Designers sparks walkout over use of ‘large’ models at this year's London Fashion Week
2009-09-18
London Fashion Week was mired in controversy last night after staff stormed out in a row over plus-sized models. The bust up erupted after Canadian designer Mark Fast, 28, chose “normal” sized girls to model his figure hugging knitted mini dresses. It led to creative differences that prompted his freelance stylist and director to resign just two days before the weekend show.
Fast broke with fashion convention in using size 12 and 14 models rather than super skinny types like Daisy Lowe, to showcase his designs. He wanted to show how they would look on “real” women.
In 2007, the Model Health Inquiry was launched after several size zero models died from starvation. But it failed to set any firm guidelines.
In June, Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue, asked designers for larger clothes for her photo shoots. She said at the time: “Many sample sizes don’t comfortably fit even established models.”
