Who says healthy women can’t be sexy? Fashion Runways. With far-too-skinny models stomping the runways of London’s and New York’s fashion week last week, the discussions of body image and “what is too skinny?” surfaced.
Sure, there have been other efforts from several fashion organizations around the world, but most emphasize age minimums and healthy working environments, whatever that means. I want numbers people!
For the country of Israel, enough was enough.
Adi Barkan, an iconic fashion photographer was the one who spearheaded the efforts to bring the image of the healthy model back after one of his models died in his arms from anorexia. Barkan told NBC News, “When a child looks at the TV and they want to be skinny not for any reason just because they saw beautiful and skinny girls, that, we can change.” And change he did. Barkan pressed Israeli politicians to draw up and pass a law that bans models from working who have a lower body mass index (BMI) than 18.5, or less than 118 pounds if you’re 5’7’’. Wowzah. The law also enforces clear written disclaimers in magazines and newspapers advertisements that have digitally enhanced images.