Updated: 18:32, Saturday September 16, 2006
SKY
Attack On Fashion Industry
A row has erupted between the Government and the fashion industry over the use of "stick thin" models.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has called for very thin models to be banned from the catwalk at London Fashion Week.
She has urged the event organisers to follow the decision made by Madrid's show, Pasarela Cibeles, to ban underweight models.
Mrs Jowell has warned that ordinary girls feel under pressure to starve themselves to look like them.
She said: "The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin is damaging to young girls' self image and to their health.
"Young girls aspire to look like the catwalk models - when those models are unhealthily underweight it pressurises girls to starve themselves to look the same.
"The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves."
However, the British Fashion Council says it will not tell designers how to run their shows.
A spokesman said: "The BFC does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show."
