Quebec takes stand on thin models as Fashion Week begins
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | 9:16 AM ET
CBC News
The provincial minister responsible for the status of women in Quebec had the fashion industry in her sights as she announced plans to adopt a charter that would call for an end to ultra-thin models on runways and magazine pages.
Christine St. Pierre's decision to form a committee to look at the idea of a charter that would take the "skinny" out of fashion shows comes at the beginning of Montreal Fashion Week, which started Monday and ends Friday.
St. Pierre said the industry has to take responsibility for the health of its models, and that she wants to make sure those strutting the runways are in good health.
‘The entire industry should evaluate their methods and go more towards more realistic sized women.’
--Monke Yves
"We have to change the mentality," St. Pierre told CBC News. "We are in a position to say to them 'OK, you have to do something.' But I'm not looking for a law, I'm just looking for an involvement from the fashion industry."
St. Pierre said she hopes halting the use of super-thin models would help curb anorexia, a deadly eating disorder, in young women.
"If we work with the fashion industry they will be able to reach young women and young men and to talk to them," she said. "This is what we are looking for, and also we want to address this problem with the health minister and all the businesses involved."
Jean-François Daviau, producer of Montreal Fashion Week and co-president of Sensation Mode, said he believes a charter would be a good idea, but he said the models also need support.
"We don't want to point at her and say 'You're the problem,'" Daviau said. "That's another issue. We have to be very careful on the impact of such an action."
Daviau said although the North American audience tends to disapprove of super-skinny and underweight models, many fashion images on television and in magazines come from Europe, where the images are more readily accepted. Daviau said it could be difficult to change industry attitudes toward the very thin models there.
St. Pierre said she plans to appoint a committee, made up of people from the fashion industry, to work on the charter in the coming weeks, which she hopes will be adopted in March.
