“Our biggest problem with models and diet is they usually eat too many chips and Big Macs,” says the chief of a major modeling agency in Great Britain.

It’s not the type of news you’d expect about models and health. More often, you hear darker stories of the ravages of anorexia or bulimia on young girls’ bodies.

But Carole White, founder and CEO of Premier Model Management, says the problem is that they are still teenagers who don’t know proper nutrition:

“Models are young girls and most young girls of 16 to 18 don’t have a good diet plan. Their idea of eating is a pizza or a chicken burger,” she said. “They probably don’t think about it because they don’t have to.”

Concerned about the effect a fast food diet may have on its models’ appearance and health, the agency is trying to educate them about diet and nutrition, Ms White added.

“We’re worried about the fact that it’s not good for your skin and models need to have good skin,” she said.

She also says that the girls in her agency are not instructed to lose weight and are typically naturally thin despite their junk-food diets.

We agree that since models are often teenagers who spend more time on the road than they do at home, the agency is doing right by these girls by teaching them proper nutrition. We just hope they don’t develop unhealthy compulsions by being told what to eat by their bosses, as seems to happen often.

Items from the art collection owned by the late designer Yves St. Laurent were auctioned off this week, netting more than $486-million.

However, the auction incited protests among students of art history, who said much of the designer’s Chinese art collection were stolen goods, including the rabbit and rat bronze sculptures pictured here. Experts say the Qing dynasty fountainheads — which sold this week for $20-million each to an anonymous bidder — were stolen during the Opium Wars in the mid-1800s.

At a press conference held during the auction, Liu Yang, a lawyer who has spearheaded China’s campaign to reclaim the artworks, said, “I don’t know who the buyer is, but I don’t think the buyer is Chinese.” Mr. Liu said he will meet with fellow campaigners to discuss their next steps.

Still, Pierre Bergé — Yves Saint Laurent’s longtime business and life partner — says he and YSL had no question about the true ownership of the sculptures.

“Gathering a collection of this importance is a work of art — and I’m sure Yves Saint Laurent and I, we made a work of art,” Bergé said when thanking the media for its support.

A Guatemala factory that manufactures clothing for Lane Bryant and Briggs New York may have been exploiting its workers, says the National Labor Committee, a watchdog group.

The predominantly female staff at the Nicotex factory outside Guatemala City were forced into working overtime for between 76 cents and $1.15 an hour and were not offered health care, maternity leave, vacation time, or severance pay.

The brands react:

Charming Shoppes Inc., Lane Bryant’s parent company, said it was “surprised and highly disappointed” by the findings of the report and is doing everything it can to investigate and identify any issues with the factory.

“We intend to work closely with the factory and domestic vendor in an effort to improve labor standards for the benefit of the factory workers,” the company said.

A spokeswoman for Kellwood Co., Briggs New York’s parent company, said the firm is investigating the allegations.

But perhaps the most sobering quote comes from the NLC:

“Women in the U.S. are unknowingly purchasing clothing made by other women who are being exploited.”

Vegan Queen wrote us today about the fashion show they held on February 14 to show off their new line of vegan accessories. Sales from the accessory collection will benefit the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Tails for Whales project, the company reports. Have a watch to see the wares! We particularly like the hexagonal bags.

There may have been less fur on the catwalks at New York Fashion Week, but blogger Betty Boudoir reports there was no shortage of mink and chinchilla on the Milan runways last week.

With London Fashion Week well underway, she also asks the question about the place of vintage fur in modern fashion:

Eco-columnists and fashion environmentalists — from Katharine Hamnett to Anya Hindmarch — have emphasised the urgent need to recycle everything from bags and shoes to textiles and clothes. But they have been strangely silent on vintage fur.

PETA asks that vintage fur coats be donated to its animal rights organisation as educational aids. But the new “waste not want not” approach to textiles, coupled with the fact that vintage fur lasts up to 100 years, leaves fashion with a new dilemma. What is the most ethical thing to do with vintage fur?

Honestly? We say wear your heirlooms or have them restyled — they’ll do you more good being in use than sitting in a closet somewhere.

We’re not sure how we feel about admitting this, but we wish from time to time that there were more occasions for wearing a fabulous gown.

Still reading? Good. Because our favorite anonymous blogger, Auntie Fashion, would like you to spread the word about a novel idea for making use of your fancy frocks (or if you dare, bridesmaid dresses): “Wear a Gown to Work Day.”

Auntie, about a week ago:

Yesterday I posted a very bitchy comment.  I wrote “‘Special occasion dressing’ makes me apoplectic. Spending thousands of dollars to convince yourself that you’re going to remember a moment forever is one of the stupidest things any woman could ever do.  Don’t even get me started on wedding gowns!”

