“I don’t want to be the fat one anymore.”

—Model Lara Stone to ELLEuk.com [Via Fashionologie]

You believed French women looked gorgeous naturally, didn’t you? Quel suprise! Airbrushing is causing unrealistic body images and encouraging eating disorders, said a French politician on Monday as she proposed warning labels on digitally enhanced images.  Parlimentarian Valerie Boyer and 50 other French politicians want a “health warning” on airbrushed pics. All enhanced photos would be accompanied by this line: “Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person.” Under the proposal in France, a company that didn’t include the warning on their retouched ads would be slapped with a trés mal fine of a $54,930, or up to 50 percent the cost of the advertisement. The French proposal comes on the heels of a suggestion by British pols for warning labels of their own. But what we want to know is how long until such a proposal comes to the States, where we just love our Photoshop? (And can you imagine what Anna Wintour would have to say about it?) [Yahoo]

When Vogue cover model Ruslana Korshunova was found dead in 2008, having apparently jumped out of a ninth-story window, police were quick to call it suicide. There was no sign of struggle in the model’s New York City apartment, and it was clear from her journal entries that she was severely depressed. Now, however, new evidence has come to light, reports the Russian news source Pravda, that may point to a sick-o murder involving a hair fetishist.

London Fashion Week begins this weekend, and one of the first things to make headlines isn’t about clothing but the models wearing them. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has publicly decried Fashion Week as a promoter of anorexia. “The catwalks of international fashion events such as London Fashion Week can act as a showcase for underweight women,” said, Ulrike Schmidt, a professor at the college.

To celebrate the launch of their “New World Order” line of lingerie, Agent Provocateur deposited a fleet of underwear models wearing leather, thigh-high boots in front of the department store Selfridges and managed to literally stop traffic. Wonder why? [9/16/09, London]

A fierce model in urban warrior garb and temporary tribal tattoos works the runway at Rodarte spring 2010 during New York Fashion Week. [NYC, 9/15/09]

After years of envying Kate Moss‘s seemingly infinite closet and Gisele‘s parade of bang-able boyfriends, a girl would be right to think the hardest part of a model’s life is choosing whose yacht in Ibiza to sunbathe topless on today.

But a few years ago, “America’s Next Top Model” began to peel back the layers of the modeling industry (well, with a weird, Tyra Banks-ian spin), and then a blogger called Tatiana The Anonymous Model chimed in on Jezebel about her take on a model’s life. But the piece de resistance on the Ugly Side Of Modeling canon is Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves by plus-size model Crystal Renn.

Naomi Campbell isn’t the only supermodel with a temper! At last night’s GQ Men Of The Year Awards, Kate Moss stormed off in a huff (and a litany of curse words) after the host, James Nesbitt, made a joke about her being naked on the cover of the magazine. Why so moody, Kate? We’ve all seen your nipples 10,000 times before! [DListed]

Model Crystal Renn appeared on “Good Morning America” this morning to promote her book, Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves. Crystal was discovered by a model scout as a teen in Clinton, MS, and was told she could be a supermodel. But there was a catch: She would need to lose 70 pounds off her 5’9” frame first. She did and got a $250,000 contract.

But after starving herself for years, Crystal decided she didn’t want to abuse her body anymore and decided to let it be the way it wanted to be, which was a size 12. While this isn’t the usual size fashion models come in, Crystal says she has been more successful since being true to herself, appearing on the cover of four international editions of Vogue, in various ad campaigns, and on the runway for Vena Cava, Heatherette, and Jean-Paul Gaultier. We’re not models, but her message is one we should all heed: Be yourself and you’ll get farther in life. Aww ... [GMA]

And I thought those heel-less high heels presented enough of a fashion challenge. Now I have to paint myself green this season? Mon Dieu! In this très bizarre fashion story for Pop magazine’s fall/winter issue, model Kinga Rajzak dons psychedelic rainbow hair, a balloon shrug, and aquamarine body paint. Frisky style editor Erin loves the lavender-and-white hair, while I prefer the green-and-red ‘do. The two-tone Miu Miu heels, shimmery Gucci jumpsuit, and turquoise Hussein Chalayan body armor are awesome, but I don’t know if I’ll be turning aquamarine anytime soon. Get an eyeful after the jump!

Remember when we called attention to the fact that AgencySpy was very against the idea of 17-year-old rock/model spawn Georgia Jagger and her topless Hudson Jeans campaign? (Ah, like it was yesterday.) Now there’s a very, well, “erotic” might be the best way of putting it, video making the rounds that is extremely humorous if you love to make fun of kooky fashion ads and, well, let’s just say it’s controversial in other ways too. Check it out and let’s discuss immediately.

At this point, the cameos seem a lot more interesting than the plotline of upcoming prime-time drama “The Beautiful Life.” The show, which is centered around the lives of New York City models, has attracted a star-studded list of fashion industry types who play themselves, including designer Zac Posen and “Project Runway” judge Nina Garcia. Now add Max Azria, the man behind buzzy brands like BCBG Max Azria and Herve Leger. The designer is scheduled to appear as himself on an upcoming episode of the show, which debuts September 16 on the CW.

