Kudos to an Anti-Anorexia Fashion Designer

It takes a lot to be shocking online anymore, but Italian fashion designer Nolita (short for Northern Little Italy) has accomplished this feat. The firm celebrated Italian fashion week with a series of billboards and newspaper ads sporting a naked anorexic model.

The model—a Frenchwoman named Isabelle Caro—is described in her own online page as a "comedienne" and is shown almost naked in a series of photos nearly as shocking as the one on Nolita's site. Caro is quoted as saying that she has battled anorexia since childhood and wants to show the public the dismaying effects of the disease.

The point of Nolita's ads is to fight back against the use of increasingly underweight fashion models. This trend has been blamed for the increased presence of anorexia and bulimia among young girls worldwide.

The ads are headlined "No Anorexia No-l-ita." Nolita's website also shows the company using models who aren't scarily skinny and who even sport a bit of a bulge in the midriff area. Bravo for Nolita for taking such a critical stand in a world (the fashion world) that seems hellbent on sales at the cost of the health of its models.