Model health inquiry - have your say

The British Fashion Council has launched its inquiry into the health of models at London Fashion Week, and you can now submit your views and opinions via a website.

The Model Health Inquiry website outlines what the task force is looking into and when it will report back. The main focus is to: "establish the extent of any health issues, in particular those relating to size, among catwalk models employed at London Fashion Week. To look at the casting and selection process of models for work at London Fashion Week. To establish the approach taken by other fashion capitals, in particular New York, Paris, Milan and Madrid; and evaluate the effectiveness of those actions. To provide guidelines for effective and practical action which might be taken by employers of catwalk models within the UK fashion industry, in order to address any material size related health concerns which the inquiry identifies and to describe how any measures, appropriate to managing the health of London Fashion Week models, would be implemented, enforced and assessed effectively."

A panel of experts including designers Betty Jackson and Giles Deacon, stick-thin model Erin O'Connor, Storm Models founder Sarah Doukas and the RCA's professor Wendy Dagworthy, will all review the research and produce an interim report and key findings in June 2007, followed by a Final Report with key recommendations in time for the next London Fashion Week in September 2007.

If you have views, suggestions or a story to tell, you need to get in touch with the Inquiry in the next month. Following the death by eating disorders of two south American models, February's London Fashion Week featured an awareness campaign for the first time. Backstage at the British Fashion Council's on-schedule shows, posters were hung giving contact information for the eating disorders organisation, Beat. This campaign however did not stop scarily skinny models appearing on catwalks, but it did prompt journalists to tackle the issue.

With high street shops now selling ranges in sizes as low as a UK 4 (including Topshop, Miss Selfridge etc) and UK 2 (Gap) it seems the cycle of smallness in UK fashion is going to be difficult to break. London's mayor, Mr Ken Livingstone, has gone on record saying that unless the BFC take action against 'size zero' (a US size zero = UK size 4) funding for London Fashion Week will be withdrawn.

words: Marian Buckley

Model Health Inquiry - www.modelhealthinquiry.com

Beat - www.b-eat.co.uk