It’s Official: France Bans Thin Models & Promises Jail Time For Those Who Hire Them

by Nana Tamakloe April 3, 2015

April 3, 2015 468 views

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A law today was passed in France by the government that bans ‘skinny’ or excessively thin models and that also includes jail time for those who hire them. All France based models will now have to present a medical certificate to show their BMI approval of a minimum of 18 before being hired for a job.

The BMI for a person is defined as their body mass divided by the square of their height—with the value universally being given in units of kg/m2. So if the weight is in kilograms and the height in metres, the result is immediate, if pounds and inches are used, a conversion factor of 703 (kg/m2)/(lb/in2) must be applied.

The objective of this is to end a growing culture of anorexia by president Francoise Holland. The law also targets media entities that promote excessive thinness such as that promoting certain looks or irregular eating habits resulting in risk of mortality or damaging to health, incriminating those responsible with fines and jail time as well.

France is not the first, other countries that have already taken a stance against really thin models are Israel and Madrid’s regional government. So how far will this travel across Europe. It will also be interesting to see how would it affect the fashion industry. Would it create more jobs for fuller women, or would work be outsourced to countries such as Italy that are immune from the ban?

Nana Tamakloe

Founder of FashionGHANA.com and Accra Fashion Week. I'm grateful you visited, I hope you share, subscribe and share your comments or opinions below.

9 comments

Shirley berry April 3, 2015 - 5:49 pm

Whoa,so what will happen to models who are naturally skinny with a bmi under 18??? Every model in France should start eating large now…lol

Carlie April 5, 2015 - 2:15 pm

you dummy look at these girls they are not naturally thin. They have each inch of them looked over and told your thighs are too big you have take of weight in these places. What pressure that has been put on these poor girls has been institutionalised starvation. At least now they can eat. At least now their diet can consist more than energy drinks. I just hope they are not to far gone. and 55kg at 174cm tall is pretty thin but its 18bmi.

Tom April 4, 2015 - 2:51 pm

So, where did this writer learn the English?

Cristina April 4, 2015 - 3:18 pm

SHIRLEY, the want to chance their profession 🙂

Cristina April 4, 2015 - 3:20 pm

SHIRLEY, simple: they want to change their profession 🙂

sarahann April 5, 2015 - 3:39 am

I think thats a great thing!!!

Don Matthews April 5, 2015 - 11:58 am

Finally, we get to see healthy people on the runway! !

demi April 6, 2015 - 11:12 am

Oh what bullshit. The models are chosen BY MEASUREMENT not weight. They will now have even more pressure to keep measurement but increase weight as the designers will insist on the same 78-60-87.

N. May 14, 2015 - 2:52 am

I’m a high fashion model who doesn’t meet the bmi requirement for France, but I’m still glad to see that this has been done. There are too many girls resorting to unhealthy eating and lack thereof to fit unreal standards that do not apply to most or are inappropriate for anyone over 14. It’s about time the modeling industry meets regulation.