Age Before Beauty.

Brazil's models are being watched -- and not just by fashion mavens.

Rio de Janeiro Judge Siro Darlan is keeping an eye on the young women who strut their way down the catwalks to make sure they're all at least 18 years old. At the BarraShopping fashion show earlier this year, the models took the scrutiny in stride, so to speak: When they reached the end of the runway, they pulled identification cards with their birth dates from their lacy bras and tailored panties.

The sassy flash of I.D.s came in response to a Darlan's one-man campaign to get underage models off the haute couture stage. Officials surprised the semi-naked teenagers in their BarraShopping dressing room just minutes before that show started, demanding proof that the models were old enough to work.

Darlan has curtailed the careers of some two dozen would-be models so far.

"If they are going to enforce the law then they should go out and get all the street kids that are being prostituted, not those who are doing a serious and dignified job:" said 16-year old Mariana Moura, one of the banned models. "My parents approve. Why can't I work?"