Skinny model storm hits London Fashion Week

LONDON - A furore about overly thin models caused London Fashion Week on Friday to cancel its opening photocall after being criticised for not banning super-skinny women from its catwalks.

The British Fashion Council (BFC), organisers of the five-day event, scrapped the photocall after receiving a barrage of criticism for refusing to follow the lead taken by Madrid and turn away models under a certain size.

"The BFC has cancelled the photocall on Sunday because it is unwilling to add any more impetus to the publicity surrounding this complicated issue. The BFC does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show," it said in a statement.

The growing trend for super-slim models in the fashion industry has whipped up a storm in the middle of the international fashion cycle. London's fashion week follows New York and comes before prestigious Milan and Paris.

British newspapers and health experts have condemned London fashion bosses for failing to follow Madrid and turn away underweight models following protests that girls and young women try to copy their looks and develop eating disorders.

Madrid fashion organisers took the unprecedented step this week of rejecting underweight women, saying they wanted to project an image of beauty and health - not a waif-like look.

British newspapers have speculated that should the ban be imposed in Britain, some of its most famous names could be barred from the catwalk.

Adding to the uproar, Harry Potter author JK Rowling has launched an attack on the "skinny obsessed world", the Evening Standard reported. Rowling said she did not want her daughters to grow up to be "empty-headed, self-obsessed clones".

The new Spanish rules say models with a body mass index - a ratio of height to weight - below 18 are not allowed to appear at the shows.

The mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, has said she will seek a similar ban for Milan Fashion Week - starting in seven days time - unless it can find a solution to "sick" looking models.

- REUTERS