I have been following the stories about Madrid’s recent ban on runway models with a BMI below 18 with great interest.  The ban has set off a furor in the world of fashion, with some folks (mostly, from what I can see, modeling agency bigwigs) crying out in furious protest.  My personal favorite comment came from Cathy Gould, the North American head of Elite (one of the world’s top modeling agencies) who exclaimed (I am paraphrasing here) that the ban was discriminatory to “naturally gazelle-like models”.  Yeah, right.  Like any of those girls would still be so anorectically scrawny if they weren’t forced to be so by folks like you, Cathy.  Here’s an idea - stop YOUR discrimination and let the poor girls eat already!

Now personally, I think this is one of those areas where government regulation is inappropriate.  But then again, if the industry had been acting with any semblance of sanity for the past, oh, thirty or forty years, the government wouldn’t have to step in.  If enacting such laws in one or two cities makes the willfully-deluded people who are trying to force starvation chic on the rest of us cut it out, well then I have to say go for it.

The ban (and Madrid’s fashion week) went into effect weeks ago.  I’m finally posting about it now because of this interesting development.  Jean-Paul Gaultier saw fit (I’m not sure why, as there have been ZERO news articles about it) to include this beauty in the lineup for his Spring 2007 show, held this week in Paris:

Hubba hubba - you go, Jean-Paul!  Makes me wish I could afford genuine couture.  Contrast this lovely lady with a typical model, this one from Guy Laroche’s Spring 2007 show:

 And just for reference, here are a few shots of Nazi death-camp victims:

{notice that the girl on the lower left in the second pic is probably about the same age - and not far from the same weight - as Guy Laroche’s model}

What REALLY gets my gall up is that for my entire life, the starved-looking stick woman has been touted as the ONLY possible type of beauty.  It has reached the point that EVEN THOUGH UNDERWEIGHT PEOPLE FACE JUST AS MANY, IF NOT MORE, HEALTH RISKS AS THE MORBIDLY OBESE, anybody who is larger than about a size six is deemed to be not only un-beautiful but unhealthy as well.  That’s just pure and utter bullshit, and I am relieved beyond words, for once in my life, to be able to look at a runway model without wincing and thinking ”please, please just go and eat a sandwich”.