February means New York Fashion Week, and New York Fashion Week means two things every year: a cascade of mouth-watering, desire-inducing, dramatic fashions, and a debate on designers using underage models.

The runway shows of the likes of Michael Kors, who featured smart plaids and fur, Carolina Herrera, who presented us with her always luxurious expertise, and Marc Jacobs, who shocked his viewers with oversized fur hats, always provide us with ideas, inspiration and an idea of what to look forward to in the world in fashion. However, the always-present issue of designers using underage models plagued designers once again this year.

The Council for Fashion Designers of America releases a set of guidelines every year for the industry. This year, Chairwoman Diane Von Furstenberg emphasized two guidelines that are intended to help keep the runway models healthy. The first was for designers to provide healthy meals for models during fittings. The second was to require models to show ID proving they are older than 16.

Instead of gushing over the beauty, creativity and passion being sent down the runway, the buzz this week was instead about designer Marc Jacobs sending two 14-year-old models down the runway during his highly publicized and annually dramatic show.

The tiny, emaciated models we have grown used to seeing walk down every runway have set a standard that has become almost unattainable even for the models themselves. The body a woman has as a young teenage girl is almost always proportionately and, more importantly, measurably different from that of the same girl at 16, 18 or 21. The fact that models are expected to live up to these standards, despite their changing bodies, can lead to the notoriously unhealthy habits of undereating and overexercising we are used to hearing about.

In addition, young models don’t always have the same rules other young professionals such as actors or actresses might have. Issues with chaperones and a set number of hours the models are allowed to work haven’t been heavily established in the fashion industry yet. This creates a lot of leeway for using these young girls in fashion shows.

Not only is this practice unhealthy for models, it is unhealthy for our society. Most of us are probably aware of the insane amounts of Photoshopping, makeup and padding or compression garments used in any magazine shoot out there. We are encouraged by the likes of Kate Winslet and Beyonce to embrace our natural beauty and then shown photos of the latest trends being worn by size-two models.

So, while designers are placing 14-year-old girls in their advertisements, developed, college-aged and older women are somehow held to the same standards.

It’s an endless cycle and one that needs to be broken. When a designer like Jacobs manages to put on a show that gives us drama, laughter and a setup that makes people wonder and outfits that make people think, it is too bad that more of the media time has been spent on his nonchalant comment that if the model’s parents are OK with it, the models should be allowed to walk.

Maybe he is right. If a young model has the support from her parents and the ability to balance a career and school, she should walk. But measures need to be taken in order to make those conditions an industry standard. When we look at the big picture and see young models becoming the face of the fashion industry for women who are years older in both body and mind, designers may want to consider not just the health of their models, but the health of their consumer as well.