France may bar too-thin models

France’s government last night debated a bill banning excessively thin fashion models as well as potentially fining the agency or fashion house that hires them and sending the agents to jail.

Style-conscious France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of euros, would join Italy, Spain, and Israel, which all adopted laws against too-thin models on catwalks or in advertising campaigns in early 2013.

“It’s important for fashion models to say that they need to eat well and take care of their health, especially for young women who look to the models as an aesthetic ideal,” said health minister Marisol Touraine.