London, Jan. 27: Sir Philip Green, head of the Arcadia group, which owns the Topshop chain of fashion stores , said his labels would not use “waifs” and hoped all designers would follow his lead.

His announcement came as the British Fashion Council decided not to follow the example of Milan and Madrid and ban “size zero” models, the US equivalent to a British size 4. Instead it asked designers to use only “healthy models” aged 16 or over.

Sir Philip said: “We are going to set the scene at the opening of London Fashion Week and I hope everyone else follows. We all know what the definition of unhealthy is and we want to try to act correctly, responsibly and without causing a rift.”

However, Sir Philip said his company would not go as far as weighing its models. He said: “Everyone wants to see people being healthy and we have got lots of good-looking girls who can be a healthy weight and look great.”