Fashion giants LVMH and Kering ban size 0 models

French fashion companies Keringand LVMH will stop hiring excessively thinmodels worldwide under a new charter developed in response tocontinued criticism the industry encourages eating disorders.

France banned ultra-thin models under a 2015 law though itonly stipulated models needed a doctor's note attesting to theirhealth based on age, weight and body shape. Proposals to includea minimum body mass index were dropped after industry pressure.

Kering and LVMH said their charter will now go further thanthe French legislation. All their fashion brands have committedto banning models below French size 34 for women and 44 for men.Size 32 in France corresponds to size 0 in the United States.

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"We hope to inspire the entire industry to follow suit, thusmaking a real difference in the working conditions of fashionmodels industry-wide," Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said inthe statement.

Fashion insiders have long said that clothes hang and drapebetter on tall, androgynous women, while Western cultures oftenassociate thinness with wealth, youth and desirability.

Recent doctor's certificate needed

The brands committed to working solely with models who canprovide a doctor's certificate obtained less than six monthsbefore a shoot or fashion show attesting to their good healthand to put a psychologist at their disposal during their work.

The new rules, which follow a wave of criticism of fashioncompanies this year, will come into effect ahead of ParisFashion Week this month.

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In March, Kering's Balenciaga fired two casting directorsafter they reportedly left over 150 models waiting for hours ina dark stairwell while they went for lunch.

Also in March, France's advertising watchdog asked Kering'sYves Saint Laurent to modify two ads after complaints that theywere degrading to women.

One featured a reclining woman in a fur coat and fishnettights with her legs spread wide and the other shows a model ina leotard and roller skate stilettos bending over a stool.

Britain's Advertising Standards Authority also banned anYves Saint Laurent ad in 2015 that featured a very thin modelwhose ribcage was showing.