Skinny Model Controversy: What the Officials Say

Italy's new license to model has sparked controversy around the globe. Here's what some officials have to say:

ANNA MOLINARI "Given the fact that the runways have become a model of beauty and elegance for young adolescents who are still looking for their identity...the fashion world should take responsibility for its role, dismissing those 'excesses' that can become dangerous for the youngest. I firmly believe we should recover the concept of beauty and balance, harmony, proportions and health, elegance and seduction that don't necessarily match with sizes."

BEPPE MODENESE (Fashion insider) "The weight problem has always existed and it's right to talk about it, but in the end, it's an issue for the modeling agencies."

ISABEL MARANT (French designer) "It's a mixed debate. It's an agency's responsibility to monitor their girls closely, but to weigh models and enforce restrictions based on weight alone is not realistic." (Models Erin O'Connor, Kristen McNemany and Audrey Marnay are rumored to be big eaters despite their deceptively small frames.)

DIDIER GRUMBACH (Head of the Chambre Syndicale in Paris) "We work with two unions in Paris [to oversee models] and up to now that arrangement has worked. If one day any agency is unprofessional we will do something. But at this point that is not the case. There have been no breeches of conduct. I don't see why we should regulate something that functions."

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG (Current president of the CFDA) "I am very interested in finding a way designers can really help this issue. I cannot speak in the name of the CFDA until I speak to my fellow designers who I represent. I am very sensitive to this matter and will address it. Right now, I am assembling information so that we can really be effective."

STEVEN KOLB (Executive director of the CFDA) "Initiatives that address healthier models are a positive thing. To what degree do you enforce or regulate it is the question. I think that as we in the States contemplate or consider our own action, there are a number of suggested recommendations that we can put forward to the fashion community in terms of portraying beauty and health on the runway, but I don't know if you would ever be in a position to regulate them in a way that is so strict."

 

Listen to a five-minute podcast on the issue here.