Fashion house Dior has sparked outrage this week, after pictures of a 14-year old model wearing a sheer dress surfaced from their Autumn Winter 2015 Haute Couture show.
Sofia Mechetner was spotted walking in the Christian Dior Autumn Winter 2015 Haute Coutiure show wearing a light smock dress – with just knickers protecting her modesty.
Image via Huffpost
The young teen has reportedly signed a two-year contract worth £170,000 to front catwalk shows and advertising, despite requests from the Council of Fashion Designers to only use models who are at least 16-years old on the catwalk.
The designer came under fire online, after posting several images of the young girl, under a ‘rags to riches’ theme for the show.
The British Fashion Council has previously banned models under 16-years of age walking in London Fashion week, due to concerns over growing mental health issues in the industry.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Kate Moss previously spoke out about the pressures of exploitation and the sexualised nature of her work at such a young age.
The model credits the pressure of the environment as the reason behind a ‘nervous breakdown’ when she was 17-years old:
“It didn’t feel like me at all. I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. I thought I was going to die…It was just anxiety. Nobody takes care of you mentally.”
