Global practice

The Model Health Inquiry will review the practices of different global fashion centres in order to address health concerns about models on London Fashion Week catwalks. Fashion centres including Madrid, Paris, Milan and New York have developed policies to address the health of models and a range of existing approaches will be considered in the Model Health Inquiry. The Inquiry will determine independently the extent to which any of these other international initiatives may be appropriate to the London market. In addition, the Inquiry will acknowledge the unique elements that London, as a leading fashion centre, brings to an increasingly competitive international landscape.

An indication of the approaches taken by other leading fashion centres are as follows:

• Madrid: organisers of Madrid Fashion Week, in cooperation with the Madrid regional government, produced a code of conduct which restricted models with a BMI less than 18.5 from participating in the catwalk fashion shows. www.munimadrid.es/
  
  
• Paris: the French Fashion Federation plans to introduce a voluntary charter for the fashion industry with the aim of promoting awareness about the health risks of being too thin. www.modeaparis.com/vf/index.html
  
  
• New York: the Council of Fashion Designers of America Health Initiative made several recommendations with the aim of creating fashion industry awareness around the signs and health risks associated with eating disorders.  www.cfda.com/
  
  
• Milan: the Italian Ministry of Youth and Sport promoted the Italian Fashion Industry Manifesto for Self-Regulation Against Anorexia which suggests restricting models with a BMI less than 18.5 from participating in the catwalk fashion shows. www.pogas.it/.../manifesto.html