Super-skinny Models

According to online dictionary, a model is a person who is employed to wear clothing for the purpose of advertising or display, or who poses with a product for the same purpose. That's why appearance is the most important thing that found in models. In the fashion industry, size of a cloth is numbered from 0 to 22. Models usually wear size 0, which means they have to be very skinny in order to walk the runway or photographed well in the designer clothes. But that fact brings us to one question: Do they really need to be so skinny?

There is absolutely a problem with underweight models shown by the death of several models that caused by anorexic. But it hasn't seemed to faze the industry that still uses girls severely underweight and sometimes sick-looking. Not all models are Anorexic, sick, and have body image problems. There are small percentage of women who are the size of the "ideal" catwalkers, naturally. As much as overweight individuals should never be discriminated against because of their size, so too should people who are naturally thin not be excluded.

The problem arises when the industry that hires, casts and publishes the images of models will only use ones who fit into a size 0. Many designers are quoted as saying that they feel they have to follow the lead of the "thin" industry, otherwise they lose exposure. For example, most magazines will only hire women who fit into the lower sizes, so if a designer doesn't have samples for those models, they don't get into that phtoshoot.

People start to notice and act about it. This unprecedented outbreak of common sense began in Spain, where organisers of the Madrid fashion show took the extraordinary step of banning models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 18. Your BMI is the figure you get when you divide your weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25, so the Madrid limit – which still allows underweight women to model - can hardly be described as draconian. Spain has disallowed models to walk down the runway this year if their BMI (Body Mass Index) was lower than 18. The country wants to promote a healthier image of models to the young girls who idolize them.
London's Fashion Week has refused to follow suite, the organizers stating that it was a move that, not only violates the designers right to choose their models, but is also a place that they shouldn't be controlling.

It is fair to demand that when they see young women dying, starving themselves and looking like death beneath their make up, like several models who recently died, to stand up and speak their mind. Some models did, with much support from those in and out of the industry, but others need to take some responsibility, too. They have to make changes from within.

In conclusion, for those of us outside the fashion world, we can also do our small part. When companies or designers do make a positive statement, support them with letters to the media or the organization they are standing up to, spread the word about their actions and find out more about their clothing- maybe it's a line available in your area that can be purchased instead of a company who has no interest in developing a positive body image in its customers. There's always something we can do to affect change.