Paris: A law banning extremely thin models has come into effect in France. The new regulations, which aim to tackle eating disorders such as anorexia in the fashion industry, mean models will now have to provide a medical certificate to prove they are not too skinny.
The Health Ministry says the aim of the law is to fight eating disorders and inaccessible ideals of beauty. Digitally altered photos will also have to be labelled and images where a model’s appearance has been manipulated will need to be marked “photography Retouchee” (retouched photograph).
Employers breaking the law could face fines of up to 75,000 euros ($82,000) and up to six months in jail. France is not the first country to legislate on underweight models-Italy, Spain and Israel have all done so.
