Models Now Have To Follow Insane “Eating Contracts” To Keep Their Jobs

If you’ve tuned into fashion week, you’ve probably noticed a trend, and that trend is that the women walking the runways look like a light wind could blow them over. Many people are noticing and think this is a problem, and it looks like the fashion world is finally starting to catch up. British label Rose & Williard has introduced a new policy to help combat underweight, unhealthy models, but it’s a little bit extreme. They’ve introduced a mandatory non-negotiable eating clause into their models’ contracts. Say whaaaat?

Luckily, it’s not what you might expect from the fashion industry when you hear the phrase “eating contract.” Instead of being legally bound to stay away from cheese and burgers, these models have to sign paperwork that not only requires them to eat, but for someone to watch them do it. If they refuse to eat under surveillance, they won’t get paid for their work. Heidi Rehman, the founder of the label, has released a statement about this new policy saying that,

…we feel we have a responsibility to protect these young women from an industry which we believe can leave them exploited and puts them under pressure to starve themselves and damage their health and well-being.

Okay, so while good-intentioned, this project does seem a liiiiiittle “Big Brother”-esque. However, it may be a step in the right direction. If more policies like this start popping up in the modeling world, maybe more models will feel encouraged to eat, society won’t maintain their obsession over skinny bitches, and then reinforcements like this won’t be necessary at all. Of course this is a little bit of wishful thinking, but for now, I think I’ll start hunting down a modeling contract — if I’m going to eat an entire pizza, I might as well get paid for it..

[via Quartz]

Image via Youtube / The Late Show with Stephen Colbert