French Parliament Debates Weight Standards for Fashion Models

PARIS — France, which often seems to have style and elegance written into its genetic code, is again confronting one of the dark sides of fashion: the glamorization of too-thin women.

The French Parliament is debating legislation that would effectively set minimum weights for women and girls to work as models, a step that supporters of the bill say is necessary to combat the persistence of anorexia.

If it becomes law — it is backed by President François Hollande’s Socialist government — modeling agencies and fashion houses that employ models whose body mass index measurements do not meet minimum standards would face criminal penalties.

If France approves the legislation, it would almost certainly raise the debate to a new level, especially in Paris, the spiritual capital of the fashion world. An effort to pass similar provisions in 2008 failed after heavy criticism from the fashion industry.


“We can’t resolve it with a law but we can begin a public health policy to prevent and protect and limit the number of those suffering from anorexia,” said Olivier Véran, a neurologist and a member of the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.

The proposed legislation would use as its base internationally accepted body mass index standards to determine whether a model was too thin and would set criminal penalties for hiring models who fell below the standards determined by the law. The index suggests that a woman who is 5 feet 7 inches tall should weigh at least 120 pounds. But the final legal standards would be determined by the French health authorities, who could adjust them for factors such as bone size.

The struggle over the appearance and health of fashion models is hardly a new one. The death in 2010 of a French model and actress, Isabelle Caro, who at one point weighed just 55 pounds, fueled further calls for steps to address anorexia.

So far the fashion industry has opposed legislation to address the issue, although a number of designers have spoken out in favor of using “healthy models” and promoting healthful lifestyles.

There is no official database of models’ heights and weights, and with regulations against using underweight models on the rise, most models and agencies are close-mouthed about the subject. Many in the industry say, however, that a number of the top models would likely weigh less than the healthy threshold set by the body mass index of about 18 or 18.5.

When some international designers have been questioned about the problem, such as Karl Lagerfeld in a 2012 interview, they have denied having ever worked with anorexic models.

Even a glance through photos from the recent Fashion Week in Paris reveals many women whose bodies are almost without curves and whose faces have hollows where there should be cheeks.

Marcel Rufo, a psychiatrist with a clinic in Marseille for adolescents with anorexia or other troubles, said he believed that the public was searching for an explanation for children’s pursuit of thinness. He noted the proliferation of posts on blogs and on Twitter promoting the idea that girls should have a space between their thighs when standing with their legs together and that their stomachs should be concave.

“So, one designates fashion as to blame, but I believe that it is much more complicated than that,” he said.





The New York Times     By ALISSA J. RUBIN        MARCH 18, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/europe/french-parliament-debates-weight-standards-for-fashion-models.html?ref=world




To back: to support

Struggle: fight, conflict

To fuel: cause, incite

To address: give attention to sth.

Threshold: entrance

Set by: save, put aside for later

Glance: a look

Hollow: empty side ("hueco")

Pursuit: chase

Thigh: upper leg ("muslo")






Marta Pons Maria, Marian Cardona