Ali Forced Out Of Fashion Week

Young American model Ali Micheal has been forced to leave Paris fashion week. Why? Because casting directors deem her too fat.

It's hard to imagine Miss Michael, a willowy, 5-foot-9-inch teenager, being told her legs are too plump. Last season, Miss Michael made herself sick keeping her weight down, said her mother. Miss Michael's reward was to be heralded as the next supermodel.

She opened Lanvin in Paris a year ago and walked the runways of Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, John Galliano, Dior, Rodarte and others. She appeared in Harper's Bazaar, Teen Vogue and W magazines and was personally congratulated by Vogue's Anna Wintour.

It's possible to become anesthetized to the models' looks. With heavy makeup, it's also easy to overlook how young many of them are. Miss Michael was "discovered" in Texas at 15.
Her mother, a stunning woman who was once a model herself, said her daughter's model friends have struggled to get thinner in recent months and that her daughter, worried about her health, chose not to starve herself.

"Our bags are packed," said Mrs. Michael sadly as she and her daughter prepared to fly home. Still, she said that she felt a sense of relief that her child was getting out of the fast lane of fashion, at least for now. "I have a really good, good daughter," she said.

Well no matter what happens, we still love Ali! Way to go for standing up to the industry - who needs Paris fashion week anyway when you look like she does?! Great girl.

Pictured, Ali walking for Anna Sui earlier this month in New York.