The coming of Fashion Week means that, if you live in New York, you’ll be spending a lot of time over the next few days feeling kind of short and fat as an inexplicably large number of models wander the streets en route to castings, clutching portfolios and cards that feature photos of them, their measurements and their agent’s contact info. The thing is, tall and impossibly thin as said models are, there are lots of them and standing apart from the gorgeous gaggle must be a pain in the ass, and challenging! One Model Management, however, is making it a bit easier with by far the coolest model cards we’ve ever seen. Inspired by famous fashion photographer Richard Avedon, these retro-looking numbers beat the pants off their classy-but-boring black and white counterparts, don’t you think?  [Refinery 29]

No, it’s not an “SNL” skit. It’s the latest video advert from Gucci, a “behind the scenes” look at their fall/winter 2009/2010 line. If you like listening to crazy-thin models with wackadoodle names talk over each other about each other while wearing clothes that you cannot afford and striking random, gawky poses, you will love this spot. All that model chattering aside, I would die, and I do mean die, for those thigh-high, skintight boots. Baldor? Is that actually one of the model’s (real? fake?) names? Ah, fashion. [Haute Macabre]

You say you want a revolution? Change is afoot at Glamour after the magazine has received tons of PR from its “shocking,” controversial decision to show a semi-nude plus-size model in their September issue. (Actually, they had shot gorgeous blonde model Lizzie Miller nude in the mag before, but this time, they showed a more “unflattering” angle highlighting her belly and the media went wild!) Naturally, bloggers had plenty to say on the matter, and Miller and Glamour editor Cindi Leive even made an appearance on “Today” to talk about how their readers were overjoyed to see a woman who wears a size 12-14 in the mag. Now it seems they’ve decided to milk the publicity stay true to what readers want by shooting another feature with plus-size women for the November issue: A “Page Six” tipster says famous curvier models like Kate Dillon, Jennie Runk, Amy Lemons and Crystal Renn are all involved. While a mainstream mag like Glamour certainly won’t influence hyper-haute fashion mags like W and V, they do have a huge circulation. Whatever their motives, look for their moves to be copied by similar ladymags soon. Are you ready to see less airbrushing and more normal-sized women or what?

At a Victoria’s Secret “Heavenly Enchanted” perfume launch this weekend, Victoria’s Secret model and girlfriend of Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr, was temporarily blinded when former “Bachelor” and “Dancing with the Stars” cast member Melissa Rycroft “accidentally” sprayed perfume in her face. Apparently Melissa felt really bad for handicapping the Australian model. [NY Post]

It’s really hard not to laugh when bad things happen to beautiful people. (Do you think it’s funny when models fall on the runway?) Luckily, YouTube users have made a sport of compiling clips of fashion disasters. Hopefully, Miranda is doing better. But in the meantime, we’ve found some other OMG model moments.

You know that modeling contract you always wanted (before you got real, that is)? It just went to Elle Macpherson‘s labradoodle. Yup, her dog. Bella, a five-year-old half lab/half poodle, is “Britain’s next top dog model” for the site Dogside.com, where he can be seen modeling products like scarves and coats. Bella Macpherson allegedly earns a five-figure sum for his “modeling”—er, sitting still for three seconds. Cute puppy, though. We just hope Elle is not one of those loopy stage parents like the “Toddlers & Tiaras” people. [The Cut]

I’ve got four words for you, ladies: male models and babies. The male models are hot. The babies are totally cute. It’s like two great tastes that go great together for your eye-candy pleasure. This fine footage was shot behind the scenes at a shoot for the “Baby Daddy” layout in the September issue of Out magazine. (You can check out the snaps here and here.) The male clothes hangers photographed by Matthias Vriens McGrath include Noah Mills, Leandro Maeder, and Oraine Barrett, and I can safely say there is not one among them that I would kick out of bed for eating crackers. Sure, the clothes are fine, but are the babies and the boys for sale, too? [The Cut]

As glamorous as modeling may seem, it’s also chock-full of sexual harassment and other shady business. We open a magazine and see the picture to the left, but in order for that picture to happen some 16-year-old girl was balancing on an elevated chair and the other model was trying not to get hit in the face with the legs of said chair.

In an attempt to stop the upskirt grabbing, dangerous photo shoots, and general tomfoolery that models are often subjected to, the British Fashion Council and the Association of Modeling Agencies are putting together a model code of conduct with the aid of models Victoria Keon-Cohen and Dunja Knezevic. Considering that they were inspired to act after one male model’s scalp bled when his hair was over-bleached and a bevy of jumping beauties sprained their ankles wearing high heels on a trampoline (um yeah, not even kidding), we wish them luck! [The Sydney Morning Herald]