Health officials have accused Sports Illustrated of "celebrating obesity" after it sent plus size models down the runway.
Experts at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) have said the fashion industry should avoid "celebrating extremes" after the swimsuit fashion show took place in Miami last month.
Brad Frankum, the head of the New South Wales state branch of the AMA, said: “It’s a difficult message but just like we don’t use cigarettes to promote products I don’t think we should have unhealthy weights promoting products.”
Also wading into the debate was Australian columnist, Soraiya Fuda, who branded the swimsuit giant "irresponsible".
In an opinion piece published in Sydney's Daily Telegraph, Ms Fuda slammed the recent fashion parade which used models "who appeared to be approaching sizes 20-26 as "irresponsible".
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2018 Collection - In pictures
She wrote: “Parading and glorifying size 20-somethings on any runway promotes an underlying and irresponsible message that doing nothing about your weight is OK.”
Defending the show, MJ Day, editor of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, said she wanted to show that all women of all sizes could be considered beautiful.
“We’ve made a very positive statement that beauty is not one size fits all and now we’re carrying through with that in our new line,” she told Australia’s Channel Seven.
In recent years, plus size models have been celebrated by brands wanting to add more diversity to their shows after the fashion industry came under fire for using near skeletal models.
But the widespread debate has been battling over what is healthy and what is not.
Sarah Body, from Body Positive Australia, which promotes women’s health, supported the use of “bigger” women, saying it was important for the fashion industry to represent a diverse range of weights and appearances.
