photo courtesy of www.everythingentertainment.com

The deaths of at least two runway models in 2006 from complications associated with anorexia drew heated attention to the unhealthy culture associated with modeling and with the fashion industry in general.  It may have taken two years, but a recent article on Today’s website reports that some positive changes were apparent on the runway at New York Fashion Week this year.  The article states that the body sizes of the models at Fashion Week had clearly increased from previous years.  Despite this progress, the modeling industry still supports a body size significantly smaller then the average American woman. As a result, there is still a lot of work to be done before what is put out by the media is a message that can make us all feel good about the skin we are in.

The fashion industry is being encouraged to take greater strides to protect the health of its models.  Currently, these efforts, described as “modest”, include workshops on eating disorders, age limitations for the runway, healthier snacks, and professional help for models identified as having an eating disorder.  We hope that continued efforts by the fashion industry will not only help to produce healthier models but healthier role models for the young girls and women who admire them.

To find out more about this topic, read the full article, Not-quite-so-thin is in for Fashion Week models, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26662601/