Model Ethics in Elle Slovenia!

Model Ethics is in Elle Slovenia this month! Daisy did an interview about how the agency started and what it is really all about! We want to promote health, wellbeing, positive body image and push great female role models for young women! Be sure to check us out!

Marina's Skydive for Beat!

One of our Model Ethics' Ambassadors- Marina Ziff will be doing a skydive to raise money for Beat- the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families. There are currently 1.6 million people in the UK suffering with an eating disorder. Marina has already raised more than her target, but if any of you are feeling generous and wouldn't mind donating a few extra pounds, that would be even better! Please click on the following link to go directly to her fundraising page:

2010: The year of 'Catwalk Curve Acceptance'?? Let's weight and see...

Here at Model Ethics, we were truly excited to see a flurry of curvy girls gracing the catwalks at London Fashion Week in February. But did it really hail a new era of healthy, gorgeous goddesses being used for conventionally 'skinny' brands?

While we salute Canadian knitwear designer Mark Fast for sprinkling in a few lady lumps and bumps amongst the coathangers, we are both surprised and disappointed that fellow designers, especially our own home-grown talent, did not follow suit. On the upside, I guess this year, no stylists or creative directors walked out in protest at being asked to work with 'plus-size models'. However, there were still far too many jutting collarbones and vertebrae for our liking.

Does anyone remember the Model Health Inquiry back in 2007? It was an initiative launched by the British Fashion Council in response to the death from starvation of several models (not to mention many more 'normal' teenagers and adults) who had been slaves to the size-zero trend. The inquiry failed to set out any firm industry guidelines and the latest update on their website (http://www.modelhealthinquiry.com/) seems to have been back in September 2008. In the meantime, we are still plagued with walking adverts of malnutrition on our catwalks.

So why oh why can't we say what we mean and mean what we say at LFW? In Madrid, the regional government, which sponsors the shows, actually intervened back in 2006; encouraging the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers to ban all models with a Body Mass Index of under 18 because (surprise, surprise!) girls and young women in their thousands were emulating their stick-thin looks; putting their lives in danger achieving 'the zero goal'. And true to their word, since 2006, Madrid Fashion Week's directors have upheld their own regulations by banning over 15 girls in the last few years (including three Brits) from the catwalk for being underweight.

And why can't we do the same here? Why don't our talented mainstream designers use the sizes they sell the most off the rails on the catwalk?

ASHLEY FALCON- SIZE 18 SUPER STYLIST!

Ashley Falcon is known as a 'Big Girl In A Skinny World' at Marie Claire magazine. As a size 18, this luscious latina gives advice to women on all the latest trends and styles to keep their wardrobes current and up to date with the catwalks. At 5’2” and coming in at 220 pounds, she's a breath of fresh air: an unconventional heroine for the industry.

The move by Marie Claire has been applauded as a permanent step to make the magazine more accepting of curvier women, rather than what some people see as the ‘knee-jerk’ reaction of including what was is commonly (and rather sadly) known as 'plus-size feature articles' (i.e. 'normal-sized feature articles'). Through her appointment as 'Marie Claire Super Stylist' in New York, one of the fashion capitals of the world, we at Model Ethics see this as a positive breakthrough for the industry as a whole.

In her column, Ashley highlights the fact that for larger girls, it’s an 'epic struggle' to find chic, stylish clothes that will fit. She gives an example of the time she had to turn down a last-minute invitation to a major fashion party as the selection of outfits offered were far too small for her curvy frame.

Ashley recommends clothes and outfits that are not only stylish, but that will flatter all body shapes and sizes. A mistake too many women make, Ashley highlights, is in assuming that every cut looks good on everyone. Ashley points out bluntly that this is not the case, in her own matter-of-fact way.

From the perfect pair of jeans, to chic cocktail dresses, this fabulous fashionista hunts down the best cuts and styles for all sizes, proving that style can be promoted and truly accessible to all women.