London Fashion Week Told Ban 'Ultra-Skinny' Models Or Risk Losing Funding, By Green Party

LFW Told To Ban 'Ultra-Skinny' Models Or Risk Losing Funding
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Models at London Fashion Week at at Brewer Street Car Park, in Soho, central London, (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Joel Ryan/Invision/AP

The future of London Fashion Week has been called into question on the last day of the spring/summer 16 shows as political pressure to impose a ban on "ultra-skinny" models increases.

The Green Party has today announced that it would seek to block City Hall funding for London Fashion Week in future years unless there is an agreement that all models have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 18.

City Hall is giving £649,000 to the British Fashion Council (BFC) this year for activities including London Fashion Week.

Sian Berry, the Green Party's mayoral candidate said:“Support for London Fashion Week should come with the clear message that those who recruit and employ models have a responsibility for their welfare as well as the messages about body image that they promote.

"I would like most of all to work with London's fantastic fashion industry to promote healthy and positive body images."

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Green Party mayoral candidate Sian Berry

The Green Party say they would put this plan into action if they hold the balance of power on the London Assembly after May's London elections.

The Green Party's announcement comes after Conservative MP Caroline Noakes, who heads the All Parliamentary Group on Body Image, announced her campaign for a law banning models with a BMI of under 18 from the catwalk.

Noakes and Berry agree that they would like the UK to follow in the lead of France, which is the latest country to vote to criminalise the use of models who are dangerously thin.

HuffPost UK Style has contacted the British Fashion Council for a statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that for adults, the healthy range for BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. An adult with a BMI below 18 is considered malnourished, and 17 severely malnourished.

The British Fashion Council currently does not enforce a minimum BMI for models, as they believe it is an inaccurate measure for young women.

Instead, the organisation say they have "a focus on looking after models [and] encourage health and wellbeing with healthy food and drink provided backstage at shows."

Model Rosie Nelson, who has launched a petition asking the Government to create a law to protect models from the pressure to be "dangerously skinny", agrees with the BFC that BMI is not a good measure of a model's health.

Therefore, while she would like to see a change in the law, the politicians focus on BMI is not something she can get behind.

"BMI is a very blunt tool which doesn't consider personal diets or exercise regimes when determining a person's health status," she told HuffPost UK Style.

"I would rather see a different set of health checks put in place where models are asked to provide regular health certificates from their doctor.

"I believe the agencies representing models also have a responsibility of care for their girls. They should make time to regularly discuss health and well-being with their models, to ensure they are looked after in the workplace.

A healthy image and lifestyle is what a model should promote, not a certain body size or shape.

"If a law was brought in that required models to have health checks every three to six months then we would see a huge change in the modelling industry within the first year."

"I think that, regardless of any funding changes, the council should recognise how important this issue is to so many people.

"They shouldn't need to feel threatened in order to take responsibility and start making improvements."

Meet Our Body Image Heroes
Adele(01 of17)
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Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself." (credit:Facebook)
Lady Gaga(02 of17)
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After the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution." (credit:Facebook)
Christina Aguilera(03 of17)
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"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview. (credit:Facebook)
Margaret Cho(04 of17)
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In a powerful 2012 piece for Jezebel, the comedian responded to people who criticized her appearance:
I grew up hard and am still hard and I don't care. I did not choose this face or this body and I have learned to live with it and love it and celebrate it and adorn it with tremendous drawings from the greatest artists in the world and I feel good and powerful like a nation that has never been free and now after many hard won victories is finally fucking free. I am beautiful and I am finally fucking free.
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Gina Rodriguez(05 of17)
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The Golden-Globe winner told HuffPost Live how her father shaped her perspective on beauty:
Beauty was very much on my mind. I had a father that would -- we would look up at billboards and he would say, "That's one version of beauty. You're another version of beauty. And she's a version of beauty. And that girl? She's another version of beauty." He always said that beauty came from within, and as much as you're younger and you're [sarcastically] like, "Yeah, beauty comes from within" -- no, beauty does come from within. I've met some of the most beautiful people, and sadly their heart is just not smiling, and that destroys it all. And then other people that aesthetically aren't considered as beautiful are the most gorgeous people I've ever seen in my life.
Rebel Wilson(06 of17)
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The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people." (credit:Facebook)
Ashley Judd(07 of17)
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After the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face," the actress fought back in The Daily Beast, calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others." (credit:Facebook)
Danielle Brooks(08 of17)
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The "Orange Is The New Black" actress wrote a powerful essay for Glamour about her struggles with self-esteem and journey to body love. She's now dedicated to making sure all body types are seen on-screen:"Ideally, I want to see all beauties, all shapes, all sizes, all skin tones, all backgrounds represented in my profession. Now that I am blessed to be that reflection I was once looking for, I’m making a promise to speak out for that little girl that I used to be." (credit:Getty)
Allison Tate(09 of17)
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Tate's essay about body image and motherhood not only broke the Internet; it has sparked a movement of "moms who stay in the picture." (credit:Allison Tate)
Gabourey Sidibe(10 of17)
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The "Precious" actress had the most incredible comeback to cruel comments about her weight.
Autumn Whitefield Madrano(11 of17)
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On her informed, thoughtful blog "The Beheld," Autumn writes about beauty, body image, appearance and her two -- that's right, two -- mirror fasts. (credit:Facebook)
Kjerstin Gruys(12 of17)
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Gruys went on a year-long mirror fast during which she did not study her reflection in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, or look at photographs of herself. (credit:Facebook)
Lena Dunham(13 of17)
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At the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show "Girls," why Dunham is naked in so many scenes. Dunham responded, "I realized that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day. (credit:Facebook)
Alexa Chung(14 of17)
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Chung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it." (credit:Facebook)
Stella Boonshoft(15 of17)
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The NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies. (credit:Facebook)
Beth Ditto(16 of17)
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This 5-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to The Advocate, saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself." (credit:Facebook)
Mindy Kaling(17 of17)
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In 2013 interview with Parade, Kaling said that she was tired of being discussing her appearance:"I always get asked, 'Where do you get your confidence?' I think people are well meaning, but it's pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, 'You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You're not skinny, you're not white, you're a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you're worth anything?'" (credit:Getty)