Ultra-thin models no longer the fashion in France
More photos:Wednesday April 16 2008
IT'S no longer fashionable in France to be ultra-thin.
The country moved a step closer yesterday to banning "anorexia-thin" fashion models.
In vogue will be models such as Sophie Dahl (right) but on the banned list will be those like the model (far right) on the Paris catwalk last year for top fashion house Guy Laroche.
The lower house of parliament passed a bill that would make it illegal for anyone, including magazines, advertisers and websites, to "publicly incite" extreme thinness.
The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party. It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks.
Fashion industry experts said, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere. But leaders in French couture are opposed to legal boundaries on beauty standards.
The bill is the latest and strongest of measures proposed after the 2006 anorexia-linked death of a Brazilian model prompted international efforts to tackle the use of the super-thin models.
Conservative Valery Boyer, who introduced the proposed law, argued that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court.
Doctors and psychologists treating patients with anorexia welcomed the government's efforts to fight self-inflicted starvation, but warned its link with media images remains hazy.
The first country to move against the use of ultra-thin models was Spain, banning them from catwalks last year.
