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FRANCE’S lower house of parliament has approved a measure that
would make it a crime to use ultra-thin models, despite howls of protest
from modelling agencies in the world’s fashion capital.
“Anyone whose body mass index ... is below a certain level will not
be able to work as a catwalk model,” according to the amendment voted in
the National Assembly lower house of parliament.
“Anyone whose body mass index ... is below a certain level will not be able to work as a catwalk model,” according to the amendment voted in the National Assembly lower house of parliament.
Agencies found employing models considered too thin could be liable
for a fine of up to 75,000 euros ($107,000) and six months in prison.
Other countries including Israel, Italy and Spain have also cracked down on the glorification of dangerously thin models.
The French measure would only apply within France, but could have symbolic impact beyond because of its outsized influence on the fashion world.
“This is an important message to young women who see these models as an aesthetic example,” Health Minister Marisol Touraine said.
However, the National Union of Modelling Agencies has complained this would affect the competitiveness of French modelling.
MPs adopted the amendment on Friday, as part of a larger public health bill working its way through the legislature. They adopted a related amendment earlier this week targeting those who run pro-anorexia websites, carrying punishment of a year in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros.
A similar measure in 2008 failed to get final approval in the French legislature.
Up to an estimated 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, 90 per cent of them women and girls, according to the health ministry.
Crackdown ... agencies found
employing models considered too thin could be liable for a fine of up to
$107,000 and six months in prison.
“Anyone whose body mass index ... is below a certain level will not be able to work as a catwalk model,” according to the amendment voted in the National Assembly lower house of parliament.
Campaign ... a 2007 billboard in
Milan shows anorexic French model Isabelle Caro, who died in 2010 after
returning to France from a job in Tokyo. Picture: AP
Source: AP
Other countries including Israel, Italy and Spain have also cracked down on the glorification of dangerously thin models.
The French measure would only apply within France, but could have symbolic impact beyond because of its outsized influence on the fashion world.
“This is an important message to young women who see these models as an aesthetic example,” Health Minister Marisol Touraine said.
Important message ... Fance’s lower
house of parliament has approved a measure that would make it a crime to
use ultra-thin models, despite protest from Parisian modelling
agencies.
MPs adopted the amendment on Friday, as part of a larger public health bill working its way through the legislature. They adopted a related amendment earlier this week targeting those who run pro-anorexia websites, carrying punishment of a year in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros.
A similar measure in 2008 failed to get final approval in the French legislature.
Up to an estimated 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, 90 per cent of them women and girls, according to the health ministry.
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