Thin is 'out' on the runway

The latest trend gracing the runways this season won't be a new Chanel bag or Dolce & Gabanna jeans, but healthier models. \nThe Manhattan-based Council for Fashion Designers of America has proposed a set of guidelines for the upcoming season, which begins in February, to combat the ultra-thin standard for models.\nThere are no weight requirements, but designers are asked to have fittings for younger models during the daytime, provide healthy backstage catering, and identify models who may have eating disorders.\nModel weight is not an issue for the IU Apparel Merchandising Organization when casting models for its annual runway show. The organization's membership officer, junior Kelsea Foist, along with the Apparel Merchandising Association, is organizing a runway show this spring, but size-0 models aren't their focus, she said.\n"We aren't looking for a particular body type or person, just someone with a good personality and who will have fun with it," Foist said. \nThese guidelines are part of a growing movement that the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers began last fall in Madrid.\nRunway models in the Spanish capital will be required to have a body mass index of at least 18. According to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, adults with a BMI under 18.5 are considered to be underweight.\nModels who have an extremely low BMI are at risk for health complications or even death, as in the case of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston.\nAccording to an article in the BBC, her death in November sent shock waves through the fashion industry. Weighing in at 88 pounds, she died in a hospital from complications of anorexia.\nIn November 2006, organizers in Milan, Italy, followed suit by requiring underage models to have chaperones and to carry licenses that says they are healthy, according to the BBC.\nThe new regulations have not come without protest, but whether they will have an impact on the fashion industry is still unknown. \nDanielle Drasin, a freshman apparel-merchandising major, is skeptical.\n"The industry is based on a certain body type," she said. "I don't believe it will ever change completely."\nDrasin said the preference for ultra-thin models began in the 1990s with the "heroin chic" look.\n"There was a huge drug craze and everyone wanted to imitate celebrities," she said.\nThe need for thin models is also fueled by the designer's vision.\n"I think that the designers have an idea of how they want the clothes to look," Foist said. "I think that fashion shows should be more about the clothes than what is underneath."\nDoctors and women's groups have been calling for healthier models, saying the ultra-thin models are sending the wrong kind of body image.\n"I think people see models on runways and think that is the ideal and that is what perfection looks like," Foist said, "but in reality it is not"