Jo Winterbottom, Milan: Mads appetite for fast food after lunch doesn't sound like a typical diet in the high fashion world that has come under fire for using ultra-skinny teen models on the catwalks. But then Mads Larsen is a man.

A month after Italy's government issued a manifesto to crack down on the fashion industry's use of stick-thin girls on the catwalks at designer shows, the demand for willowy clotheshorses carries on unabated.

Unlike fashion week for women, Milan's cafes won't be packed with the 3,000 male models in town for this week's autumn/winter 2007-08 men's collections toying with leafy salads or surviving on cigarettes, espresso and bottled water.

Male models eat what and when they like. Italy's edict in December followed Spain's decision to ban women below a certain weight and a similar plan from Brazil after a model there died from complications due to anorexia.

The 16-year-old Larsen says eating four doners (grilled meat sandwiches typically slathered with rich sauces) after lunch is no big deal for a male model like him. "I haven't changed my eating that much," the lanky, 1.85 metre (6 ft) Larsen says. "Some days I'm still, like, four doners after lunch," he said.

"But they give me bumps." Although when he tries to point the blemishes out, they appear to be imperceptible. "You have to look like a healthy young man. A little muscle on the chest, but not too much," Larsen said of the requirements for his profession.

Not too Pumped 

Robert Zeddies, a 38-year-old who has been modelling for around 10 years, says there is "absolutely not" any pressure on male models to diet before a show.

"If I know I have an important job, sometimes I don't play squash beforehand, because it's a bit risky," he says, in case a racquet hits you in the face, for example. "I try to run, do some weights, but not so you look pumped up," he adds.

Whether male models work out or not largely depends on the individual, said one woman who works with a modelling agency and talked to Reuters on the condition her name not be used. "They need a toned body, but normal measurements -- a size 48 or 50," she said.

Too pumped up and they will be too large for the clothes on show. Larsen is a size 48, according to his model agency's website. But with less pressure to count the calories comes less pay and less fame.

There are no "supermodels" along the lines of Kate Moss or Eva Herzigova in male modelling. Menswear shows pay from about 1,000 euros up to 10,000 euros for a top name, the businesswoman said. "There are fewer men's fashion mags, so the budget for the business is much smaller," she said.

According to Forbes.com, Kate Moss earned $8 million in 2005-2006. Larsen won't tell me what he earns because of a clause in his contract. But he does say that Prada pays him a bonus to appear exclusively for them in Milan.