UNITED KINGDOM: Amidst calls for a ban on 'skinny models', London gears up for Fashion Week

Record ID: 197405

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Amidst calls for a ban on 'skinny models', London gears up for Fashion Week
  • Date: 16th September 2006
  • Summary: (L!3) LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 21, 2004) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MODELS ON THE CATWALK FOR JULIEN MACDONALD SHOW
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Fashion
  • Reuters ID: LVA99Y22JJ3IBBONSPTQIKR6C99D
  • Story Text: As New York Fashion Week wraps up on Friday (September 15), the baton is passed to London to showcase the first European Spring/Summer 2007 collections.
    Last-minute preparations are underway in the British capital ahead of the London Fashion Week, which kicks off on Monday (September 18).
    London, showing in-between traditional fashion capitals New York, Milan and Paris, has a reputation for staging some of the most cutting edge and daring catwalk shows.
    The Spring/Summer 2007 shows will be no exception, with a host of young designers selected to show their creations amongst more established names.
    "I think London certainly has the reputation of being quirky. If you look at the history of the fashion weeks, London is the youngest and we don't have the big mega brands like America or Milan or Paris have. We are really known for our exciting young design. And certainly, we have lot's of schemes in place where we go out and find young designers from the UK and overseas and bring them to show in London, because that's what I think the world expects of young British design. So, a lot of people come internationally just to see the young designers at London (Fashion Week) because they are really the people that are taking fashion forward," explained British Fashion Council talent scout Andrew Tucker.
    At veteran designer Ben de Lisi's studio there was no sign of last-minute panic on Thursday (September 14).
    The American-born designer who has been showing at London Fashion Week since 1995 and developed a celebrity following with his glamourous dresses, said his collection was ready but room had been left for last-minute inspirations.
    "I use the last two or three days for spontaneity. If there is something that I might have thought of in the middle of the night, I come in early in the morning and talk to my cutters and sample makers, get the patterns made, get the dress cut and get it done, which is what I'm doing now. It's a dress that I sort of thought about and I saw it in my head and I came to create it today. But for the most part, 99 per cent of the collection is done. So the lion's share is off of my shoulders," said de Lisi.
    De Lisi was, however, busy choosing models for his fashion week opening day show. With hordes of leggy models flocking to his boutique for the show casting, the designer had more on his mind than just finding the right faces.
    With a widely reported ban in Madrid on models that were deemed too skinny with a lower than 18 body mass index, the pressure was also on London fashion labels to choose girls that would send the right signal to critics.
    But de Lisi said he was not ready to jump on the bandwagon and banning thin models.
    "You know what, I'm not showing in Spain. They can knock themselves out and do what they want. I think that it is a very very personal thing. I've been the weight that I have been since I'd been in high school and I'm in the ripe old age of 51 now, and people can say all they want, whether I'm too thin or what have you, but this is the way I'm built. And I think that goes for everyone, it's a very very personal thing. So to categorically say that your body density weight is just shy under what we think is acceptable, is just arbitrary," de Lisi said.
    The designer did, however, add that overly thin models who did not look healthy, would not be seen on his show.
    "I will look for people that have a healthy look to them. And that may be a thinner woman or may be a curvy woman but I will not employ someone to be an ambassador for my collection if I feel they look unwell," he added.
    One of the models vying for a place on de Lisi's line up, Catherine, said she had noted a trend towards bigger girls in fashion but added that she was not worried about running out of work.
    "You know, clothes look better on a skinny girl, that's why people wear (use) them. But I think fashion in general is going towards much bigger girls. They want girls with boobs, they want curvier girls, people want healthier sizes. I think it's naturally going that way as the population gets bigger but I want people will still want somebody slender in a dress. Just so that it can hang properly," Catharine said.
    London Fashion Week opens on Monday morning (September 18) with a show by fashion label Noir and finishes on Friday (September 22) with a show by Julien Macdonald.
    Some of the highlights include the comeback show of British label 'Biba', designed by Bella Freud, and a celebrity-studded Emporio Armani fashion and music event at London's Earl's Court on Thursday (September 21), featuring Armani's friends from the worlds of film music and sport, including Bono, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Leonardo Di Caprio and Samuel Jackson.
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