The Sandspur

Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Since the 1990's, when the term "heroin-chic" was first noted as a trend, the fashion industry as well as pop culture in general has become a victim of the obsession for women to be waifishly thin with jutting bones and frail figures in order to be considered more attractive. But just from the name itself, this trend has
imposed a false sense of beauty upon women especially the youth of today's world.

Now the fashion world has finally begun to respond to the message anti-drug and eating
disorder prevention groups have been conveying for years.

In Spain, back in September of 2006, the organizers of the Madrid Fashion Week imposed limits on the models' body shapes in order to "project an image of beauty
and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look". The decision came a?? er many protests sparked against the idea that young girls and women alike try to emulate
what they see in the fashion media although the majority of runway models are considerably below the body mass of the average woman. The Madrid Fashion Show imposed a minimum BMI (body mass index) of 18, which resulted in the turning
away of 30% of the models that had previously worked the event.

The BMI or the Quetelet Index, named after Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet, was developed back between the 1830's and 1850's as a statistical measure and is calculated based on a person's height and
weight. In order to calculate it using US imperial units (lb/in2) divide your weight in pounds by your height in inches squared all multiplied by 703. The BMI normal
range lies between 18.5 and 25. But the BMI has its pitfalls as it is only a general measure and doesn't account for a person's
muscularity, age in relation to development
or frame size. There are many arguments that say a measure of a person's body fat percentage is a more accurate way to identify weight issues.

In London, shortly after the Madrid Fashion
Week, the organizers of the London Fashion Week failed to follow in Madrid's footsteps. Basically, London organizers
did not want to go up against all the modeling agencies and that lashed out against the ban in Madrid. Spokespeople for
various modeling agencies spoke out saying that the fashion agency was merely a scapegoat for eating disorders and negative body images and that these bans were discrimination against models with
"gazelle-like" body shapes. However,
officials in Milan have also been considering enforcing a similar ban in their Fashion Week.

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