Brazil mourns as anorexia claims another model's life
Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:49pm ET
by Andrei Khalip
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - The mother of a Brazilian fashion model who died from complications of anorexia has made an emotional appeal for parents to take better care of aspiring young models.
The death of Ana Carolina Reston, 21, follows growing criticism of the use of underweight models in the fashion world, an issue given new significance after the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo.
Reston died on Tuesday in a Sao Paulo hospital from a generalized infection caused by anorexia, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsessively deprive themselves of food in pursuit of an ultra-slim look.
Reston weighed only 88 pounds (40 kg) and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall. Doctors consider the weight normal for a 12-year-old girl about 5 feet tall.
"Take care of your children ... no money is worth the life of your child, not even the most famous (fashion) brand is worth this," her mother, Miriam, told O Globo newspaper.
She said her daughter had been trying to help her family with the money she made as a model. Miriam spoke on national television and to local media to highlight the tragedy.
She said she had pleaded with her daughter to eat more and to see a doctor. "She would reply, 'Mummy, don't mess me around,'" Miriam told O Estado de S.Paulo.
O Dia tabloid carried a picture of the dark-haired, big-eyed girl in lingerie on its front-page with the headline "Dictatorship of skinny look kills a model."
Many top models come from Brazil and many young girls from all walks of life dream about the catwalk, inspired by the international success of Brazilians Gisele Bundchen or Adriana Lima.
Reston was not famous but she had worked abroad, including in Japan, and did some Giorgio Armani advertising jobs.
Her agency, L'Equipe of Brazil, said on Thursday it had sent Reston to a specialist in eating disorders after she lost her job in Japan for being too thin but she missed her appointments.
"L'Equipe reiterates its philosophy of taking care of the health of its models," the agency's statement said.
It said the agency did not demand its models be super-slim.
"I'm shocked with what happened but we should not hide the fact that she was on the wrong path regarding her own health," model Patty Oliveira, 18, said in one of several online communities created as a tribute to Reston.
Despite her weight, Reston's online profile on the popular social networking site Orkut showed she was a member of food-related communities like "I love McDonald's" and "I love French fries." She was also part of the "Skinny ones rule" group.
"They still say she had a perfect body," Oliveira said. "But a perfect body is a healthy body. I'm a model and I know how things work. She passed the limits."
In September, Spain caused a storm in the fashion world when Madrid barred models below a certain weight from its top fashion show. Models with a body-mass-index (BMI), which takes into account height and weight, of less than 18 were banned.
Reston's BMI was just 13.5 while the World Health Organization considers anyone with a BMI below 18.5 underweight. A BMI below 17.5 is one of the criteria for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and a BMI nearing 15 is usually used as an indicator for starvation.
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