Models banned for being too thin

A good one !
Madrid: Five models hoping to be booked for Madrid's major fashion show which begins on Monday were banned from participating because they are too thin, Spanish media reports.
This is the first time organisers of a fashion show have applied weight limits set by the world health organisation and those of the 44th "Pasarela Cibeles" said their decision was also based on a Spanish regional law aimed at fighting anorexia, a sometimes fatal disease in which women starve themselves to be thin.The 68 international models stepped on the scales, like boxers, on Saturday and five Spanish "featherweights" failed. The girls had a body mass index, calculated on a height-weight ratio, of under 18 (56 kilograms for 1.75 metres or 123 pounds for five feet eight inches), the limit set by the regional government of Madrid which co-finances the event.The girls were weighed by volunteer doctors recruited for the occasion by the Spanish society of endocrinology and nutrition.The organisers said they had not even allowed 30 to 40 per cent of the models who had taken to the cat-walk in last year's edition of the fashion show to attend the casting.There will be 27 fashion-shows in the five-day event during which 31, largely Spanish, clothes' designers will show their wares in a marquee set up in Madrid's Retiro Park.The "anti-thin" move was criticised in Paris and New York, two of the world's leading fashion centres.

Comments

Tulaja said…
The average woman wears size 12, weighs 138 pounds and is 5 ft 4 in. Compare this with models who are, on an average, size 6, 120 pounds and 5 ft 8 in. Logic tells that models have a low BMI and are aiming at idealistic, "fantasy" numbers to look good. While the average women only gains by dieting and working out, models debilitate themselves aiming at unrealistic numbers to fit in into so called "designer" clothes, definitely not designed for the average woman. Sad state of the industry. Anorexics can have a pathetic life if not treated - menstrual problems, inability to conceive a child, osteoporosis, permanent failure to grow normally, ... the list is alarming!
It was very smart of the Spanish to use BMI (a very medical, healthy baseline) rather than weight in pounds.

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