Weighing in on the “too thin” debate

I have been more and more uneasy with the emerging debate in the media about whether or not the fashion industry should ban models who are deemed “too thin” from the catwalk.

It started when someone sent me a link to a story on the BBC’s website about how the authorities told the organisers of Madrid’s fashion show to ban models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 18, as having a BMI of less than 18 is widely considered to be unhealthy.

My initial reaction was: “Great, someone is working to promote the idea that body types we don’t normally see on the catwalk are what’s normal in the real world. I bet it’ll be a great show.”

But the idea has created a maelstrom of comment in the press. Without exception, that comment has been in favour of forcing the fashion industry to stop promoting the “waif” look. Some of those comments have gone too far.

One comment in particular struck a chord with me. An article by The Independent’s Social Affairs Correspondent Maxine Frith said this:

Experts say that with a BMI of 18, a woman is at risk of developing an eating disorder and any rating below that will mean she probably already has one. Dee Dawson, who runs the Rhodes Farm clinic in north London for girls with eating disorders, says that it’s a fallacy to say that some models are just naturally very skinny. “It’s just not possible to be 6ft 2 and to weigh eight and a half stone (120lbs) without it being about controlling your eating,” she said. Most model agencies, fashion designers and magazine editors insist they will only work with healthy models and that an arbitrary BMI cut-off is unfair. And they point to the fact that the trend for super-slim, “size zero” models on the catwalk has hardly crossed over into “real” high street life; the average British woman is a size 16 (about a US size 10) and growing.

I find the debate quite odd, because, like Giorgio Armani said, the fashion industry, particularly the major designer labels, have always taken things to extremes. Naturally, they’re going to use extremely thin models.

Another reason that the fashion industry uses thin models is because people are getting fatter. And as fashion is all about making a statement, if they used girls who had normal bodies, they’d just look normal, wouldn’t they? I guess they figure the thinner the model, the more the impact, the more glamorous it is.

I also find the debate odd because, I am 6ft 2 and weigh not much more than eight and a half stone. I weigh something like 130lbs, which is eight stone and three quarters-ish.

I am not anorexic, nor am I unhealthily skinny. (Though my BMI is below 18). I eat like a normal person -- three meals a day and I snack in between. I have a feeling that some models out there are probably exactly like me -- born with what some might call an unfairly fast metabolism. Some people, it seems, are naturally skinny.

I have no doubt that the fashion industry's and Hollywood's version of what is "glamorous" is damaging to girls' self-esteem. I also have no doubt that many eating disorders are a direct result of this message. It's certainly an unfortunate situation.

On the other hand, there are people out there who are obssessed with their breasts because they don't think they are big enough, or they're obssessed with their nose because it's too big, or they're obssessed with their hair because it's too limp. Everyone who pays attention to Hollywood movies and pictures in magazines feels inadequate, including skinny people.

What is my message to the 12-year-old girls out there who are starving themselves to look like Keira Knightly? Ignore the magazines. They only exist so that you will buy stuff to look more like the people society has deemed glamorous. (Even though many people argue that stick-thin celebrities look like lollipop heads and I don't disagree). Love what you've been given because the most beautiful thing in the world is happiness.

And I do hope that, some day, the fashion industry will move away from the waif look. It does get boring, doesn't it?