Click to play videoRome: Eating disorders have continued to be the subject of growing criticism in the fashion industry.
Ilaria Laudati was a picture of youth, talent and beauty. She was however, also a picture of tragedy.
An art historian and musician and in the words of her mother Aurora, Ilaria was a woman whose intense gaze caught the attention of Italy's film and modeling industry.
Two weeks ago, Ilaria died of heart failure, common for anorexics. She was 27-years-old, five feet six inches and just 77 pounds.
"She was skin and bones. She told me and she was obsessed with her scale. If she had food, she would weigh herself. We lived in the hope that she would get better,” says Aurora.
An expert on eating disorders, Dr Ivo Pulcini says that in the past 15 years he has seen an eight per cent increase in cases of anorexia in girls including young women and teenage boys.
"Many of them are treated into their own family because their parents very often feel ashamed of this. They prefer to treat them privately,” says Dr Pulcini.
The announcement by Milan-based fashion designer Donatella Versace that her 20-year-old daughter, Allegra is battling anorexia was also an important revelation, according to Dr Pulcini.
It raised the profile of the disease in Italy, he says, and it re-focused the spotlight on an industry that's been extensively criticised for promoting unhealthy body images.
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