David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Health Guidelines Suggested for Models
January 6, 2007
By ERIC WILSON, New York Times
The fashion industry sells modish trapeze dresses and $800 platform ankle boots. But it also sells women an ideal of beauty embodied by the models who walk the runways and appear in fashion magazines.
And since the fall, American designers have been under increasing pressure to respond to a wave of dangerously thin models who have set the aesthetic standards of global fashion.
Now the industry has decided to issue guidelines to designers, aimed at promoting healthier behavior among its highly paid clothes hangers.
The guidelines, which fall short of modeling restrictions announced in recent months by fashion show organizers in Madrid and Milan, were introduced yesterday at a meeting of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in Manhattan. But the group?s recommendations, which will be sent to designers next week in anticipation of the fall fashion shows that begin in New York on Feb. 2, seem unlikely to satisfy many critics of fashion?s embrace of ultra-thinness.
According to participants at the meeting, the recommendations are likely to include scheduling fashion-show fittings with younger models during daylight hours, rather than late at night, to help them get more sleep; urging designers to identify models with eating disorders; and introducing more nutritious backstage catering, where a diet of Champagne and cigarettes is the norm.
There are no plans to require models to achieve an objective measure of health like a height-to-weight ratio, which was imposed by Madrid in September, a move that brought much public attention to the issue. It was further highlighted by the death of Ana Carolina Reston, a 21-year-old Brazilian model, from complications of anorexia in November.
More than two-thirds of respondents to a questionnaire on Elle magazine?s Web site last month said they wished that American designers would follow the recent examples of fashion show organizers in Milan and Madrid in banning overly skinny models.
But the American designers rejected that option as unworkable.
?It is important as a fashion industry to show our interest and see what we can do because we are in a business of image,? said Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the designers? council, the industry trade group. ?But I feel like we should promote health as a part of beauty rather than setting rules.?
The group that tackled the issue also included Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue; several members of her staff; health professionals including a nutritionist, a psychiatrist and a physical trainer; a representative of a modeling agency; and a producer of fashion shows.
Designers and fashion magazine editors, who hire models, and executives for agencies that represent the young women, are skeptical that the profession can be regulated or monitored.
?It?s nothing that we don?t do already,? said David Bonnouvrier, the chief executive of DNA Model Management, speaking of the guidelines. His colleague Louis Chabat, an agent at DNA, attended the fashion council meeting yesterday.
?I hope it will be successful,? Mr. Bonnouvrier said. ?It is a serious enough issue that people will pay attention, but we cannot dictate the designers? choices. There will be a conscious effort for a while to address this, but whether that will last is another issue.?
Madrid?s banning of models who have a body mass index less than 18, a normal body standard according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, did not initially draw much support among the organizers of shows in the major fashion capitals, until last month, when the Italian group issued what it described as a manifesto.
The new rules in Italy are meant to be applied at fashion shows in Rome this month, although they are not binding and in many cases not entirely understood.
The Chamber of Fashion, based in Milan, is asking that models hold a license issued by a committee of city officials and a panel of doctors, nutritionists, psychologists and other experts. But when proposing that models, who must be 16 to work there, also achieve a minimum body mass index of 18.5, the organizers added that geographical and ethnic considerations should also be considered, which industry professionals found confusing.
?Can you think of another job you would have to talk to a nutritionist, a psychology expert and a doctor to get certified?? asked Roberta Myers, the editor of Elle. ?Maybe the C.I.A.?? Ms. Myers did not attend the American council meeting, but said she supported the idea of guidelines and educational programs because they would raise consciousness of the issue.
?I see this as a good-faith effort on all of our parts,? she said.
Abigail Walch, Vogue?s health editor, who attended the fashion industry meeting, said the group conceived its recommendations independently of Milan and Madrid.
Vogue identified several experts to help educate models on health and fitness. They include a nutritionist, Joy Bauer; a fitness trainer, David Kirsch; and Dr. Susan Ice, a psychiatrist at the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, which treats eating disorders.
?You cannot say one factor contributes to eating disorders or that one factor resolves them,? Ms. Walch said. ?We should have different avenues for dealing with this issue. We realize there are problems and we want to do everything possible to have resources available to these young girls.?
Restricting models because they do not meet the specific height and weight standards of Madrid, which requires them to have a body mass index higher than 18, would not solve the problem, she said.
?We see models who are thin and getting thinner,? said Ms. Bauer, who contributes nutrition advice to ?The Today Show? and Yahoo in addition to her Manhattan and Westchester County practices. Some models who have been referred to Ms. Bauer?s offices are genetically thin, some come seeking healthy ways to lose five pounds, and some have genuine eating disorders.
?I get this pressure,? Ms. Bauer said. ?The reality is that your entire career is somewhat based on being thin. It?s a tricky thing.?
Ms. Bauer said a goal of the fashion industry recommendations was to encourage healthy behavior among models, but also to educate designers on how to recognize disorders. Ms. Bauer, Mr. Kirsch and Dr. Ice will appear on a panel discussion of the issue during Fashion Week in New York.
She said that the body mass index would not give a fair indication of the healthfulness of models because of their height and age.
?It?s not so much about whether they can be 18 or higher and still look fabulous,? she said. ?I?m not for mandating certain B.M.I.?s because I don?t think that is fair.?
Patrick O?Connell, a spokesman for Ms. Wintour, said: ?The feeling is that it is not realistic to dictate or impose rules on a huge fashion industry. However, we do believe raising awareness and consciousness will go the furthest toward increasing people?s sensitivities to the problem.?
