London fashion boss rejects thin model ban
September 26, 2006 
Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer and chairman of the British Fashion Council, has rejected a call not to employ skinny models for catwalk fashion shows.
The London Fashion Week has been under siege since a number of health experts and culture minister Tessa Jowell urged it to follow the lead of Madrid, which last week claimed it will not longer use models it considers too thin.
It is not the gaunt appearance of the models themselves that has sparked the controversy, as the waif-like look made possible by undergarments such as corsets continues to be popular with both commentators and the public.
Instead, the Madrid show plans to ban models with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18. This, experts have claimed, would remove the incentive for models to starve themselves to an unhealthy point.
However, Mr Rose has rejected calls to introduce similar plans for the London Fashion Week.
He explained: "Some controversy can be helpful, but what we have seen over the past days is not the way to hold a proper debate on the issue.
"Outright bans and indeed legislation is definitely not a route we want to go down."
As an alternative, several designers and journalists have called for a conference to discuss how the 'thinspiration' trend can best be addressed.
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