DAKAR - A group of young women squeeze into impossibly high heels while others sit still as make-up artists paint their eyelids a shining emerald colour.

This is at the Dakar Fashion Week in Senegal. All legs and cheekbones, the models are subject to the same pressures as their counterparts walking runways in London, Paris and New York.

And perhaps more.

Like many women from the streets of Senegal, some fashion models in West Africa have bleached their skin, seeking to achieve a "café au lait" colour regarded by some as the aesthetic ideal.

But this year, Senegal's marquee fashion event is making a stand against the damaging practice.

"I am against it," said Adama Ndiaye, better known as Adama Paris, who started the annual fashion fete in 2002.

Ndiaye announced at the opening of fashion week that she had banned any models using skin depigmentation cream from participating in the six-day event.

A local newspaper, Sud Quotidian, claimed more than 60% of Senegalese women use skin bleaching products.

Sidling nervously between hair and make-up stations, models also expressed their support for Ndiaye's initiative. - Reuters