"Size zero" debate rages on in Fashion industry

In light of the recent deaths of three fashion models due to complications from malnutrition, the fashion community is on the defensive regarding the “size zero” issue that has plagued them since. Editors like UK Vogue’s Alexandra Shulman blame the shrinking waistlines on the small sample sizes designers send to photoshoots, while designers such as Kinder Aggugini (formerly of Calvin Klein) are quick to rebut, “If tomorrow all magazines, model agencies and stylists used bigger girls, then the designers would too.” Models such as Valentine Fillol Cordier (a former catwalk model) have also noticed the shrinking garments. She notes, “I saw in the space of the 10 years that I modeled, my measurement didn't change, but the clothes got smaller and I found it harder and harder to get into them.” Still, others like Sarah Doukas, chief executive of modeling agency, Storm Management, believe that it is more about the industry, rather than the clothes: "The problem lies at the heart of the catwalk modeling industry which traditionally demands a girl of a very specific shape and proportion,” she says.