The unwelcome return of size zero

The most booked models on the Fashion Week circuit had the waist circumference of a seven-year-old child (22 inches). Annmarie O’Connor explores the unwelcome return of the size zero debate.

THIN is in… again. Or, did it ever really go away? Such is the debate that has cast a languid shadow over the fashion world as the size zero debate rears its bony head anew. Underage models, not-so-secret Photoshopping and gory gossip from industry insiders have led tastemakers and lawmakers to defend their respective corners, each with the fury of arch pugilists in a fight that simply has no winner.

Not since 2006, when Brazilian models Ana Carolina Reston Macan, 21, and Luisel Ramos, 22, died of anorexia-related complications; followed in 2007 by Ramos’ younger model sister Elena, 18, has the issue reached such fever pitch. Add to the fact that the 2013 fashion week circuit’s most booked models bore the waist circumference of a seven-year old child (22 inches), has put the big four fashion capitals at the frontline of debate with the current autumn/winter 14 runway shows revealing more than next season’s trends.