Male model Andrej Pejic and fashionista Daphne Guinness said they needed to go hungry to look good.
Pejic, who has modelled womens clothing for Jean-Paul Gaultier, has told Grazia magazine that he lives in a state of semi-starvation to fit into the designer outfits, sparking anger from nutritionists who labelled his comments as irresponsible.
The 20-year-old said he followed a strict low-calorie diet and had lost inches from his waist.
"Let"s be honest. You can"t eat much if you want to do this. To do womenswear I have to be disciplined.
Meanwhile, fashionista Daphne Guinness has also revealed she goes hungry so she can wear designer clothes.
During an interview with New York magazine, the journalist and haute couture collector turned down her personal assistant"s offer of a bowl of pasta, saying: "If I eat, I can"t work.
"I"ll eat when I"m dead."
Pejic"s manager Matthew Anderson of Chadwick Models said most models have a healthy lifestyle and are disciplined when it comes to food and exercise.
"The ones [models] who do well are the ones who work out and do what"s required and that does not mean starving yourself," Anderson told news.com.au
"I think the majority of people in this industry don’t struggle to be something they are naturally not."
"I do think Andrej"s speaking with his tongue firmly in cheek, as always."
But nutritionists failed to see the lighter side of the model"s comments, even if they were intended to be tongue in cheek.
Nutrition Australia said they sent the wrong message to young vulnerable people who may already be suffering self esteem issues.
"He is a role model who young people look up to so these sorts of comments can plant ideas in their heads,"
"He needs to realise the impact his words have, he is a celebrity. I think he needs to think about comments like this and be more responsible.
"At lot of young people of this age are feeling pressure to fit in and may already have low self esteem so these sorts of comments certainly don"t help."
While admitting young models, both male and female, were under pressure to look good the spokeswoman said starving to stay slim wasn"t the way to go about it.
"The truth is the sort of people who are suitable for this industry are those who are naturally slim," she said.
Young people who wanted to lose weight should only do so with professional help, she added.
The models are not the first to admit they don"t eat much in order to keep looking good.
In 2009 Kate Moss caused outrage amongst anti-anorexia groups when she said in an interview "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels".
She later tried to retract the remark saying she "always forgot" the motto but the British model was condemned by health charities.