Two of the biggest fashion groups Kering and LVMH will stop hiring excessively thin models on catwalks worldwide. The two groups, whose fashion labels include Christian Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, said they had signed a charter for “the well-being of models”. The charter also forbids the hiring of girls under the age of 16 to pose as adult models for shows or shoots, will be effective for coming up fashion week in Paris.
France in 2015 passed legislation outlawing ultra-thin models from working in the country’s fashion industry. Fashion agencies face fines of up to €75,000 or imprisonment of up to six months if they breach the law.
Kering and LVMH said their charter will go further, adding that all their fashion brands commit to banning models below size 34 for women and size 44 for men in French measurements from their casting requirements.Size 32 in France corresponds to XXS or size 6 in Britain, and size 0 in the United States.
However, fashion industry insiders have long said that clothes hang and drape better on tall, androgynous women, while western cultures often associate thinness with wealth, youth and desirability.
