"LONDON FASHION WEEK HAS ONE YEAR TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT OR PUBLIC FUNDING WILL BE AXED" - DOOCEY

2.22.10pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 12th Sep 2007

The London Assembly Liberal Democrats have today secured a commitment by the Mayor of London for the public funding of London Fashion Week to be reviewed next year by the London Assembly.

The Mayor said he would take the Assembly's advice as to whether the final recommendations of the Model Health Inquiry, published this Friday, have had an effect on the health and wellbeing of models and young women in London. If they considered the impact of the report's recommendations to be negligible, the Mayor said he would be 'under considerable pressure to withdraw funding from London Fashion Week'.

Liberal Democrat Culture Spokesperson on the London Assembly, Dee Doocey said:

"Today we got a cast iron commitment from the Mayor to start the clock ticking on the size zero debate. London Fashion Week has one year to clean up its act or face its public funding being axed. Ken Livingstone told the Assembly that it would review the impact of the Model Health Inquiry on the health of models and young women in London. If the report's recommendation had not made a difference, the Mayor committed to stop public finding.

'The LDA has already backtracked over a commitment given a year ago to withhold its funding unless London Fashion Week followed the examples set by Madrid and Milan. How can Ken Livingstone reconcile his statutory duty to protect the health of Londoners when funding an event that promotes unhealthy girls? The fact is that one in 40 women suffer from an eating disorder. That goes up to four in ten for models."

'Anyone who has ever worked with designers knows they are almost obsessed with showing their garments on models like coat-hangers. Hoping that a recommendation to hold a media campaign to 'promote well being in models' is going to melt designers' hearts of stone into showing their garments on healthy girls is almost laughable. Someone has got to stand up and show leadership." ENDS