"My feeling is that the agency is the mother of the model, or the father of the model, or the guide of the model. We're taking this on as CFDA and the designers, but they are only given to us by the agency themselves," says UK-based designer Donna Karan stepping into discussions on skinny models. Other are concerned about the problem of young models. "The social problems we have in Brazil mean that many families are willing to let their 13-year-old daughters move and live with people they've never met. But this is why there are more top models now from Brazil and Russia than anywhere. It would be very unusual for a mother in a country like France to do something like that," said Anderson Meyer, marketing director of Daphne agency in Brazil.

Another major figure of the fashion world that entered the skinny model debate is designer Donna Karan.  Donna Karan has weighed into the skinny model debate by saying eating disorders shouldn't be a problem for designers to address.  The designer added that it should be down to models' families and agencies to sort out the problem.

"I think that we're all conscious and aware of health and wellbeing, but it appears that it starts from the beginning and that's the family and the agencies," she said at the Council Of Fashion Designers Of America (CFDA) panel discussion on combating eating disorders in the modelling industry.

And she queried why an agency would find it acceptable to send her any girl with an eating disorder.

"My feeling is that the agency is the mother of the model, or the father of the model, or the guide of the model. We're taking this on as CFDA and the designers, but they are only given to us by the agency themselves."

She added: "This is not a blame, it's an order of priority of how one can handle this. It's a suggestion to start there... yes with the parent, but definitely with the agency."

Top model Natalia Vodianova, who herself admitted to overcoming an eating disorder, said that as long as the information was being made available to girls with existing or potential problems, she believes: "It doesn't matter who does it."

The other tendency which becomes a rule for agencies is the age limitation. Usually, models must be 16 (or 17) years old to be able to be engaged in some form of modeling job.
For instance, in Brazil, intensive search for ever-younger models has sparked soul-searching within the fashion industry, resulting in some self-policing on the catwalks. The country's biggest annual industry event, Sao Paulo Fashion Week, this year instituted its first age limit, declaring its runways off-limits to models younger than 16, Washington Post reported.

Such restrictions are already enforced in Paris and Milan.

Washington Post (washingtonpost.com) has been reporting about this trend.  "As soon as (Sao Paulo) Fashion Week announced it was doing that, it started a trend that will now be followed everywhere in Brazil," said Anderson Meyer, marketing director for Daphne, which has 900 models under contract. "It's going to have a very big impact on the industry."
"The social problems we have in Brazil mean that many families are willing to let their 13-year-old daughters move to Sao Paulo and live with people they've never met," said Meyer. "But this is why there are more top models now from Brazil and Russia than anywhere. It would be very unusual for a mother in a country like France to do something like that. We see it every single day here."

Bundchen, who returned to Brazil last month to attend a fashion show in Rio de Janeiro, was quoted by Brazil's O Globo newspaper as faulting a lack of support from families for the health problems among the country's young models. "I never had this problem, because I had a strong family base," said Bundchen, 26. "Parents are responsible, not the fashion industry."