Skinny models a heavy topic in the fashion world

Waiflike models strutted down the catwalks at London Fashion Week events Thursday as the debate over whether models are too thin heated up around them.

The issue jumped into the limelight last week after organizers of Madrid's Fashion Week banned models with a Body Mass Index — a ratio of height to weight — of less than 18. That meant a 5-foot, 7-inch model had to weigh at least 115 pounds.

A big factor driving the controversy was the death of 22-year-old South American model Luisel Ramos, who suffered a heart attack just moments after stepping off a runway. She apparently had followed a three-month starvation diet of green leaves and diet Coke after being told she could be an international sensation if only she were thinner.

There was also a strong reaction this month to the models at New York's Fashion Week, said Tim Gunn, who stars on Bravo's "Project Runway" and is chair of the fashion design department at Parsons the New School for Design in New York.

"Some of the girls caused you to gasp," he said. "When the knee joint is wider than the thigh, it can be scary."

The debate is intensifying amid concern that the use of spindly models sets unrealistic standards of beauty that encourage young people to crash-diet at the expense of their health.

Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti has urged organizers behind next week's Milan Fashion Week to follow Madrid's example.

And a consortium of retailers from Birmingham, England, announced this week that they would prohibit extremely thin models from participating in the Clothes Show Live in December, a major fashion event that has kicked off the careers of many famous models.

As London's Fashion Week approached, British Culture Minister Tessa Howell publicly lobbied for a ban on super-thin models.

The Times newspaper summed up the atmosphere by writing that "it's not even Halloween yet, but already a parade of skeletons is hitting the capital." In an editorial, the paper urged designers to start using curvy women larger than American size zero.

But the fact remains that most expensive designer fashions look best when worn by women so thin that they become virtual clothes hangers.

And so far, organizers of London Fashion Week have rejected the calls for change on its approximately 50 catwalks.

Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer and chairman of the British Fashion Council, which organizes the event, said Body Mass Index is only a guide and can't be considered an absolute. He said that so long as a girl is exercising and eating right, her Body Mass Index makes little difference.

There was scant sign of any fuller-figure models at this week's shows.

At the Aquascutum catwalk on Wednesday, for example, many of the girls striding around confidently in the British luxury brand's collection to the catchy sounds of Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" looked like stick insects, albeit ones with long, wavy hair.

Kim Winser, Aquascutum's president and chief executive, said that, for her, the issue is not about being too skinny or too obese, but about being healthy.

"I was worried about one of my models looking tired, because I'm concerned about encouraging health," she said.

Some fashion experts say the brouhaha over skinny models is much ado about nothing.

"My feeling is that this is a media-generated rehash of an old story," said David Wolfe, creative director at the Doneger Group, a fashion trend consulting firm in New York.

"The fact that one show in Madrid banned skinny girls is meaningless thus far," he said. "Yes, some models look positively malnourished. This is not real news."

Wolfe said models in the 1950s were virtually the same size as models today, and that even Grace Kelly had a 20-inch waist on her wedding day.

"The reality of it is that there are more dangerously overweight teens than ever before and that isn't making big news," he said. "Why not?"

On the Web:

Body Mass Index calculator: www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi