SYDNEY, April 9 (UPI) -- Designer Alex Perry has apologized for allowing an extremely thin model to walk his show for Australian Fashion Week.
21-year-old Cassi Van Der Dungen shocked audiences at Perry's show earlier this week when the model appeared on the runway looking extraordinarily thin. Her appearance caused Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank to speak out and even call the model's agent out of concern for her health.
"This goes beyond what I'm used to seeing," Frank told Australian morning show Sunrise. "I don't want people to look at that and feel that ... the industry is endorsing that."
@VeraVonMonika @ThitiaOfficial This is Cassi van den Dungen’s skinny appearance for Alex Perry Oz Fashion Week LIKE? pic.twitter.com/8HvNOb2jRR
— Geoff De Weaver (@geoff_deweaver) April 9, 2014Perry himself has spoken out and blamed a "serious lack of judgment" on his part that led him to use Van Der Dungen in his show.
"I looked at that footage and I recoiled from it and the images," the designer told the Australian Today show. "It's not an image that I think is a good one to put forward ... I'm putting my hands up, it was wrong, it was the wrong image to present."
Van Der Dungen has responded to the controversy with several tweets and Instagram photos that show what she is eating and include the hashtags "lovefood," "iamwhoiam," and "dealwithit."
