do you prefer your models skinny or well fed?

[alocispepraluger102]

Yahoo! News

Italy moves to stop ultra-skinny models

By Stephen BrownThu Dec 7, 11:30 AM ET

Italy's government and its fashion chiefs are working on a manifesto to crack down on the use of ultra-thin teenagers on the catwalk, as pressure grows on the fashion world to promote healthier looks.

After Spain barred models below a certain weight from a Madrid fashion show in September, industry leaders in Argentina and now Brazil have joined a campaign to ensure models are over 16 years old and are not excessively thin.

Powerful Milan fashion houses first resisted calls to copy the Spanish regulations, with Italian National Fashion Chamber head Mario Boselli saying in September that only "maybe one girl in a hundred" could be defined as too skinny.

But after Boselli, whose lobby represents big names like Armani, Versace and Prada, met Italian Youth Minister Giovanna Melandri this week, he agreed to work with the ministry on a self regulatory code of good practice.

"Italy has an important strategic role in world fashion so we have to send a strong signal," said Flaminia Spadone, an aide to the minister.

The manifesto will be launched before the Milan women's fashion week in February, a major event in the catwalk calendar.

"We'd like fashion houses, modeling agencies, photographers and everyone working in the fashion world to sign the charter," she said. "It would be voluntary but professional bodies could decide to impose sanctions on people who don't sign, preventing them from taking part in fashion shows."

Boselli told Reuters the charter might require women to undergo medical checks for body weight, though it would also take into account factors like genetic influences on weight.

ULTRA-SLIM LOOK

The use of underweight models promoting the ultra-slim look has held sway in much of world fashion since the 1990s, and was epitomized by British supermodel Kate Moss.

But it has come into sharp critical focus since the death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Resto last month from complications derived from the slimming disease anorexia. There are calls for a return to the slim but more curvaceous models of the 1980s, like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer.

"We won't have a specific limit on body mass index as they do in Spain," said Boselli.

But Spadone said the ministry would ideally like to follow the Spanish example and impose a limit on the body mass index, which takes into account the model's height versus weight.

She said models who came under 18.5 on the index -- the World Health Organization's definition of underweight -- should be banned from working for the sake of their own health.

"In the Third World, if someone has an index of less than 18.5, they send in humanitarian aide," she said.

(Additional reporting by Sophie Hardach)

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Edited December 9, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[JSngry]

Even though the sweetest meat lies closest to the bone, nobody likes a bone but a dog.

Those adolescent aphorisms never go out of style!

[alocispepraluger102]

Even though the sweetest meat lies closest to the bone, nobody likes a bone but a dog.

Those adolescent aphorisms never go out of style!

is that from shakespeare?

[JSngry]

HA!

Two separate ideas, both from "the streets". Both used in banter when teasing about the size (or lack thereof) of a peer's girlfriend. Hardly Shakespeare!

Both, though, are significantly more eloquent than "more cushion for the pushin' "....

[RDK]

I like my models skinny and my wife well-fed - that way I'm not disappointed whichever way I look.

[BruceH]

Years ago I guess I would have said skinny, but things have gotten ridiculous... Whatever happened to the golden mean? Then again, these days, "well fed" in model-land would mean something like 5'9" and 125 pounds.

[medjuck]

Well to paraphrase Lady Day, do you want comfort or speed?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Wish I HAD a model! Then I'd express an opinion

MG

[Herb]

I like mine well padded where they should be, but never OVER-padded anywhere.......

[Bright Moments]

let me preface this by saying i am very sorry but i just have to post this. i am not proud of myself for doing so or for laughing as hard as i did.

http://www.freakingnews.com/Fat-Celebritie...tures___328.asp

[BERIGAN]

let me preface this by saying i am very sorry but i just have to post this. i am not proud of myself for doing so or for laughing as hard as i did.

http://www.freakingnews.com/Fat-Celebritie...tures___328.asp

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

let me preface this by saying i am very sorry but i just have to post this. i am not proud of myself for doing so or for laughing as hard as i did.

http://www.freakingnews.com/Fat-Celebritie...tures___328.asp

I think Anna Kournikova still looks gorgeous!

MG

[Neal Pomea]

Iraq Study Group's exit strategy was simple: eat the damn thing!

[Claude]

No extra steps over skinny models

From correspondents in Paris

January 23, 2007

PARIS will not take extra measures to ban ultra-skinny models from catwalks because its rules on their health are already strict, the head of the French fashion federation said today.

Spain barred models below a certain weight from Madrid fashion shows in September, and organisers of New York's fashion shows this month issued guidelines to tackle the problem, although stopping well-short of banning them.

"We must be attentive and inform young women but not regulate even more," said Didier Grumbach, head of the French fashion federation, adding that young models already had to pass strict health checks in France.

"Regulation is something that will only weigh on the atmosphere," he told reporters ahead of a fashion show by Lebanese designer Elie Saab.

Mr Grumbach said there had been both round and very skinny models in the histoy of fashion.

"We must respect the history of fashion. We must pay attention not to link slimness and ill health. We must be very attentive," he said.

The fashion world has been debating the issue of ultra-thin models, with many designers and models shrugging off concern that they encourage eating disorders in girls and young women.

Italy's government and its fashion chiefs have signed a pact aimed at keeping models who are sickly thin off the catwalk by requiring women to show proof of their good health or risk being barred from shows.

Brazil has also launched a campaign to ban underage, underweight models from its catwalks in response to the death of a Brazilian model from complications due to anorexia.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...97-1702,00.html

Here's a picture from Elie Saab's Paris presentation:

[clifford_thornton]

Both, to answer the initial question.

A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman - objectively and subjectively speaking.

[jazzbo]

Both, to answer the initial question.

A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman - objectively and subjectively speaking.

I like that answer!