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(February 2010) As the Size Zero debate continues to rage ahead of London Fashion Week, Montrose – a leading extended care facility for the treatment of mental health disorders – is calling for fashion houses to tailor more responsible designs that are a fairer reflection of a healthy human figure.Despite repeated calls from health experts around the world for designers to use healthier models on the catwalk, each season tragic tales of Size Zero girls hit the headlines as they compete to sport designs to flaunt the so-called ‘coat-hanger’ figure. Montrose has seen a steep rise in the number of girls seeking treatment for eating disorders at their dedicated facility, Montrose Manor, and they feel that it is a preoccupation with size across the media, stemming from the aspirational portrayal of the female form on the catwalk, that is a major contributing factor in many cases.

Discretely set amongst the foothills of Cape Town’s Table Mountain, Montrose Manor provides a supportive environment and unrivalled facilities to aid with the rehabilitation of clients (male and female) with eating disorders. The clinic’s resident team of experts use cutting-edge techniques to promote the Montrose Model of extended care for long-term, optimal physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual health, free from the habitual, self-defeating behaviours associated with eating disorders. All clients receive group and individual therapy which is then supplemented by programmes such as art and drama therapy, life skills classes (including cooking for eating disorders sufferers), Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and other physical and recreational activities such as hiking, Yoga and Pilates.

This year, as they look to open their first transitional clinic in the UK for returning clients to receive first-class aftercare in London, Montrose is calling for fashion houses to re-examine their designs to suit a healthier figure and thus negate the use of models who are dangerously underweight.

Founder of Montrose, Johnny Graaff, comments: “We understand that catwalk fashion is hugely creative and designed to be aspirational rather than ‘ready-to-wear’; however we feel that by sending models whose health has been seriously compromised in the pursuit of a certain physique it sends a dangerous message on the definition of beauty to the wider public. At Montrose Manor, we recognise that our eating disorders clients are keen to retain a slim physique, so rather than merely feeding them up so that they reach a suitable BMI, we use psychotherapy to work with them to address any deep-seated problems associated with the condition and establish a healthy routine which they can follow as part of their rehabilitation once they leave”.