Armani weighs in to row over thin models

[stu]

Italian designer Giorgio Armani has stepped into the debate over super-thin models, lamenting a "lack of balance" over the issue -- but admitting he might be partly to blame.

 

Guest editing Britain's Independent newspaper, Armani conceded that he had always used models "on the slender side", adding: "This was because the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body".

 

"I do not feel responsible for setting a trend towards models who look anorexic ... unfortunately, there are a lot of young women who never accept that they are thin enough -- and this is an illness," he said.

 

"In my view, all women want to look much slimmer than they are, and this encourages them to be very careful about what they eat."

 

Organisers of this week's London Fashion Week have faced pressure to ban ultra-skinny models following restrictions imposed earlier this month at shows in Madrid.

 

Organisers of the Spanish event placed restrictions on models with a body mass index of less than 18 and authorities in Milan are said to be considering a similar move.

 

Supermodel Erin O'Connor also joined the debate, calling on designers to look at their attitudes to model sizes.

 

"I can only speak from my own experience but the designers also have a responsibility to look at what's going on and accomodate slightly more to the individual," she told the Guardian newspaper.

 

Armani is holding his first show in the British capital Thursday night as part of London Fashion Week and was editing the paper to raise awareness of "Product Red", an initiative to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa with corporate partners including Gap and American Express.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060921/en_af...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-