Vogue's Underage Models: No to Under 16s & Eating Disorders , Says New Policy

Vogue's glossy pages will have an additional focus to fashion following the June 2012 issue: Health.

The Conde Nast publication has chosen to adopt a new policy where girl's under the age of 16, or other females with eating disorders, will not be featured in the magazine's spread, the New York Times reported.

Vogue editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the well-being of their readers, Condé Nast International chairman, Jonathan Newhouse, told the New York Times.

The policy will be applied to 19 international issues of the magazine. The decision comes after years of criticism towards the magazine for depicting severely underweight girls and upholding unrealistic standards of beauty for women worldwide.

This is not the first time Anna Wintour, the Magazine's Editor-in-Chief has spoken up about the issue. In recent years she has participated in efforts to promote health standards in models, according to the Forbes.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, or CFDA, set out the following guidelines for the Industry in an aim to address the issue last season:

Guidelines:

• Educate the industry to identify the early warning signs in an individual at risk of developing an eating disorder.

• Encourage models who may have an eating disorder to seek professional help in order to continue modeling. And models who are receiving professional help for an eating disorder should not continue modeling without that professional's approval.

• Develop workshops for the industry (including models and their families) on the nature of eating disorders, how they arise, how we identify and treat them, and complications if they are untreated.

• Support the well-being of younger individuals by not hiring models under the age of sixteen for runway shows; not allowing models under the age of eighteen to work past midnight at fittings or shoots; checking IDs to ensure that models are the appropriate age; providing regular breaks and rest. Consult the applicable labor laws found at www.labor.state.ny.us when working with models under sixteen.

• Supply healthy meals, snacks, and water backstage and at shoots and provide nutrition and fitness education.

• Promote a healthy backstage environment by raising the awareness of the impact of smoking and tobacco-related disease among women, ensuring a smoke-free environment, and address underage drinking by prohibiting alcohol.

On Thursday Vogue launched its own set of the guidelines, as published in the New York Times:

1. We will not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. We will work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help to promote a healthy body image.

2. We will ask agents not to knowingly send us underage girls and casting directors to check IDs when casting shoots, shows and campaigns.

3. We will help to structure mentoring programs where more mature models are able to give advice and guidance to younger girls, and we will help to raise industry-wide awareness through education, as has been integral to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Health Initiative.

4. We will encourage producers to create healthy backstage working conditions, including healthy food options and a respect for privacy. We will encourage casting agents not to keep models unreasonably late.

5. We encourage designers to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes, and encourages the use of extremely thin models.

6. We will be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image.