The fashion industry has generated a lot of contraversy over the past year and some of the most memorable publicity stunts have taken place. Fashion designers, store owners and Hollywood celebrities are taking endless measures just to get the slightest bit of attention from the media. Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction is nothing compared to some of the stunts pulled by the fashion industry's best, this year.

Let's start with TomKat. Was it a publicity stunt, was it not a publicity stunt - who knows? All we know is that the timing of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' fairytale relationship couldn't have come at a better time in either one of the celebrities careers. Tom had Mission Impossible 3 ready to go and Katie was in the midst of her new Batman movie and both needed as much publicity as they could get. I guess since the relationship has gone on for more than a year now it might be ruled as legit but I still think the whole thing started as a huge publicity stunt. Although techinically it began in 2005, I'm still putting in 2006's stupid publicity stunts because, let's face it, it doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon.

Now we'll move onto a contraversial issue that began not long ago and has continued to storm through the fashion industry over the past few months. It began when specific individuals in the fashion industry decided to ban models for being too skinny. This created an uproar in the industry but it was just the beginning of an even bigger stunt which was about to rock the fashion world. After hearing about the ban of super-small models, world renowned designer Jean Paul Gaultier decided to show the industry what he thought of the issue. He put an over-plus sized model wearing skimpy lingerie on the runway with other smaller models in similar attire. Needless to say, Gaultier received the attention he was looking for, negative or positive not being a factor.

The last (and perhaps poorest) attempt at generating publicity this year was when designer Ashley Paige decided to use a 10 year old as a runway model for her new bikini line. Although many believe there is nothing wrong with pre-teens wearing bikinis for swimming purposes, this was clearly a tasteless attempt at publicity as well. The 10 year old girl was not wearing pre-teen swimsuit attire and was not modeling with other girls of  her age. Instead, she was released onto the runway with other models in lingerie and bikinis who were clearly selling sex and not clothing.

What is the fashion industry coming to? Since when is it okay to sacrifice your dignity and self respect at the cost of others and why do designers feel the need to do so? 

The only labels that should be generating publicity are the ones that design clothing that is so stunning there is no need for a publicity stunt because the clothes sell themselves.

Do you think the fashion industry has gone too far?

Should designers or celebrities be penalized when they take extreme measures to make a point?