What are we, twelve?

'Oh God, I Need To Be Size Zero'

Models should be required to provide medical certificates from doctors who specialise in the recognition of eating disorders to prove they are fit to work, an inquiry has concluded.

It also said they should be banned from smoking and subject to random drug tests backstage - and those under the age of 16 should be banned from the catwalk altogether.
The report recommends Criminal Record Bureau checks on agents, designers and photographers working with models.

And it also said good quality food should be provided to models backstage.
But it stopped short of demanding the introduction of a minimum size or body mass index as has been imposed in Madrid and Milan.

The inquiry, led by Baroness Kingsmill, was in response to the controversy over "size zero" models following the death of two South American models last year.
Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos died from complications caused by anorexia.
Designer Paul Costelloe told Sky News that it was right for the industry to take responsibility for the health of its models, but wrong to impose arbitrary weight limits.

"I don't think it's right that the fashion industry should be dictated to by a booklet telling us that if a model is 5'10" she has to weigh nine stone, 10 stone, or whatever," he said.
"People are different: it's down to their bones, to their shape, to their genes.
"You know straight away, and I've been around this business long enough to know when a girl is a bit unhappy in herself, then that will show as soon as she puts on a garment and walks in front of you one should be able to tell.

"I would not use and generally my clothes would not fit a size eight anyway, and a person who is size eight and 5'10" that's nearly too thin. You need a good 10 or 11."
Nevertheless, there can be pressure on models to conform to extremes of body form.
Jo Lawden is a size eight, she's been modelling for nearly seven years, but she says it takes real strength of character to maintain your self-confidence when the competition is size zero.

"Nowadays in the industry there is a lot of pressure for girls to be skinny.
"I know a lot of people don't like the whole size zero thing however we all know it does exist and sometimes you can't help but think 'oh God I need to be a size zero.' It can be really detrimental to you.

"You worry about everything so much and there are so many girls out there fighting for the same job, we're all up for the same thing and it's very competitive."
It it too simplistic to blame the fashion industry for 'causing' eating disorders, indeed that would be patronising to those suffering from them.
But those trying to help them recover say there is a responsibility to be borne by the fashion industry in terms of normalising very low body weights.

Susan Ringwood, from the eating disorder charity BEAT, told us: "We interviewed over 100 young people who already have an eating disorder.
"We asked them to describe, did this play a part, did it make them ill in the first place and they all said, 'no, it wasn't what made us ill, but it makes it so much harder for us to get better.'

"When they see someone that's very thin, very celebrated on the front of the magazines and being held up as an example, and yet they're being told they're so ill they've got to go to hospital, that's a very difficult contradiction to explain to a 12-year old."