A 14-year-old girl was dropped from an international fashion show yesterday as public and industry outrage forced organisers to adopt a minimum age for models.

Fashion insiders and politicians were appalled when Monika Jagaciak of Poland, a cover girl of Harper's Bazaar, was booked to headline Australian Fashion Week in Sydney this month.

Officials initially rejected pressure from critics such as the editor of Vogue Australia, who voiced concern about the sexualisation of children.

Simon Lock, the founder of the event, insisted that Jagaciak had the support of her parents and would be chaperoned as she flew to Australia as part of an entourage of European models. “There's been criticism of the industry in the past for promoting the Lolita syndrome, but that's something we will not stand for,” he said. “The designers love these models as coat hangers for their clothes. They don't want to exploit their sexuality in any way whatsoever.”

The uproar forced the organisers into an awkward retreat. They announced a minimum age to be set at 16 “in light of industry and community concern regarding the acceptable age for models”.

The British Fashion Council, which organises London Fashion Week, last year banned models under 16. In France a licence is required before a younger girl can model. No formal restrictions apply in Australia but the Prime Minister led protests last year when a 12-year-old was chosen as the “face” of Gold Coast Fashion Week in the northern state of Queensland. That event has since decided models must be at least 16.

Jagaciak has fronted a campaign for Hermès, the French fashion house, and has been photographed posing in a swimsuit sprayed by a shower jet.

Kirsty Clements, editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia, said that she had withdrawn the teenager from its coverage of Fashion Week after learning of Jagaciak's age. She said that 14 was “young and extreme”. Ms Clements added: “I mean there's the obvious sexualisation of very young girls ... but also the reason that they are using them so young because they haven't actually developed women's bodies yet. They want them so thin they have to get them pre-pubescent.”

Patty Huntington, a prominent fashion writer, though, said that many famous models such as Twiggy and Kate Moss had begun their careers in their early teens. Politicians were at odds on the issue. The Labor Government of New South Wales said it was “comfortable” with the involvement of the 14-year-old, but Barry O'Farrell, the conservative opposition leader, said: “Those who employed a 14-year-old have a lot to answer at a time when particularly young girls are under enormous stress in relation to body image.”

Teenage stars

— Elle Macpherson, Australia's most famous supermodel, started modelling at the age of 17

— Schoolgirl Aleksandra Vasic became the youngest model to appear in London Fashion Week when she appeared in Zandra Rhodes's show in 2006. Rhodes signed her up at 13

— Gerren Taylor became the youngest model to be signed, by the catwalk branch of modelling agency L.A. Models, when she was spotted by a talent scout aged 12. “They don't have to know you're 12,” her agent was quoted as saying. “Don't bring your Barbies.”

— In 1980, Brooke Shields appeared on the cover of Vogue aged 14, reportedly the youngest cover girl in the magazine's history

— Elizabeth Jagger, daughter of Mick and Jerry Hall, made her catwalk debut in 1998 aged 14, modelling for Thierry Mugler alongside her mother

Source: Times archives

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