Milan, Sept. 13 (Reuters): Italy’s fashion capital is in a tizzy over a ban on overly thin models at Madrid’s fashion week, fearing it could be next with its own catwalk extravaganza less than two weeks away.

Milan’s mayor, Letizia Moratti, told a newspaper this week that she may bring the Spanish ban on underweight models to Italian shows. Madrid is turning away models whose body mass index, based on weight and height, falls below a certain level.

“With those kind of rules, we’d have to turn away 80 per cent of models.

“Naomi Campbell wouldn’t be able to walk down the catwalk, she’d be too thin,” said Riccardo Gay, head of the model agency of the same name that used to represent Campbell in Milan.

He also said Madrid had exaggerated the issue.

“Some designers have used extremely thin models, but we haven’t. We tell models to exercise, eat well, go to bed early — sensible rules,” he added.

Madrid’s regional government imposed the rules on fashion week to protect the models as well as teenagers who may develop anorexia as they try to copy underweight catwalk stars.