Fashion show bans underweight models

The organisers of Madrid Fashion Week have announced that they only want healthy-looking people on their catwalk.

Models at next week's show will be weighed to make sure they are above a certain body weight for their height.

They will be assessed according to the body mass index scale used by doctors to measure obesity in patients.

The World Health Organisation says a woman is underweight if she has a BMI of less than 18.5 and that a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is desirable.

Those with a BMI below 18 will be excluded from the Madrid show and offered medical help.

The move follows pressure from the regional government in Madrid.

The Association of Fashion Designers of Spain says it wants models at the the Pasarela Cibeles to project "an image of beauty and health".

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Is sickly thin falling from fashion?

Trend watchers predict that Madrid's fashion week, which starts Monday, already promises to be more substantive than the exclusive spring collections that went down the runways of New York City last week.

The reason: The models are now required to have more meat on their bones.

In a bold move, officials in Madrid have banned models whose body mass index is less than 18 — the point below which the World Health Organization considers unhealthy — from stalking down the catwalk.

As of Saturday, five of the 68 models who applied to work in the show had already been deemed too thin to make it down the runway. Some models did not submit to the weekend medical assessment, so it was unclear how organizers might approach Spain's top model Esther Canadas, who is reputed to have a body mass index of about 14.

Because regular viewers of "Project Runway" know the camera adds 15 pounds, let me give you some idea of what that might look like in real life. I don't know Canadas' precise measurements, but according to my calculations, a person who is 6 feet tall and weighs 105 pounds would have a body mass index of 14.2.

Perhaps these numbers help explain why the Spanish government also has offered medical treatment to any Madrid model whose BMI is below 16.

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Models Get The Skinny On Weight Limit

et the beautiful-but-emaciated beware: there will be no ultra-skinny models sauntering down the runway at this year's Pasarela Cibeles, Spain's most important fashion event. For the first time, the Pasarela, which begins Monday, will bar from the catwalk models with a body mass index (a weight-to-height ratio) lower than 18.

After noticeably gaunt models at last year's show provoked outcry from health and women's organizations, the Madrid regional government, which sponsors Cibeles, pressured show organizers for the change.

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