They said/We said: Diane von Furstenberg furthers her attempts to enforce legal and healthy models walk in the Fall 2012 shows

Photography by Peter Stigter

Photography by Peter Stigter

CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg is not going to let anything slide when it comes to health regulations for models. After last year’s fiasco—an underage 15-year-old (16 being legal age for models), Hailey Clauson, walked in Furstenberg’s Fall 2011 show without her knowledge—the designer is determined to ensure all shows follow the CFDA’s endorsed health guidelines. The guidelines were updated on Thursday.

Furstenberg, scandalized by the incident, pledged, “any model walking in the Diane von Furstenberg runway will have shown I.D. prior to the show,” and is asking other designers to do the same.

To further reinforce this regulation and promote awareness, the CFDA sent a guide to help recognize eating disorders. The lengthy guidelines suggest the industry do things like “Encourage models who may have an eating disorder to seek professional help in order to continue modeling,” and “Develop workshops for the industry on the nature of eating disorders” Extensive list? Yes, but definitely necessary.

DVF has been blazing this trail for a while now, but we fear there’s more work to be done. In the meantime, let’s hope other designers follow in her footsteps for the Fall 2012 shows.

THEY SAID:

Huffington Post: “It’s a promising step in the right direction, going beyond op-eds and symbolic gestures to real change. But it is worth noting that the guidelines only apply directly to runway models, leaving magazine shoots, advertisements and other fashion media untouched. Can the fight for healthier models be won if only fought on one front?” [Huffington post]

Styleite: “We love that Diane is taking responsibility for what many in the fashion industry don’t see as a social problem—she’s absolutely right when she says that the runway has an impact on the lives of women.” [Styleite]

WE SAID:

Rani Sheen, features editor: “Proper guidelines about checking I.D. and monitoring model at-risk for eating disorders are a step in the right direction, though the CFDA only really has power to implement them at DVF’s own show. And models deserve a healthy work environment! Our March cover model, Anais Pouliot, told me that at fashion week (all four in a row): ‘You don’t sleep a lot and you eat so badly because the food backstage is disgusting. It’s really bad… Sometimes they have nothing but coffee and tea.’”

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