Banning ultra-thin models from the runways might be the next fashion trend, but it's one that the fashion industry in London is in no hurry to follow.

The Model Health Inquiry — a panel of British fashion industry workers and an eating disorder specialist — made no recommendation on ultra-thin models in an interim report released Wednesday. It did recommend banning models under age 16 from the Fashion Week catwalk shows, saying the youngest were particularly vulnerable to eating disorders and sexual exploitation.

The British Fashion Council, a consortium of fashion retailers and publishers that oversees Fashion Week, formed the panel in January to promote healthy fashion models during the Fashion Weeks in September and February. Fashion bosses in Paris and New York have also declined to ban ultra-skinny models from their catwalks.

However, in Rome on Wednesday, designer Raffaella Curiel barred 15 models from her show because they were too skinny, complying with a fashion code signed by the Italian industry last year to combat anorexia, Italian news reports said.

The fashion industry has drawn criticism for hyping the super-thin look, which critics say promotes eating disorders among young women. In the past year, the Uruguayan sisters Eliana and Luisel Ramos, both models, each reportedly died of anorexia-linked heart attacks. Anorexia was also blamed for the death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston last year.

The Madrid fashion show bans women whose body mass-to-height ratio is below 18, while Milan bans models below 18.5. The London panel said the body mass formula, known as the Body Mass Index, is not a foolproof way to identify eating disorders.

Dee Doocey, the culture, fashion and tourism spokeswoman on London's city council, described the interim report as a "huge disappointment" and called for a ban on models with a BMI of less than 18.5.

"I accept that BMI bans may not be the panacea, but it would be a principled start and send a strong signal to the industry that practices that put young women's health at risk will not be tolerated," she said.

The report focuses on developing a healthy "backstage environment" for models, including protection from unhealthy eating or drug habits. It does not recommend any definite actions.

"Banning weight and banning size is not going to help us," said Adrienne Key, an eating disorders expert and the panel's health industry representative.

Denise Kingsmill, the panel's chairwoman, acknowledged that there were not many models under 16.

"But there shouldn't be any. I cannot think of another group of workers who are as young, vulnerable, or as underrepresented as these girls," she said.

The British Fashion Council has not said it will implement its panel's recommendations. But Hilary Riva, the council's chief executive, said the report's recommendations "are consistent with and support the BFC's already well-established policy."

The final report will be prepared in September and the council is expected to implement it.

India is a long way off from being recognised as a fashion power although its designers are showcasing their lines at top global ramp shows, says the head of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI).

Over the years, India has witnessed a slow but steady surge in the number of designers who have taken their clothes to the high-end fashion streets of London, Milan, Paris, Milan and Rome.

This year Manish Arora's 'Fish Fry' will swish down the Paris catwalks and Neeta Lulla and Pria Kataria Puri will flaunt their Autumn/Winter line at the Rome Fashion Week. India's flamboyant outfits have also dazzled the ramps in the Middle East and South Africa in recent years.

'The Indian fashion fraternity is definitely making headway in placing Indian designs on global runways,' FDCI director general Rathi Vijay Jha said, adding: 'But India still needs to go a long way to be recognised as a fashion power in the international arena.'

With FDCI focusing on serving as a platform for boosting the business of fashion rather than the pomp and glamour element, Jha said, there was a need to provide designers with technical skills and know-how about global market trends.

'There is a need to build capacity to support designers in terms of constant upgrades of technical skills, and global and specific market trends. While a few designers have large established businesses to ensure consistency and larger scales of production that the market requires, we need to support the younger professionals to make their mark,' she maintained.

Indian prints, needle and patchwork and traditional embellishments on skirts, jackets and other Western outfits have a huge demand globally.

Designers like Rohit Bal, Ranna Gill, Ritu Kumar and J.J. Valaya now have dedicated spaces in international fashion stores like Saks Fifth Avenue Dubai, if not at Bond Street or Sloane Square.

The industry has matured over the years to produce outfits incorporating the Indian spirit. Innovations with cuts and silhouettes have also crept in slowly as the trendsetters have stopped copying Western elements and aspire to take their clothes to the top fashion shows.

Jha felt participation of the designers in international fashion shows had helped them make a mark for themselves globally and establish a wider clientele base.

'Indian designers are making a foray at the international fashion weeks and are taking India beyond its borders,' she said. 'Showcasing their collections overseas helps Indian fashion, style and skills cross over to the global market place.

'Although the demand of fashion wear is very high amongst domestic buyers, yet participation at international shows plays an important role in widening the clientele base,' she added.

