Following the 2007 Model Health Inquiry report ‘Fashioning a Healthy Future’, the British Fashion Council (BFC) completed a 12 month action plan.

As part of the plan, contractual agreements were made with designers to ensure there is a ban on models under the age of 16 at London Fashion Week; that backstage environments are both healthy and safe; and that healthy food and drinks are provided for all those working backstage at fashion shows.

Not only has the BFC introduced an auditing process to monitor these agreements, but the council has also funded a B-EAT eating disorder awareness seminar for model agencies.

Equity, the performing arts union, has also established a model section in which it recognises that modelling is a profession on par with acting and dancing.

Since then, representatives from the BFC, Association of Model Agents (AMA), Equity and the LDA have established a working party in order to carry forward these initiatives and continue work in this area.

So far, this group has achieved some great steps in the right direction. Equity, for example, has produced a series of advice leaflets for models, called ‘A Model’s Guide To…’, which Models Direct highly recommends, while the AMA have launched associationofmodelagents.org, which offers general information on modelling.

Models Direct fully supports the BFC’s Model Programme and all the efforts being made to ensure models’ safety and wellbeing while on modelling jobs.  Let’s just hope that the rest of the industry takes these recommendations on board, and that further headway is made.