Anna Wintour And Michael Kors Speak At Harvard About Model Health

Filed Under: Anna Wintour Michael Kors

We're glad that two big names in fashion are speaking up about such an important issue!

Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour and designer Michael Kors were on the list of speakers at the 13th Annual Public Forum presented by the Harris Center at Massachusetts General Hospital held at the Harvard Business School.

Entitled “Health Matters: Weight and Wellness in the World of Fashion,” the forum addressed the actions being taken to reduce weight issues and eating disorders in models.

Wintour specifically brought up the positive strides the industry has been making to ensure models' health including setting minimum age requirements, banning booze and tobacco backstage during fashion shows as well as fewer hours for younger models.

"We are all responsible for the models' health," she declared in her speech.

Michael Kors further addressed the age issue in models demanding that their age "really has to become a priority" and that "we need to give these girls a chance to grow up." Kors reinforced this idea by promising not to use models under the age of 16 in his own shows.

Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova spoke up as a model herself and dealing with anorexia, making the very sad and honest statement: “It is very hard to have a feeling of stability. Anorexia is sometimes the only form of control these girls have."

What an unfortunate reality, but one that we hope will change very soon especially since the fashion industry is taking note of these major problems in the modeling world. The forum ended on a positive and hopeful note as Vodianova puts it:

"It's in fashion now to be healthy."

We couldn't agree more!

[Image via Getty Images.]

Tags: eating disorders, fashion, harvard, health, model