The Paris shows kicked off with organizers saying they would not ban skinny models from the runways and Jean Paul Gaultier weighing into the debate by hiring a 132-kilogram model.

In what seemed more of a nod to front-row guest, the burlesque artiste Dita Von Teese, Gaultier sent out the plus-sized Paris-based American model and actress Velvet d’Amour, 39, in a satin corset and negligee. The rest of his collection was on a “workout” theme, an athletic wear-inspired collection of silk track pants, hooded sweat tops and dresses.

Australian Gemma Ward modeled in the same show on Tuesday, a week after industry gossip whispered that she had missed the Milan shows because she had put on weight and not because she was reading for a third new film project in Los Angeles.

“Gemma’s not a fatty, let me tell you,” said d’Amour afterwards, adding that society should give her more svelte runway colleagues a break.

“If you tell me somebody’s too thin, if you tell me somebody’s too fat, you’re still being prejudiced. The point is diversity,” d’Amour told the Herald.

–From IHT