Vogue Bans Skinny Models: 'Good Health is Beautiful'
Good health is beautiful according to Vogue, one of the world's leading fashion magazines, who has promised to promote the message by promoting healthy figured models.
The magazine released its new "Health Initiative" on Thursday in its June edition. Vouge is currently available in 19 different countries, and all 19 editors have agreed to the terms of the new initiative.
"As one of the fashion industry's most powerful voices, Vogue has a unique opportunity to engage with relevant issues where we feel we can make a difference," editor Alexandra Shulman wrote in the magazine under the Editor's Letter.
Shulman stated that the Initiative would "build on the successful work that the Council of Fashion Designers of America with the support of American Vogue in the US and the British Fashion Council in the UK have already begun to encourage a healthier approach to body image within the industry."
In order to promote the healthy initiative, the editors have vouched that they will only work with models who meet a certain health criteria which will be based on age, weight, and pre-existing health conditions.
"Vogue believes that good health is beautiful," Jonathan Newhouse, Condé Nast International chairman, told Vogue online. "Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the wellbeing of their readers."
The editors believe that their commitment to "work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help to promote a healthy body image" will allow them to "be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image".
The new requirements state that all models must be at least 16 years of age according to an announcement made by Conde Nast, who is responsible for the magazine. Casting directors will be asked to require IDs and no models with apparent eating disorders will be considered.