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Nicole Richie has brought the issue of super thinness once again to the fashion world's attention. If you missed it, everyone is concerned over how thin Nicole has gotten. The issue of whether she has an eating disorder is fodder for the tabloids and fashion magazines. I guess the death of a twenty-two year old model, Luisel Ramos, during a fashion show in Uruguay was not enough of a wake up call to the fashion industry that their obsession with ultra thin models has gone too far. Miss. Ramos died of a heart attack brought about by starvation.

Spain immediately put a ban on super thin models for the fashion shows produced during their fashion week. The rest of the world did not follow suit. While the issue was debated and the fashion world dutifully expressed their shock over the thinness of the models, fashion shows went on in London and New York and the topic fell from public attention.

During the brief debate following Miss Ramos' death , allegations of reverse discrimination were bandied about by the model industry. How could icons such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell be banned from runways because of their natural body types? Several of the top models in the world would not have been able to walk the Madrid runways since their weight to height ( BMI) ratio would have been too low for Spanish authorities. This means these models fall below the normal category developed by the World Health Organization ( WHO) used as the world wide standard to determine if an individual is underweight or suffering from anorexia. These models have BMI ratios that place them in the anorexic category.

It is possible, that a handful of women in the fashion industry are naturally thin and therefore exceptions to the WHO standards. I do not believe that all women in the entertainment industry have this type of body naturally. I also do not believe the fashion world is shocked at how thin the designers want their models to be. While Fashion Week in any country is in many ways an art show, it is an art show where the art is purchased, ordered and written about by the elite of the fashion world. Fashion is a business. It has an art element to it, but when push comes to shove, the designers are selling and the fashion world is buying.

When you are marketing your wares, you show them in the most attractive setting that will appeal to your buyers. Apparently the designers think super thin models are the best way to market their designs. It cannot be because the designs look good on these women, since even in photos the clothes do not look good on some of these models, it must be because super thin is what the fashion industry wants.

This is no big surprise, super thin has been in since the phrase, " you cannot be too rich or too thin" was coined by the Duchess of Windsor many years ago. What is troubling, is the fashion world has gotten so cold, so out of touch with the real world, that only Spain reacted to a young woman's death because she was starving herself to succeed in today's fashion world. London and New York expressed shock at what they themselves created, then went on their merry way.

Maybe it is time to tell London and New York that real women are not skeletal. If you are a healthy woman, all of a size 4, your thighs may touch. This is normal. Most of us perceive a size four as a thin woman. In pictures she may look like a size 6 or 8, but in real life she looks like a model. When young teens go and see their idols, such as Hillary Duff or Lindsay Lohan, they think these women look scary. It is the first thing talked about after the concert. Healthy young girls are revolted when they see what these singers look like in real life. These women still looked good in pictures when they scared the kids ; think how bad they look when photos show them to be too thin.

I think the answer is to have the fashion people leave the rarefied artificial world they live in and come see what women really look like. First they should check out the Dove, real beauty ads. Those are real women. Next sit quietly at a high school football game and look at the girls. You may finally see that long and lanky exists in the real world, but it is not a size 0. After immersion in the real world, go back to the artificial world of fashion and look around. Do you like what you see?

I think market forces and constant bitching by those of us that watch fashion is how this super thin trend will be stopped. I do not mind a Kate Moss. I just do not want to see only Kate Moss or her clone on a runway or in a magazine. Since most women, except those in countries with starvation problems, are not built like super thin models, most of the clothes shown on these women will not look good nor fit the fashion buying public. Eventually the buyers and the magazine editors will figure out something is wrong when sales go down. Hopefully, they will then put pressure on the designer/artists to produce something that sells. Hopefully no more young women need to die during fashion shows before the fashion world realizes starving people do not have money for clothes.

Until then, all the rest of us can do is complain. We can also raise our daughters to look beyond the facade of fashion photos, and be repulsed when an anorexic singer takes the stage. We can exercise our economic power and refuse to follow the dictates of the fashion world, until we like what they sell.