The size-zero controversy moved from editorial outrage into formal regulation during the 2010s. Italy developed a government-and-industry code under which labels including Prada, Versace, and Armani agreed to exclude size-zero models and introduce larger sizes at shows. France went further with legislation requiring models to provide a doctor's certificate addressing their health, age, weight, and body shape; a subsequent fashion-industry charter backed by luxury groups Kering and LVMH committed participating brands to reject women below French size 34, approximately a US size 0, and men below French size 44. Paris fashion week was also described as banning size-zero models. Israel's March 2012 law required models to obtain medical certification showing a BMI of at least 18.5 and required advertisements to disclose when digital retouching made models appear thinner. The measures were presented as protections against anorexia and exploitative casting, but they also drew criticism from modeling professionals who called BMI thresholds arbitrary and unsuitable for every body, revealing the contradiction at the heart of reform: an industry trying to cure body manipulation through still more institutional control of bodies.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2010s
From Catwalk Ideal to Government Regulation: The International War on Ultra-Thin Models
Prada; Versace; Armani; Kering; LVMH; French and Israeli fashion industries / 2010s
The size-zero controversy moved from editorial outrage into formal regulation during the 2010s. Italy developed a government-and-industry code under which labels including Prada, Versace, and Armani agreed to exclude size-zero models and introduce larger sizes at shows. France went further with legislation requiring models to provide a doctor's certificate addressing their health, age, weight, and body shape; a subsequent fashion-industry charter backed by luxury groups Kering and LVMH committed participating brands to reject women below French size 34, approximately a US size 0, and men below French size 44. Paris fashion week was also described as banning size-zero models. Israel's March 2012 law required models to obtain medical certification showing a BMI of at least 18.5 and required advertisements to disclose when digital retouching made models appear thinner. The measures were presented as protections against anorexia and exploitative casting, but they also drew criticism from modeling professionals who called BMI thresholds arbitrary and unsuitable for every body, revealing the contradiction at the heart of reform: an industry trying to cure body manipulation through still more institutional control of bodies.
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