A ban on anyone aged under 16 modelling at London Fashion Week is among proposals to improve protection of those involved in the industry.
Baroness Kingsmill, chairman of the Model Health Inquiry, said that most young models led bleak lives away from the catwalk. For the vast majority, she said, life was not about “only getting out of bed for £10,000”, but short careers, infrequent employment and unregulated working conditions that included “absolute horror stories”.
She added: “There has been a blind eye turned in the past. They look glamorous, they look gorgeous, so they must be OK. But they are not OK; they are ill, many of them.”
The inquiry’s interim report, published yesterday, says that girls below the age of 16 who are asked to represent adult women are at risk of being sexually exploited, and vulnerable to eating disorders. Those of 17 and 18 also need greater protection. As many as 40 per cent of models could have eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, says the inquiry panel, which includes Erin O’Connor, the model, and Betty Jackson, the designer.
The report has not demanded a ban on women with a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5, as was introduced last year at Madrid Fashion Week. But its authors argue that BMI, which is based on height-weight ratio, is not a reliable way of identifying those who are ill, and that weighing models before shows could be counter-productive. Instead it calls for model agencies to carry out medical examinations, including screening for eating disorders, before taking someone on to their books, and to arrange for check-ups.
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Backstage areas at shows should comply with the smoking ban and be “demonstrably drug-free”, says the panel, set up by the British Fashion Council this year after the council was criticised for refusing to ban super-thin women from London Fashion Week in February. Lady Kingsmill said that the inquiry would also consider the idea of random drug tests before publishing its final report in time for London Fashion Week in September.
“The modelling industry is not responsible for the world aesthetic that thinness is the ideal,” she said, but added that fashion was big business and “can no longer behave like it is a sort of cottage industry without the sort of rules and regulations that other industries have to comply with”.
She said: “I can’t think of another industry where you have such a highlighted health risk and no one doing anything about it.”
The interim report recommends ways to make advice and support more widely available to young models, including a helpline, workshops with more experienced models and a union to defend models’ rights. It also proposes training for agents and designers about eating disorders, and a formal licensing system for agents.
The British Fashion Council should be expanded to become a regulatory body to enforce codes of conduct in the fashion industry and protect those working within it, Lady Kingsmill said.