point. Most of the models in Madrid have a story to tell about crazy diets and the pressure they are under to be extra-thin.

"I have a friend, she is now 18, and during fashion week she eat only two apples a day. It's incredible," model, Inna Meremerenko said.

There are of course exceptions. Model Eva Riccobono said, "It's important for me to enjoy life and I eat well. If I put on weight then I’ll start going to the gym. It's much more healthy for the mind and the body."

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