Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has waded into a row with the fashion industry over the use of stick-thin models.
Ms Jowell issued a statement calling for them to be banned from the catwalk at London Fashion Week, which begins on Monday.
But the British Fashion Council rebuffed the call, saying it would not tell designers how to run their shows.
Ms Jowell urged London Fashion Week to follow the decision taken by Madrid's show, Pasarela Cibeles, and ban underweight models.
She warned that ordinary girls felt under pressure to starve themselves to look like them.
In a statement she said: "The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin is damaging to young girls' self image and to their health.
"Young girls aspire to look like the catwalk models - when those models are unhealthily underweight it pressurises girls to starve themselves to look the same.
"The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves.
"I applaud the decision taken by Madrid to ban super-thin models, and urge the organisers of London Fashion Week to do the same."
But the British Fashion Council said: "The BFC does not comment or interfere in the aesthetic of any designer's show."
