In July, President Bush signed Masha's Law, which dramatically increases the fines and penalties for downloading kiddie porn. It's part of a larger law called the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which requires convicted child molesters to be listed on a national Internet database and face a felony charge for failing to update their whereabouts.Chanel recently recruited 16-year-old Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis for its eyewear campaign.Ĭhanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld is pragmatic: “The public wants to see them (clothes, glasses) on girls like this. They can identify even if it’s not the same age group. That’s the girls of the moment, fashion is about the moment. I’m an opportunist, a fashion opportunist, but there’s nothing bad about that because that’s our business,” he says. The use of young models in fashion is not new. Kate Moss was scouted when she was 14 and Naomi Campbell when she was just 15. However, there have been industry moves to change things, notably during the biannual catwalk shows. The British Fashion Council has introduced new guidelines as has New York state.

‘‘So all of the designers that are contracted to London Fashion Week, the models must be 16 or over. We think that’s really important, we work closely with the agencies, if there’s a young girl that’s here for the first time, certainly they’ll be chaperoned,” says British Fashion Council Chief Executive, Caroline Rush. Some designers insist that the real issue is not age but health. The fashion industry has often been accused of promoting anorexia when using underweight models. “I think that the important thing is that we don’t encourage young girls to be too thin, so that’s the health. And in terms of the youth, we encourage not to have girls under 16 on the runway.

And more important, to feed them,” says designer Diane Von Furstenberg. Pressure has mounted to move away from the ultra-slim look.

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