Photo row model 'sacked for being too large'

The former Ralph Lauren model whose image in a much-criticised advertisement was made thinner said the clothing giant did not renew her contract because she was “too large”.

Polo Ralph Lauren said it sacked Filippa Hamilton because of a contract dispute and that the photo was released mistakenly.

But Hamilton, 23, said last night: “They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn’t fit in their clothes anymore.”

Hamilton, who had worked for the company since she was 15, said she considered Polo Ralph Lauren her second family.

The company acknowledged in a statement that the image of Hamilton that appeared last week in a Tokyo mall had been digitally altered.

Hamilton, a New York resident who is half-Swedish and was raised in France, went public after the photo surfaced.

She has been looking for another job since she was dismissed in April, said Jesse Derris, her spokesman at Sunshine Sachs & Associates.

The photo’s emaciated depiction of her, with hips about as narrow as her head, could make young women “think that it’s normal to look like that – and it’s not”, the 5ft 10in 8st 8lb model told NBC’s 'Today Show'.

“I saw my face on this super-extremely skinny girl, which is not me; it’s not healthy, it’s not right,” she said.

Polo Ralph Lauren claimed she “was too large”, she added, saying that she was a US size four (UK size eight) and that her weight had remained constant during eight years as a model for the iconic American brand, which has dressed US Olympic teams.

In recent years, designers have typically sought models that fit into clothes that are a size four, or even two or zero.

In a statement, the company said the “very distorted image of a woman’s body” was “mistakenly released” and displayed in the Japanese department store.

Bloggers also posted the photo on several websites, fuelling the controversy.

On Tuesday, Polo Ralph Lauren released a statement saying: “We take full responsibility. This error has absolutely no connection to our relationship with Filippa Hamilton”, who was a “beautiful and healthy” woman.

That relationship ended last April “as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us”, a contract whose terms are confidential, according to a Polo Ralph Lauren spokesman.