A YOUNG model who lived on a diet of apples and tomatoes has died of anorexia on the eve of an international photoshoot.

Ana Carolina Reston, 21, a Brazilian who had worked for Giorgio Armani, was 5ft 7in tall but weighed only six stone when she died on Tuesday.

She is the second young model this year to die after starving herself and the tragedy has reignited the debate over the use of dangerously thin models by the fashion industry.

Her death, after a three-week illness, was described as a “wake-up call” to the industry by her boyfriend’s mother and Ms Reston’s mother appeared on national television and radio in Brazil to warn other parents of the dangers.

Miriam Reston, who revealed that her daughter had been trying to help her family with the money she earned as a model, said: “Take care of your children. No money is worth the life of your child, not even the most famous [fashion] brand is worth this.”

She said that she had pleaded with her daughter, who had modelled since the age of 13, to eat more and to see a doctor.

“She would reply, ‘Mummy, don’t mess me around’,” Mrs Reston said.

The model, who worked for L’Equipe agency, had spent her last three weeks in hospital after suffering kidney failure. Her death follows the banning of too-thin models from Madrid Fashion Week this year after the death of Luisel Ramos, 22. She died at a show in Uruguay in August from heart failure after weeks reportedly living on lettuce and diet drinks.

In September, models with a body mass index of less than 18 — classified as underweight by the World Health Organisation — were banned from Madrid by local government officials. The move led to calls for a total ban on “size zero” models.

Ms Reston had worked in China, Turkey, Mexico and Japan. She was due to take part in a photoshoot in Paris the day after her death in a Sâo Paulo hospital on Tuesday.

Relatives said last night that Ms Reston had seen specialists about her eating disorder, but had resisted admitting that she was ill. “She had no resistance and the medication had no effect because of her extreme weakness,” her aunt, Mirthes Reston, said.

Ms Reston’s cousin, Geise Strauss, 30, who lived with her, said: “She didn’t like eating what we ate. When she did eat, she ate very little and recently she’d go to the bathroom and make herself sick as soon as as she left the table. She liked apples and she adored tomatoes as well but that was about it.”

Lica Kohirausch, owner of L’Equipe agency, said: “We brought Ana back to Brazil after she did a catalogue for Giorgio Armani and a representative rang me to say she was too thin. It worried me coming from a professional used to dealing with models and I acted immediately, but I didn’t see any physical signs of anorexia on her return.”

Ms Reston’s boyfriend Bruno Setti, 19, is also a model. His mother Viviane, 42, said: “Ana’s death should serve as a wake-up call to modelling agencies about the danger of anorexia. There’s nothing glamorous about an ending like hers.”

Several leading fashion figures have called on the industry to stop using “size zero” models. Achilleas Constantinou, a leading member of the British Fashion Council, was one of the first to call for a ban.

However, Didier Grumbach, the head of the French Couture Federation, said: “To say that we should regulate just one profession among many to avoid young girls getting thin, when everything in our society encourages them to do so, is unreasonable.”

A Chanel spokesperson said that anorexia was a social problem: “People shouldn’t whip up a false controversy. The fashion world is not responsible for anorexia.”

VIEWS FROM THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Giorgio Armani “I have never liked thin girls and I have never made them go on the catwalk”

Karl Lagerfeld “What I really didn’t like was that certain fashion sizes were made bigger. What I created was fashion for slim, slender people”

Twiggy “Everyone is not meant to be skinny. It’s a tricky area. The designer likes to design for slim models. It’s how they feel their clothes look the best”

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