Women's Wear Daily featured a piece about the upcoming museumshow of Inez Van Lambsveerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the creative talentsbehind some of the most beautiful and celebrated fashion images of thepast 15 years. When asked about her favorite models Inez gave thefollowing response:

Raquel Zimmermann, Daria Werbowy, Kate Moss and Anja Rubik. They allhave this huge range. They're mature, they're grown up, they're womenwho have had a life and experience. For about five or six years now wehaven't shot anyone under 18 for that reason, but also for the factthat we feel that the modeling business should not promote girlsworking under 18. They're not out of school, their bodies aren'tdeveloped yet, they don't have a sense of self yet, sometimes theyhaven't had sex yet. It's hard to project all these things on someonewho hasn't had that experience.

I think Van Lambsveerde has a terrific point. There are many controversies thatsurround the modeling industry but it seems to me that models being soyoung are at the core of many of these issues. Whether it's a questionof healthy eating, being put in compromising situations by hornyphotographers or battling depression, all these situationsare aggravated when you're talking about a 15-year-old-girl left to herown devices in a foreign country despite the support and guidance ofher agency. Kids in high school anywhere can find drugs and alcohol ifthey really want to, but those kids are usually surrounded byparents, teachers and other authority figures who can protect them.The models that Van Lambsveerde mentions are certainly very slim but, in my opinion, havea healthier body shape. Being older helps. Some of them have hadchildren which often results in a shapelier, more womanly body. Perhapsby creating an age minimum in the industry the focus will be shiftedfrom gangly teenagers to a healthier and more adult look. CarineRoitfeld is already a big proponent of more mature and shapely girlslike Daria, Lara Stone and Eva Herzigova. Marc Jacobs used a parade ofVictoria's Secret girls at Louis Vuitton this season.These things senda good message to to women everywhere: You don't need to be stickthin to be stylish.

Look, I know Kate Moss at age 14 was amazing looking and the subject ofsome legendary photographs. Milla Jovovich at 11 was also stunning aswas Brooke Shields at nine. But they were all still gorgeous andcamera-ready at 18. Of course banning under-18-year-old girls from modeling won't solve every problem in the fashion world, but I think it's a start.