Controversial Miu Miu ad has fashion world embroiled.

A normally compliant British Advertising Standards Authority board has decided this time to allow a Miu Miu ad which features what many would argue a far too thin model to stand. But that of course hasn’t stopped the fashion world from getting worked up…

styleite: The Daily Telegraph reports that the ad, which features model 23-year-old model Kasia Struss sitting in a mirrored room, had to be evaluted against the the Authority’s social responsibility guidelines. Those guidelines try to guard against images that might be damaging or suggestive, and ads like Diesel’s Be Stupid campaign and Beyonce’s commercial for her fragrance Heat have fallen afoul of those rules in the past year.

But after a careful analysis, the Miu Miu ad didn’t trip the organization’s alarms. From the ASA’s official report on the ad:

‘The ASA noted that the model in the ad was slim, and that the lighting effects, make-up and low-cut dress emphasised her body shape. However, we considered that the ad was typical of those used for fashion products and that the model did not look significantly underweight. We therefore concluded that the ad was not irresponsible.’

What makes BASA‘s decision all the more intriguing is the benchmark that it has chosen in deciding whether the model is thin or not. By using the standard glossy journals as a benchmark one can only wonder if going forward all fashion ads will have a disposition towards using thin models. Of course had BASA gone with mainstream publications and what generally passes as normal in society we’d be willing to bet that this ad would’ve come off.

That said, one can be pretty sure that for the time being androgynous and preternaturely thin models will be the go- assuming one sticks to the standard set by the current fashion arbiters…