When thin isn't in

Madrid's 2007 Fashion Week turned heads with this spring's new must have item: a few extra pounds. Madrid's Fashion Week had people taking notes on more than just the clothes on the catwalk. The organizers banned models whose body mass index (BMI) was below healthy norms.

CBS News reported that around 300 models were expected to have been included in the show, but only 68 showed up for the examination. And, of the 68 who showed for the medical assessment, five were not permitted on the catwalk.

The show, known as Pasarela Cibeles, wanted to project an image of beauty, elegance and health, and also banned makeup that makes models appear sickly, show organizer Cuca Solana said in an interview with CBS news.

"Cleary we don't want walking skeletons," Solana said.

But it seems in today's fashion industry, Pasarela Cibeles organizers may be acting alone. In both New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week, designers sent waif-like heroines down the runway.

Melissa DiGiulian, a UNCW student and holder of the Miss Maryland USA 2006 title has felt the pressure to be thin.

"I think Madrid is taking steps in the right direction. Super-thin models portray an unrealistic ideal of beauty," she said.

Some people in the industry are taking a stand against extreme thinness.

At a Vogue magazine party Sept. 18, model Jessica Stam said in an interview with the New York Times News Service, "I don't really know if they are healthy or not, but I don't think the frail, fragile look is very feminine, and I don't think it's attractive."

The blame for ultra-thin ideals of beauty has been increasingly placed on the designers.

The British Fashion Council weighed in on the issue; the council, which organizes London Fashion Week, said in a statement that it "does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show."

But amid the finger pointing, who is to blame?

Julia Camberos, a store-model for Abercrombie and Fitch, said "There's no one person to blame, not even the fashion industry alone can be blamed; it's a societal obsession with how we look."

And, so it seems that while you can never be too rich - you can be too thin.