VOA Special English
Fashion Companies to Stop Working with Very Thin Models

    2017/9/10

    Two of the world's biggest luxury goods companies will stop working with fashion models that are too thin.

    The agreement, signed this week by the French companies LVMH and Kering, seeks to protect the health of fashion models. The agreement will affect well-known brands including Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and others.

    The companies' agreement meets – and goes beyond – the requirements of a new French law.

    FILE - In this March 8 2015 file photo, models wait backstage during the Paris Fashion Week in Paris. Two of France's biggest luxury companies LVMH and Kering have joined forces to ban size zero models. (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer)
    FILE - In this March 8 2015 file photo, models wait backstage during the Paris Fashion Week in Paris. Two of France's biggest luxury companies LVMH and Kering have joined forces to ban size zero models. (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer)

    That law, which will start on October 1, requires male and female models to show health certificates received within the past two years.

    LMVH and Kering said their new agreement would shorten that requirement to six months.

    LMVH and Kering also agreed to ban the use of female models who are below a French woman's size 34. That is similar to a U.S. size 0-2 and a U.K. size 6.

    The two groups said they hoped to set a new standard for the fashion industry.

    “We hope to inspire the entire industry to follow suit, thus making a real difference in the working conditions of fashion models industry-wide,” Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said in a statement.

    Unlike the French law, the agreement will apply to the international Kering and LVMH brands.

    I'm John Russell.

    AP News reported this story. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

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    Words in This Story

    certificate – n. a document that is official proof that something has happened (i.e. a health inspection)

    standard – n. a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable

    collection – n. fashion a group of clothes that a fashion designer has created