French fashion firms ban use of too-thin models
French luxury fashion companies LVMH and Kering have banned the use of skinny female and male models from their casting calls and runway shows.
As Fashion Week in New York continues - from September 7 to 14 - the luxury brands announced that they would be banning their use of female models size 32 (UK size 4, US size 6) and under, and male models size 42 (UK size 32, US size 36 or XXS) and under.
The brands - which are the parent companies and distributors of labels including Balenciaga, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, and represent almost 15% of the luxury fashion products sold worldwide - will now only issue sample sizes of clothes of no smaller than size 34 for women (UK size 6, US size 10) and 44 for men (UK size 34, US size 38, or XS).
They will not use models younger than 16 years of age to model adult clothing ranges, and will also demand that any models they use for a photoshoot or a catwalk show “are in possession of a valid medical certificate proving their good health and their ability to work”, according to a spokesperson, as reported by French newspaper Le Monde.
Calling their move a “charter”, the companies have also detailed certain good working conditions that agencies must provide for models working in France; perhaps a direct response to a recent social media scandal, which exposed a casting agency used by Kering as having asked all the models in attendance to wait in a dark stairwell for three hours before allowing them to be seen.
The charter comes just months after a law came into force in France in May, in which models must already confirm their health, and present a BMI (body mass index) of 17 or over, to be allowed to work (the ‘normal’ BMI for a healthy weight is between 18-25).
Any fashion company who breaks these rules is liable to fines of upwards of €75 000 and up to six months in prison for the individuals responsible.
The move by LVMH and Kering has been cautiously welcomed by commentators, calling it a “step in the right direction”, although former model Victoire Maçon Dauxerre, who wrote a book denouncing the ‘cult of thinness’ in 2016, said: “Even size 34 is far too thin for someone who is 1,80 metres tall”.
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According to figures, only 0,7% of women in France wear a size 34 or below.
