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Stella McCartney Apologizes After Posting Photo of Shockingly Thin Model

Photo stellamccartney/Instagram

Stella McCartney has received heaps of praise for her Paris Fashion Week runway show on Monday, the separates ensemble Amal Alamuddin wore for her civil ceremony to George Clooney recently, and her breast cancer awareness campaign with Kate Moss. But despite the positive press, the British designer has also come under fire recently after posting a photo on Instagram of a very thin model.

The picture, which was sent out for her over 1 million followers to see, shows a model in a tank top from the 46-year-old’s latest Spring/Summer 2015 collection with the caption, “Worn well!! X Stella.” But many commenters disagreed with McCartney’s opinion and voiced their concerns in the comments. One wrote, “That is not worn well, it’s hanging over bones” and another chimed in to note that “this young lady is clearly very ill and the body image being used is all that is wrong with the fashion world.” Another user said, “Shame on you Stella. I thought you designed with real women in mind. This is too much.”

"The fashion industry has long perpetuated the idea that ultra-thinness is equated with beauty and style. Thin women aren’t the problem and shaming them or saying they aren’t “real” won’t solve anything," Claire Mysko, the Director of Programs at the National Eating Disorder Association, tells Yahoo Style. “The problem is that we only see thin women represented as the ideal. We need to see more body diversity in fashion and advertising. That’s a solution that will make an impact.

In 2007, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), issued health guidelines to its more than 400 members, consisting of womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessory designers to promote healthiness within the modeling industry. The initiative aims to educate members early warning signs in an individual at risk of developing an eating disorder; getting professional help for those that have been identified as having an eating disorder and keeping them from working; and more.

Reacting to these responses, McCartney pulled the pic from the account and replaced it with one of model Malaika Firth who is thin herself, but noticeably less so. A representative for the brand also issued an apology. “We are a house that celebrates all shapes, all sizes, all races and all ages,”according to The Independent. “We should have been more mindful… It was a quick snap done backstage that was misleading. We listened to our followers and we took it down and replaced it. We can only apologize if we offended anyone.”