This past December, France adopted a bill that banned the employment of models who are deemed “excessively thin.” It has been made mandatory that models will need a certificate from their doctor that deems them healthy enough to work. The final draft of the law allows doctors to determine if a model is healthy based on their age, body type, and weight.
Any employer who goes against the law and hires a model without a certificate could face up to six months in jail and a $81,000 fine. Part of the law also requires that any digitally altered image that specifically makes a model’s silhouette appear "narrower or wider" state that it has been “touched up.” France has now joined Israel, Spain, and Italy in passing laws dealing with health requirements for models.
Although some agencies in France are not entirely pleased with the new law, it is a healthy step for the modeling industry. Model Rosalie Nelson believes that France is “ahead of the game” with its new laws and that it will be able to protect young models from the kinds of demands that she once faced.
In the beginning of her career, Nelson was told by a modeling agency in London that she had “ticked all the boxes” except for one, which was her weight. Upon hearing this, she proceeded to lose some weight, including two inches off of her hips, and went back to the agency only to hear that she needed to lose more weight.
That lead to her petition to increase the regulation of the fashion and modeling industry. Nelson stated, "Agencies managing and recruiting models have a responsibility to the wellbeing of girls on the catwalk at fashion week and in the industry as a whole," and believed that the UK should take after France in their movement towards regulating the industry.
Nelson does not stand alone. There have been various campaigns and models who have been trying to promote body diversity and health over the years. Aerie, the sister store of American Eagle, launched an ad campaign in 2014 that emphasizes “The Real You” and that only uses un-retouched images of their models. This successful ad campaign has carried over into 2016 and has gotten more personal as they have released a series of photos on Instagram that portray models of varying body types captioned with an inspirational quote. Model Barbie Ferreira has joined the Aerie team recently and is now the face of “Aerie Real,” which has brought more attention to the positive campaign and stunning model.
Aerie has defied norms as a lingerie brand and it plans on leaving their photos un-retouched. The company told Business Insider that they believed that the campaign would “really resonate with this generation” and that in today’s media “[the lingerie industry's models are] not realistic.”
In today’s modeling and fashion industry, body diversity has become more prominent. Countries like France have made it possible for young models to enter a profession that does not pressure them to alter their body, while promoting a healthier industry and the truth (as images now have to state whether they have been retouched or not). As for Aerie, they won't need the pressure of the law to admit that their images have been fixed, because from now on they won’t be retouched at all. Although the change is still coming, it appears that the promotion of body diversity and healthy models is becoming more well known.
