Are laws needed to protect models from getting too skinny? A model, a designer and Vogue's UK editor discuss
MPs are to investigate whether new legislation is needed to protect models from becoming too thin, after more than 112,000 people backed an online petition calling for a change in the law.
Read: The evolution of the model: How has the face of fashion changed over the years?
According to Office of National Statistics figures from 2010, the average man is 5ft 9ins (175.3cm) tall and weighs 13.16st (83.6kg), while the average woman is 5ft 3ins (161.6cm) tall and weighs 11st (70.2kg).
By comparison, Victoria's Secret model Candice Swanepoel (pictured above, centre) is 5ft 10ins (178cm) and weighs 8st 7lbs (54kg).
But how big a problem is it?
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Here, ITV News speaks to three people involved in the fashion industry to see what they think: Alexandra Shulman, editor of the UK edition of Vogue; designer Heidy Rehman; and model Rosie Nelson, who started the campaign.
Alexandra Shulman, editor at Vogue UK
A law to regulate the size of models would be both "undesirable" and "unworkable", according to the editor-in-chief of Vogue in the UK.
Alexandra Shulman told ITV News that forcing models to be weighed and measured "like a kind of heiffer" would be degrading - and said it was unfair to blame models for people's own insecurities.
Full interview:
She admitted that she was sure there were models who are exploited and who are "persuaded to be thinner than would be healthy for their body size" - but she argued that "nobody is being forced to be a model".
They have chosen to go into an industry where they are judged on their body, she said.
She said she does make a point of speaking to designers if she feels they are using models who are unhealthily skinny - but said she would not support any legislation.
Heidy Rehman, managing director at Rose & Willard
Starting out, designer Heidy Rehman said she wanted to send a "positive message" to women with her clothing.
She began using ordinary women to model her pieces - women who were not teenagers, nor unusually thin.
But the reaction was not what she expected, she said - as she immediately felt the backlash from both the industry, and from customers.
Now, she said, they have resorted to using professional models - though she still mandates they must not be too thin.
But she too disputes the idea that a law is necessary, and said she believes that if even one industry heavyweight would speak out against the use of underweight models, and actually act on it, that it would trickle down to the rest of the fashion world.
Rosie Nelson, model
Rosie Nelson, from Sandhurst, is a 23-year-old model, and launched a Change.org petition earlier this year calling for a new law to protect models from getting what she called "dangerously skinny".
She told ITV News that she had been inspired by her own experience of - despite only being a size eight to 10 - being told she needed to lose weight "down to the bone".
She said she wants agencies to stop pushing girls to use drastic weight loss methods to achieve the desired 35-inch hips, and instead promote health and nutrition.
She has now put on the weight that she lost, and said she was "happy and healthy" the way she is.
Looking back at pictures of herself during her "skinny" days, she said, she realises how unhealthy she really looked. She said her ribs were sticking out and her hips were showing to an extent that did not look good.
"That's just how the agencies want you to look," she added.
ITV News reporter Martha Fairlie has the story: