Back in April I was very interested to read an article which stated that the French Government had passed a law that makes it illegal for Model Agencies in France to employ models with a BMI of 18 or under, which I thought was very good news, or is it?
BMI stands for Body Mass Index, according to Wikipedia; the BMI is an attempt to quantify the amount of tissue mass (muscle, fat, and bone) in an individual, and then categorize that person as; underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese based on that value. However, there is some debate about where on the BMI scale the dividing lines between categories should be placed. Commonly accepted BMI ranges are
To get a better understanding of what that actually means I wanted to understand what a BMI of 18 meant? The only way to do this was to work out my BMI. For those of you that know me, you know that I struggle to keep weight on. I have always been slim, but lost a lot of weight last year and have never been able to get back to my ideal weight. I consider myself to be erring on the side of too slim, I hate the word skinny but I am sure that's what I would be labelled. The BMI confirmed this with my BMI of 18.2. To get this I entered my height of 1.69 cms and weight 52 Kilograms.
So, my point is, while the French governments new law is a step in the right direction, I still think that a BMI of 18 is too low, and with France the Fashion Capitol of the world, will this reflect across the world and make any change to the way woman are perceived in Fashion? I sadly do not think so, and this does worry me as I worry about the unhealthy, skinny images that the fashion world uses. I worry because I have a daughter and I know how much these images can affect young girls, and nowadays at such a young age.
While I love fashion, I want my daughter to grow up and have fun with fashion too. But not to worry about her appearance all the time, not to succumb to the ideal of Fashion, but to have the confidence in her own skin and to love her body, whatever shape it is. To me, style and fashion is also about the way you carry yourself and your inner confidence and personality and this is what I want to nurture in my daughter.
BMI stands for Body Mass Index, according to Wikipedia; the BMI is an attempt to quantify the amount of tissue mass (muscle, fat, and bone) in an individual, and then categorize that person as; underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese based on that value. However, there is some debate about where on the BMI scale the dividing lines between categories should be placed. Commonly accepted BMI ranges are
- underweight: under 18.5,
- normal weight: 18.5 to 25,
- overweight: 25 to 30,
- obese: over 30.
To get a better understanding of what that actually means I wanted to understand what a BMI of 18 meant? The only way to do this was to work out my BMI. For those of you that know me, you know that I struggle to keep weight on. I have always been slim, but lost a lot of weight last year and have never been able to get back to my ideal weight. I consider myself to be erring on the side of too slim, I hate the word skinny but I am sure that's what I would be labelled. The BMI confirmed this with my BMI of 18.2. To get this I entered my height of 1.69 cms and weight 52 Kilograms.
So, my point is, while the French governments new law is a step in the right direction, I still think that a BMI of 18 is too low, and with France the Fashion Capitol of the world, will this reflect across the world and make any change to the way woman are perceived in Fashion? I sadly do not think so, and this does worry me as I worry about the unhealthy, skinny images that the fashion world uses. I worry because I have a daughter and I know how much these images can affect young girls, and nowadays at such a young age.
While I love fashion, I want my daughter to grow up and have fun with fashion too. But not to worry about her appearance all the time, not to succumb to the ideal of Fashion, but to have the confidence in her own skin and to love her body, whatever shape it is. To me, style and fashion is also about the way you carry yourself and your inner confidence and personality and this is what I want to nurture in my daughter.
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