CIGARETTES GOING OUT OF FASHION

THE fashion industry was urged yesterday to ban images of models smoking
in glossy magazines, which could encourage young women to copy their idols.

Supermodel Christy Turlington, top designer Issey Miyake and Princess
Diana's former fashion designer Jacques Azagury were among 40 members of
the industry who have signed up to the anti-smoking campaign.

A cocktail dress with all the signatures sewn into its fabric was modelled
at the launch of the Put Smoking Out Of Fashion campaign at the Central St
Martin's College of Art and Design in London.

Jacques Azagury, who co-signed the dress, said: "Smoking is creeping into
fashion photography more and more these days. A few years ago it was
waning. but now it's back.

"Young girls see a picture and think: 'I'll get the fab dress, the great
shoes and I'll also have to smoke to look like the model.'

"But stylists, PRs, photographers are all getting older with kids of their
own. Gradually their thoughts will change about whether smoking should be
used for photographs in magazines."

Tessa Jowell, the minister for public health, said leading models needed to
tell teenagers that it is not cool to smoke

"The Government alone cannot do it. The fashion industry is a major player
in the campaign, but we need to talk about the dangers of smoking in
schools as well," she said.

Deepak Rawal, a spokesman for the Health Education Authority, which is the
driving force behind the campaign, said; "We aren't going to change things
overnight. This campaign has heen going for four years.

"But it's important to get to the fashion industry now, because when the EU
tobacco advertising ban comes in force there will probably be more images
of smoking used in fashion pages of magazines.

"We are not telling models to stop smoking We're saying ban these images in
fashion photography. The fashion industry has a critical role to play."

Checked-by: Pat Dolan