The Evening Circle of St. John Evangelical United Church of Christ, 307 W. Clay St., will sponsor a luncheon and fashion show at 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday.

Featured will be a salad luncheon consisting of fruits, gelatins and leafy green salads. Fashion Bug will provide the latest styles. All proceeds will go towards charity.

Tickets are $8 and must be purchased in advance by calling Vicki at 344-6809 or the church office at 344-2526.

Fifteen models were kicked out of a Rome fashion show overnight for being too thin, sparking new debate on anorexia in the fashion industry.

"I asked that girls with abnormal measurements shouldn't work ... [and] had to fire 15 who were under [French] size 36 [US size eight]," Raffaella Curiel told reporters.

"One girl fainted during the trials," he said. "I had to give her a ham sandwich."

Curiel says his fashion house wants to respect rules developed in December to combat anorexia among fashion models.

"It's not our fault if [agencies] send us girls who are too skinny."

Under the new rules, girls under 16 cannot take to the catwalk, and models must produce a certificate proving that they have no eating disorders.

Panel findings

Meanwhile, a panel of fashion and health experts in the UK says girls aged under 16 should be banned from catwalk modelling to protect them from eating disorders and sexual exploitation.

Older teenagers also need more protection, including chaperones at shows, says the Model Health Inquiry - a group investigating models' health.

The panel says there is a trend for the industry to use younger models, who are more vulnerable to eating disorders such as anorexia.

"There was also strongly expressed concern that it is profoundly inappropriate that girls under 16 ... should be portrayed as adult women," said Baroness Kingsmill, chair of the the panel.

"The risk of sexualising these children was high and designers could risk charges of sexual exploitation."

The inquiry was set up by the British Fashion Council, which runs London Fashion Week, in the wake of a long-running controversy over super thin, size zero models.

Health

The panel has rejected the idea of weighing models and banning those under a certain weight.

It received mixed evidence on whether models should have tests to assess their body mass index, a measure of fat.

Many models told the inquiry that they feared losing work because they were not thin enough.

As well as eating disorders, the panel highlighted health risks from stress, substance abuse and poor working conditions.

"We have grave concerns about other health areas, such as drug and alcohol abuse and the stress caused by working conditions for model," the panel's interim report said.

"We are also concerned that modelling is very much a hidden profession with very little transparency about the working conditions that many models have to endure."

The panel wants better training for designers and agents to help them spot models with eating disorders.

There should be a clampdown on drugs and smoking backstage and models should have access to healthy food, it says.

- AFP/Reuters

Fifteen models were kicked out of a Rome fashion show late Tuesday for being too thin, sparking new debate on anorexia in the fashion industry.

"I asked that girls with abnormal measurements shouldn't work ... (and) had to fire 15 who were under (French) size 36 (US size eight)," Raffaella Curiel told reporters.

"One girl fainted during the trials," he said, adding, "I had to give her a ham sandwich."

Curiel said his fashion house wanted to respect rules developed in December to combat anorexia among fashion models, but added: "It's not our fault if (agencies) send us girls who are too skinny."

Under the new rules, girls under 16 cannot take to the catwalk, and models must produce a certificate proving that they have no eating disorders.

Australia’s main fashion industry body has supported restrictions on models younger than 16 working at big fashion shows.

Australian Fashion Council manager Zoe Edquist said that events such as Australian Fashion Week and the Melbourne Fashion Festival were an “adult environment” and younger teenage models should be chaperoned.

Ms Edquist was responding to a report released this week by the British fashion industry panel’s Model Health Inquiry, which recommended banning models aged less than 16 for London Fashion Week.

Ms Edquist, whose organisation represents more than 200 fashion businesses, including top designers, said a ban was too drastic, but it was “incredibly sensible” to introduce rules to protect young girls.

She said younger teenagers were ill-equipped to face issues like sexualisation, alcohol and rejection. Measures could include not booking them too late at night, having parents or adults present on jobs and monitoring alcohol consumption.

“I don’t think it’s particularly contentious to say that girls under 16 probably emotionally aren’t really ready to be working in that very adult fashion area,” Ms Edquist said.

“I can speak from personal experience because I was a model when I was 16 and my experience was not particularly good ... I didn’t really know how to handle myself very well in that sort of environment.”

The British report called for a scientific study into the prevalence of eating disorders among fashion models and an investigation into whether a minimum bodymass index requirement of 18.5 should be introduced for London Fashion Week models.

The latter measure has been adopted by Madrid Fashion Week.