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• Fashion news 2012: Models Under 16 Not Allowed To Catwalk

  
  30 January 2012
  

  Fashion news 2012: Models are not allowed to walk the runway if they haven’t reached the age of 16. This used to be a general recommendation to all designers, but sometimes young girls were able to do the show despite the fact they were not old enough. Now to get the access to the catwalk they will have to show their IDs.

  While the Council of Fashion Designers of America requires designers not to use models under the age of 16 not everyone seems to follow the recommendations. To make sure no one will break the rule again CFDA instructed beauties’ IDs to be checked before they are allowed to the catwalk.

  Such a decision was made to ensure no incidents like last year’s, when a model who was 15 at the time walked Diane von Furstenberg’s fashion show in February 2011, would never take place again. Diane, who is the CFDA President had to send a letter with apologies to members of the Council.

  She wrote:

  It is to my horror that I discovered last Friday that in spite of me repeating that to my production and casting people, one girl slipped through the cracks. One girl who will be 16 in March walked my show last week!”

  Despite the fact the CFDA has issued strict guidelines to keep models under age off the fashion shows they only advise designers to use models with no health issues to protect both the models and young girls who are too impressionable.

  You can read the guidelines here:

  THE CFDA’S NEW HEALTH INITIATIVE GUIDELINES

  • Educate the industry to identify the early warning signs in an individual at risk of developing an eating disorder.
  • Encourage models who may have an eating disorder to seek professional help in order to continue modeling. And models who are receiving professional help for an eating disorder should not continue modeling without that professional’s approval.
  • Develop workshops for the industry (including models and their families) on the nature of eating disorders, how they arise, how we identify and treat them, and complications if they are untreated.
  • Support the well-being of younger individuals by not hiring models under the age of sixteen for runway shows; not allowing models under the age of eighteen to work past midnight at fittings or shoots; checking IDs to ensure that models are the appropriate age; providing regular breaks and rest. Consult the applicable labor laws found at www.labor.state.ny.us when working with models under sixteen.
  • Supply healthy meals, snacks, and water backstage and at shoots and provide nutrition and fitness education.
  • Promote a healthy backstage environment by raising the awareness of the impact of smoking and tobacco-related disease among women, ensuring a smoke-free environment, and address underage drinking by prohibiting alcohol.