January 6, 2007
By ERIC WILSON, New York Times
The fashion industry sells modish trapeze dresses and $800 platform ankle boots. But it also sells women an ideal of beauty embodied by the models who walk the runways and appear in fashion magazines.
And since the fall, American designers have been under increasing pressure to respond to a wave of dangerously thin models who have set the aesthetic standards of global fashion.
Now the industry has decided to issue guidelines to designers, aimed at promoting healthier behavior among its highly paid clothes hangers.
The guidelines, which fall short of modeling restrictions announced in recent months by fashion show organizers in Madrid and Milan, were introduced yesterday at a meeting of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in Manhattan. But the group?s recommendations, which will be sent to designers next week in anticipation of the fall fashion shows that begin in New York on Feb. 2, seem unlikely to satisfy many critics of fashion?s embrace of ultra-thinness.
According to participants at the meeting, the recommendations are likely to include scheduling fashion-show fittings with younger models during daylight hours, rather than late at night, to help them get more sleep; urging designers to identify models with eating disorders; and introducing more nutritious backstage catering, where a diet of Champagne and cigarettes is the norm.
There are no plans to require models to achieve an objective measure of health like a height-to-weight ratio, which was imposed by Madrid in September, a move that brought much public attention to the issue. It was further highlighted by the death of Ana Carolina Reston, a 21-year-old Brazilian model, from complications of anorexia in November.
More than two-thirds of respondents to a questionnaire on Elle magazine?s Web site last month said they wished that American designers would follow the recent examples of fashion show organizers in Milan and Madrid in banning overly skinny models.
But the American designers rejected that option as unworkable.
?It is important as a fashion industry to show our interest and see what we can do because we are in a business of image,? said Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the designers? council, the industry trade group. ?But I feel like we should promote health as a part of beauty rather than setting rules.?
The group that tackled the issue also included Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue; several members of her staff; health professionals including a nutritionist, a psychiatrist and a physical trainer; a representative of a modeling agency; and a producer of fashion shows.
Designers and fashion magazine editors, who hire models, and executives for agencies that represent the young women, are skeptical that the profession can be regulated or monitored.
?It?s nothing that we don?t do already,? said David Bonnouvrier, the chief executive of DNA Model Management, speaking of the guidelines. His colleague Louis Chabat, an agent at DNA, attended the fashion council meeting yesterday.
?I hope it will be successful,? Mr. Bonnouvrier said. ?It is a serious enough issue that people will pay attention, but we cannot dictate the designers? choices. There will be a conscious effort for a while to address this, but whether that will last is another issue.?
Madrid?s banning of models who have a body mass index less than 18, a normal body standard according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, did not initially draw much support among the organizers of shows in the major fashion capitals, until last month, when the Italian group issued what it described as a manifesto.
The new rules in Italy are meant to be applied at fashion shows in Rome this month, although they are not binding and in many cases not entirely understood.
The Chamber of Fashion, based in Milan, is asking that models hold a license issued by a committee of city officials and a panel of doctors, nutritionists, psychologists and other experts. But when proposing that models, who must be 16 to work there, also achieve a minimum body mass index of 18.5, the organizers added that geographical and ethnic considerations should also be considered, which industry professionals found confusing.
?Can you think of another job you would have to talk to a nutritionist, a psychology expert and a doctor to get certified?? asked Roberta Myers, the editor of Elle. ?Maybe the C.I.A.?? Ms. Myers did not attend the American council meeting, but said she supported the idea of guidelines and educational programs because they would raise consciousness of the issue.
?I see this as a good-faith effort on all of our parts,? she said.
Abigail Walch, Vogue?s health editor, who attended the fashion industry meeting, said the group conceived its recommendations independently of Milan and Madrid.
Vogue identified several experts to help educate models on health and fitness. They include a nutritionist, Joy Bauer; a fitness trainer, David Kirsch; and Dr. Susan Ice, a psychiatrist at the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, which treats eating disorders.
?You cannot say one factor contributes to eating disorders or that one factor resolves them,? Ms. Walch said. ?We should have different avenues for dealing with this issue. We realize there are problems and we want to do everything possible to have resources available to these young girls.?
Restricting models because they do not meet the specific height and weight standards of Madrid, which requires them to have a body mass index higher than 18, would not solve the problem, she said.
?We see models who are thin and getting thinner,? said Ms. Bauer, who contributes nutrition advice to ?The Today Show? and Yahoo in addition to her Manhattan and Westchester County practices. Some models who have been referred to Ms. Bauer?s offices are genetically thin, some come seeking healthy ways to lose five pounds, and some have genuine eating disorders.
?I get this pressure,? Ms. Bauer said. ?The reality is that your entire career is somewhat based on being thin. It?s a tricky thing.?
Ms. Bauer said a goal of the fashion industry recommendations was to encourage healthy behavior among models, but also to educate designers on how to recognize disorders. Ms. Bauer, Mr. Kirsch and Dr. Ice will appear on a panel discussion of the issue during Fashion Week in New York.
She said that the body mass index would not give a fair indication of the healthfulness of models because of their height and age.
?It?s not so much about whether they can be 18 or higher and still look fabulous,? she said. ?I?m not for mandating certain B.M.I.?s because I don?t think that is fair.?
Patrick O?Connell, a spokesman for Ms. Wintour, said: ?The feeling is that it is not realistic to dictate or impose rules on a huge fashion industry. However, we do believe raising awareness and consciousness will go the furthest toward increasing people?s sensitivities to the problem.?
