Germany’s most popular womens’ magazine, Brigitte, has announced controversial plans to ban professional models from appearing on its pages.

The big publication has decided to completely stop size zero models appearing in the magazine, replacing them with “real women”. Whilst I find it ridiculous that skinny girls are being labelled as ‘unreal’, this is a healthy step for the media and fashion industries.

Brigitte’s editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert commented, “For years we’ve had to use Photoshop to fatten the girls up. Especially their thighs, and decolletage. But this is disturbing and perverse and what has it got to do with our real reader?”

Brigitte sells more than 700,000 copies each month and is a women’s lifestyle magazine. Lebert will call on its readers to put themselves forward as models, “We’re looking for women who have their own identity, whether it be the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, or the footballer.”

Is this the start of a change or could it be a promotional campaign in a bid to sell more copies?