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Fashion is forced to act on anorexia

website:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8126-2143169,00.html

By Graham Keeley
Models and shop manequins will get bigger as a responsible new wave sweeps
the skinny look aside

THE sight of wafer-thin models such as Esther Can~adas on Spanish catwalks
could soon be a thing of the past.

Amid mounting concern about the rise in cases of anorexia and bulimia, the
so-called slimming diseases, the bosses of Spain’s biggest fashion companies
are to put an end to the ultra-skinny look.

They are to move away from what they call the “dictatorship of size 36”
(about an 8 in British measurements) by exploring ways to avoid promoting
the image of emaciated women, including the withdrawal of smaller-sized
clothes from shop window displays.

With the backing of the Spanish fashion industry and designers, the Spanish
Government has begun an investigation into the problem. A report is expected
in three months.

After years of calls for action, Elena Salgado, the Spanish Health Minister,
has raised the issue at meetings with Pablo Isla, the chief executive of
Inditex, which owns, among other companies, Zara and Massimo Dutti; Ignacio
Sierra, the chief executive of the department store chain El Corte Ingle's;
Juan Hermoso, the corporate director of the fashion chain Cortefiel; and
Judith Ventura, the design co-ordinator for Mango.

They are likely to suggest self-regulatory measures for the fashion industry
such as raising the sizes of clothes that are displayed in shop windows and
ending the careers of the super-thin models.

In some parts of Spain they have not waited for Madrid to take action.

In Andalusia, in southern Spain, shops are banned from displaying clothes
that are smaller than size 38, in a move to stop women who might have put on
a pound or two from feeling that they are no longer fashionable.

Most mannequins in high street stores such as Zara and Mango — which will be
familiar to many British tourists who have been on shopping trips in Spain —
are made for clothes in this size. Of course, in reality, Spanish women are
a little larger. The average size is said to be 40 or 42 — corresponding to
10 or 12 in British sizes.

However, campaign groups and the Health Minister believe that the catwalk “
anorexia chic” and small sizes in shops just encourage a “culture of
extreme thin-ness”.

Diagnosed cases of anorexia and bulimia are said to have reached one million
in Spain, although reliable figures are not available.

Sen~ora Salgado said: “These smaller sizes encourage extreme thinness and
the pursuit of eternal youth. The majority of people cannot achieve this,
but, in extreme cases, it can damage their health.”

For those who are campaigning for action to help sufferers from anorexia and
bulimia, action is long overdue.

Mari'a del Carmen Gonza'lez, spokeswoman for the Spanish Association for the
Defence of Victims of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia, said: “Everyone in Spain
knows someone who has one of these conditions. It has reached epidemic levels.

“What the Government and the companies are doing has got to be a good thing,
but something should have been done before.”





The left-wing party Esquerra Republicana Catalana has tabled a parliamentary
motion asking for the banning of material that could lead to bulimia or
anorexia. The proposal included banning publicity of clothes sizes if it
could be proved that it leads to the conditions.

J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels, has criticised society
for its obsession with thin women and models. She wrote on her website that
she did not want her daughters to grow up as “empty-headed, self-obsessed,
emaciated clones”.

She said that too many healthy young girls were labelled fat when it was the
models they looked up to who had the problem.

Size really does matter

ESTHER CAN~ADAS has escaped the tide of criticism against skinny models, but
her counterparts at Madrid Fashion Week were not so lucky.

Campaigners who are opposed to the effects that they say images of “almost
transparent” girls have on their peers were furious at the catwalk shows.

The Association for the Defence of Victims of Anorexia and Bulimia said that
most models were size 34 — about size 6 in Britain; but the organisers of
the event denied this.

Spain’s fashion industry has become the target of campaigners who say that
the images it presents confirm stereotypes and lead to cases of anorexia and
bulimia.

Marta Wendlinger, a Barcelona fashion consultant, said: “The designers say
they use girls size 38, but they can’t be . . . I think (the designers) say
one thing and do another.”

VITAL STATISTICS

# Inditex owns 2,772 stores worldwide, including Zara, Massimo Dutti,
Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysh, Zara Home and Kiddys Class. Last year its income
was € 66.7 billion, an increase of 21% from per cent on 2004

# Critics estimate Spain has 1 million people who are anorexic or bulemic,
although the Government has never released figures

# The figure in Britain is also 1 million, with 2 million in Germany





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