While President Obama and the first lady recently highlighted the need to combat childhood obesity, the fashion industry debated a different weight-related angle: "sample size."
The models who auditioned for New York Fashion Week, which runs through Thursday, were undeniably thin. But it was only after the fashion industry started worrying about too-skinny models that casting agent James Scully began asking their age.
Most, he found, were younger than 16.
"Things are very seriously wrong at this moment," he said.
As another round of runway shows kicked off Thursday, fashion insiders again took up the cause of emaciated models, this time with a new target to blame: youth.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) hosted a panel discussion last week on changing the standard model "sample size," part of the health initiative it started after the death three years ago of a model with an eating disorder.
Spain and Italy adopted mandatory weight guidelines at the time, but the CFDA opted instead for voluntary measures that put the focus on nutritional and emotional counseling. Since then, some models have been red-flagged and removed from the runway to focus on eating and living well, said CFDA President Diane von Fursternberg.
The CFDA panel, "The Beauty of Health: Resizing the Sample Size," initially focused on whether increasing the size of sample garments used in fashion shows and magazine photo shoots from 0 to 4 would result in healthier models. But designers, models and agents agreed that part of the problem was the dominance of very young models.
"You can't address the sample size 0 without addressing age," said David Bonnouvrier, head of DNA Models.
Among the CFDA guidelines was a recommendation that models younger than 16 be kept out of fashion shows and models younger than 18 kept out of fittings or photo shoots past midnight. Those guidelines clearly haven't stuck and remain purely voluntary.
While President Obama and the first lady recently highlighted the need to combat childhood obesity, the fashion industry debated a different weight-related angle: "sample size."
The models who auditioned for New York Fashion Week, which runs through Thursday, were undeniably thin. But it was only after the fashion industry started worrying about too-skinny models that casting agent James Scully began asking their age.
Most, he found, were younger than 16.
"Things are very seriously wrong at this moment," he said.
As another round of runway shows kicked off Thursday, fashion insiders again took up the cause of emaciated models, this time with a new target to blame: youth.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) hosted a panel discussion last week on changing the standard model "sample size," part of the health initiative it started after the death three years ago of a model with an eating disorder.
Spain and Italy adopted mandatory weight guidelines at the time, but the CFDA opted instead for voluntary measures that put the focus on nutritional and emotional counseling. Since then, some models have been red-flagged and removed from the runway to focus on eating and living well, said CFDA President Diane von Fursternberg.
The CFDA panel, "The Beauty of Health: Resizing the Sample Size," initially focused on whether increasing the size of sample garments used in fashion shows and magazine photo shoots from 0 to 4 would result in healthier models. But designers, models and agents agreed that part of the problem was the dominance of very young models.
"You can't address the sample size 0 without addressing age," said David Bonnouvrier, head of DNA Models.
Among the CFDA guidelines was a recommendation that models younger than 16 be kept out of fashion shows and models younger than 18 kept out of fittings or photo shoots past midnight. Those guidelines clearly haven't stuck and remain purely voluntary.
