A few hours ago, the BBC announced that BMI regulations for models in France have been proposed. Models now with a BMI under 18 (the upper limit of the underweight range) could be fined up to 75,000 euros or even given prison sentences for their weight. This is all part of the ongoing crackdown on anorexia in the fashion industry.
But I'm not hugely sure what I think of this new regulation. Should it be solely down to the model and their agency? Or maybe should the fashion industry itself be changing it's view of beauty? After all, fashion labels are the ones who chose which models are in and which are out. Models may not be given much choice except be that weight if they want a job.
Like I'm sure I've mentioned before, I am a firm believer that we need to be focusing on health instead of idealised beauty standards. And I believe it is the industry itself that has the power to change, not models. There's simply no point in penalising models for simply trying to better there chances of getting work in a unstable industry, whilst companies and brands themselves are choosing the slimmest of the slim.
Instead of focusing on the models, maybe we should be campaigning for a change in beauty ideals. I've been noticing recently, especially with the growth of blogging, youtube and pinterest; that strong and healthy has become the new skinny. I love that. Now all we need is for designers and magazine editors to think the same way. I want to see healthy, happy models walking the runways this season, not ones who have scraped through with a borderline unhealthy BMI to get a job. These rules are an attempt, but a misguided one that doesn't really get to the root of the problem. How can we change this? I'm not really sure, but these regulations are not the solution.
What do you think?
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