News related to the fashion world...
Naomi Campbell on very skinny fashion models: “Don’t blame the fashion industry”!
According to Naomi Campbell, underweight girls on the catwalk are suffering from a psychological illness but not being pressured into looking skinny. She said, “You can’t blame the industry for a psychological disease. It is a disease, like alcohol or drugs, and the industry is not to blame.” She also said that her agency, IMG, had policies in place to ensure that the models are well-fed during fashion shows and that the backstage area does not serve alcohol. (Feb. 16, 2007)
Comment: If the industry is not responsible for the psychological disease, then why doesn’t it stop using these women with a “psychological disease”? Why doesn’t it get mental health professionals to treat the models with a “psychological disease” so that they are cured and gain weight, thereby acquiring the “healthy weight” that would make them suitable for fashion modeling? Why do fashion designers respond with outrage -- see Stefano Gabbana -- to attempts to ban ultra-skinny fashion models from the runway?
Tragedy for the Ramos family
Fashion model Luisel Ramos, 22, was the model whose death from cardiac arrest related to malnutrition in early August, 2006, after being told that she could be an international sensation if she lost weight, prompted Madrid authorities to ban ultra skinny fashion models from the runway. Six months later, her sister, Eliana Ramos, 18, also a fashion model, died of cardiac arrest related to malnutrition. (Feb. 13, 2007)
Comment: It is never too late for authorities to strictly enforce a minimum BMI at the threshold for underweight for fashion models unless there is medical proof that a model below the threshold is healthy.