- BroganRose -: The Mission of Protecting Models

Being a politics student, I haven't ever thought about politics and fashion working hand in hand until recently.

French MP's have passed legislation making it illegal for models to be working in the country, without a medical certificate. The purpose of this bill is to prevent terribly thin models in the fashion industry and also calls upon magazines to state whether images have been digitally edited. The country itself is hugely influential, with Paris being one of the biggest fashion capitals in the world. However, the French government are not the first to be passing legislation on this topical issue; Israel have also passed identical legislation in 2013, having models provide a full medical report 3 months before a shoot.

Israeli model Bar Refaeli (above) has a healthy BMI of 18.8 but has been encouraged to model for labels and companies that accept curvey women.

Whilst legislation ensures real, healthy women are represented in both fashion and media, we also have to look at alternative points of view - Where does this leave females who are victims of skinny shaming?

The media of course have been all over this issue and whilst reading articles on Vogue and the Guardian it has been interesting to read the opinions of the general public. As seen below, there are a mixture of opinion both from men and women, some suggesting women's bodies are being controlled by the state and others arguing the fashion industry.

"It's been needed for a long time. You see some models who look sick because they won't get hired until they look like that. There's regulations in every job and they're there for a reason." - The Guardian

"I'm sceptical this will have any impact on rates of anorexia. For example, Britain and France have very different body image cultures, yet the incidence of anorexia is comparable." - The Guardian

Legislation of course aims to promote healthy bodies, we must also pay attention to the rise in plus sized models. Whilst not having a problem with plus sized models myself, others advocate that these models also promote an unhealthy lifestyle as well as underweight models.

So really does legislation help either way? Where do you draw the line? Is legislation necessary?

The UK are on their way in following France and Israels footsteps, after model Rosie Nelson was asked to 'slim down to the bone' by a UK agency. Alongside MP Caroline Nokes, Rosie has began a petition for there to be a parliamentary investigation into this contentious issue. Rosie, being a model herself does not believes models should not be rated by their BMI's as many models come in different shapes and sizes, for example females who are size 6 and 8 will always be concerned about their fitness and well being. The only precaution that should be put into place is that models are having regular medical checks to ensure they are healthy and well.