Bitchy, yes. But at least for Auntie, being a hater pays off — only this time, not in a hilarious Marc Jacobs take-down:

Who am I to tell anyone that they shouldn’t dress up for special occasions?  That really goes against everything I stand for.  My life isn’t going to be any better or worse if some bride spends five grand on a dress that makes her look like a parade float.  In fact, my life would probably be better if there were more special occasions that made me want to dress up.  Don’t we all want more glamour in our lives?

For that reason, I’ve decided to name the last Friday in May “Wear a Gown to Work Day.”  This year that day is Friday, May 29…

I hope that this humble little project of mine catches on.  It would be wonderful if every Friday became “Wear a Gown to Work Day” instead of that odious “Casual Friday” that affords your less-professional coworkers the opportunity to meet clients while clad in velour track pants with “Juicy” written across the ass.

May 29 — be there. In a gown.

Baffling gown-like ensemble: Christian Lacroix Spring 2009 Couture.

Nina Shen Rastogi tackled a seldom-if-ever asked question yesterday over at Slate:

Do “natural” and “organic” labels on bath and beauty products actually mean anything?

The short answer is: “rarely.”

Though the FDA has the authority to reprimand personal-care product-makers whose labels make false and misleading claims, it’s never imposed standard definitions for these green-sounding terms. So a body cleanser with only trace elements of cucumber extract can legally call itself a “natural” product, as can a fully synthetic product engineered to smell like an apple orchard.

Rastogi explains that products carrying some labels, such as “USDA Organic,” NSF 305, and OASIS, may offer a little more in the sustainability department than general claims like “natural” or “organic.” But the environmentalist product junkie who thinks that labels  are her ticket to eco-salvation will be sadly disappointed.

The “greener” way, the article points out, may not be so easy: Instead of stocking up — and shelling out — on buzzword-clad beauty products, try not to use so many beauty products at all!

Image: Poster of a vintage beauty ad.

One drawback to buying organic cotton over conventional cotton is that it costs more. And with the economy doing the way it is, that’s not always feasible. Sometimes it just seems easier to give up and stock up on Forever 21, even if it falls apart in the wash.

Fear not. This article by blogger Carrie from Haveless shares some tips and strategies to update your wardrobe for spring without blowing the budget — and guess what? The advice happens to be eco because it promotes conserving what you have.

Read on:

Before I buy anything, I make sure all of my current clothes are cleaned, ironed, and repaired. I also take time to throw out anything beyond repair. Anything that doesn’t fit or no longer suits my style gets donated to charity or auctioned on eBay. Then I make sure everything is put away in an organized manner so I can actually see what I already have. I sort things first by type: pants, sweaters, shirts, shoes, etc; then by situation: casual, work, and dressy; then by color.
…
I don’t target specific price points on particular items because I treat my wardrobe as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts — I’d rather have one quality item that I love and wear often than many that I hardly use. Still, the total price of my orders needs to be within budget, even if that means removing an item at checkout.

By early March, I’ll be ready to place a couple of online orders for a selection of items that I both need and love!

Read more of Carrie’s tips here.

Professor Kate Fletcher — author of E.S.-recommended textbook Sustainable Fashion and Textiles – weighed in at The Guardian yesterday on Defra’s new sustainable action clothing plan (more on that here). So far the consensus seems to be that, while an exciting step in the right direction, the Defra initiative merely scratches the surface in terms of sustainability goals.

Ms. Fletcher explains:

Many of the actions highlighted in Defra’s plan are classic examples of “top-down” thinking. They’re largely the result of an influential group of clothing industry and sustainability professionals who control and direct decisions about garments and how they are made.

But if that’s the only place we look for new ideas and activities, then the fashion sector is destined to continue to tinker around the edges of the many sustainability problems it faces, including – most perniciously – its sell-more-cheaper-and-faster business model.

Sustainability can’t be managed or prescribed exclusively by those at the “top”. Sustainability in fashion is as much about the dynamic relationship we consumers and users have with our clothes — the way we wear, care for and connect with our garments — as it is about government directives.

Photo: “Rojans” by Luis Morais at Flickrista.

Since you’re here on a fashion blog, we have to assume you enjoy reading about fashion. So to cater to your brain, we compiled some of the best of the Internet and library for EthicalStyle’s tenth issue.

In it, you will find:

• A journey through Vogue from 45 years ago, when Diana Vreeland was the editor-in-chief and synthetics were all the rage (complete with high-resolution scans of ads and photoshoots from that February 1964 issue!).
• A slideshow of the best message tees and accessories, for those of you who like wearing your opinions.
• A sampling of the most thoughtful, outrageous, and provocative comments left by regular folks on major news stories about fur.
• A review of veteran fashion writer Dana Thomas’s Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster.
• Finally, the fashion blogs and websites that Allie, Madison, and I have bookmarked — maybe you’ll find something that captivates you as well.