Compulsory Plus Size Models

[Brissles]

I switched on the radio last week to hear the line in the afternoon play or some such "you don't half see some fat birds in leggings round Exeter" ... which out of context it made me laugh out loud!

The trouble is that models never ever look like the rest of us no matter what their size. Flipping Joy looks gobsmacking in pretty much everything and often better than the slimmer girls. Joy is an 18 or thereabouts. Most size 18s don't look like Joy. And I do have to question whether the very lovely joy could get her ****s in a standard size 18 anyway. That's not a criticism of her at all, she's lovely.

I SOO agree with the ****y bit ! In fact I often wonder about sizing in general. I am a size 20/22 and 5'7 but when I see in magazines and papers pictures of celebs who have dieted and are now a size 8/10/12 and then you see a picture of them when they were a size 20, I think 'hang on' I'm that size but even I dont look that huge ! and even shop assistants find it hard to believe I'm an XXL, so where is it all going wrong ????

NO, I'm not in denial, but for instance Fern Brittain was pictured in dresses as a size 22, and to me she looked more like a size 28/30. Again, Princess Anne is always quoted as a size 10/12 er, really ?

It was also noticeable that Joy or a curvier model wasn't shown wearing the Joan Rivers creation either !

 

[AmethystRox]

I heard somewhere that the manufacturers have lowered clothing sizes to make everyone feel good about themselves. So that if you have traditionally been a size 12, they have changed that to an 8 or even smaller so that you don't feel "bad" about the size you wear and are inclined to buy their range. After all who really wears a size 0? I know it's often a symbolic term but what could their actual measurements be?

When I hear someone say she is a 12, you know that really by the "old" standards she'd be at least a 16 or 18. (Like with Fern Britton). Plus I am sure that with so much being made in China (for example), sizing gets skewed or distorted even though garments and such should be made to a standard of sizes. It makes it all the more difficult to find the correct size. I think that's why QVC goes down the S-M-L-XL-etc. road. More flexible for them, crazy measurements corresponding to general sizing for the buyer.

 

[craftology]

I don't know - I used to fit into an XL when I was a size 20, now you see plenty of clothing ranges where XL means a size 14. I also tend to have to go a size up when it comes to jacket with, of all places, plus sized shops because of my hips, which doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Ilovelulu]

I SOO agree with the ****y bit ! In fact I often wonder about sizing in general. I am a size 20/22 and 5'7 but when I see in magazines and papers pictures of celebs who have dieted and are now a size 8/10/12 and then you see a picture of them when they were a size 20, I think 'hang on' I'm that size but even I dont look that huge ! and even shop assistants find it hard to believe I'm an XXL, so where is it all going wrong ????

NO, I'm not in denial, but for instance Fern Brittain was pictured in dresses as a size 22, and to me she looked more like a size 28/30. Again, Princess Anne is always quoted as a size 10/12 er, really ?

It was also noticeable that Joy or a curvier model wasn't shown wearing the Joan Rivers creation either !

Totally agree! It was the same when Vanessa Feltz slimmed down, she said she was now a 12, when in reality I believe she must have been more like a 16/18. I'm an 18 and most folk find that hard to believe, most of them think I'm more a 14/16.

I would love to find these clothes shop that they all go to, cos I would be a size 8 then!!! Most of the shops I know I have to go for the 18 or even up to a 20 (doesn't bother me the size on the label as long as it looks good on).

I love Joy, but as someone said, she isn't your typical plus size, she has slim legs and arms and a defined waist! Most plus sizes I know, including myself tend to be bigger all over. Its the same with the models for Evans, I think most of them are a size 14/16 but they are all very tall, trying putting me in a size 18 maxi dress and having me look the same! Not a chance considering I'm 5' 2''.

I wish someone would bring out a petite plus size range, ie 14+ but for woman of 5' 4''(?) and under!

 

[norfolk dumpling]

Do you think they would let me do a bit of modelling for them so they can see what the clothes look like a a 63yr old size 16 5foot nothing frame??

 

[HoodedClaw]

Do you think they would let me do a bit of modelling for them so they can see what the clothes look like a a 63yr old size 16 5foot nothing frame??

Would you REALLY want to be all decked out in Kim&Co or Michele Hope on TV? :taphead:

 

[Tinkerbelle]

When I quote my dress size in here or anywhere else I am absolutely honest about what size I am and what size I wear in the various QVC ranges because like Fern Britton and Vanessa Feltz I don't always think the QVC reviewers are. Many women would rather not admit their dress size to the general public and that's fine if you're not misleading some other poor chump who is relying on you to know what size to buy!

As for FB and VF I couldn't care less what dress size they are or were but as you say we aren't stupid and we aren't blind. The latest celeb on the dress size band wagon is Kirstie Alley. Reckons she's a UK size 12. My arse!! She's a 16 at best BUT she looks great so why pretend she's two sizes smaller.

I don't believe that women need to be stick thin to be beautiful or desirable or more importantly happy. And oddly most of my girlfriends think I'm at least one size smaller than I am and I think its because
I'm happy with who I am and how I look. My waist isn't as defined as it was as I'm nearly 50 but I am still a sort of hourglass. A bloody great hourglass it has to be said.

 

[Sacha]

Doh!

As for FB and VF I couldn't care less what dress size they are or were but as you say we aren't stupid and we aren't blind. The latest celeb on the dress size band wagon is Kirstie Alley. Reckons she's a UK size 12. My arse!! She's a 16 at best BUT she looks great so why pretend she's two sizes smaller.

I was thinking for a moment then that you were referring to Kirstie Allsopp! :blush:

 

[borednow]

maybe they are a 12 etc... on good days with certain styles from certain shops and spanxed up to my eye balls i too could be a 12 lol

 

[Tinkerbelle]

I was thinking for a moment then that you were referring to Kirstie Allsopp! :blush:

:cheeky: no not Kirstie Allsopp. Although she's not a wee waif and always looks good. Well nearly always like all of us.

Kirstie Alley looks great though. Probably a size 16 but I'll believe she could squish in to a 14. The point is though she looks amazing and I think it would be far more inspiring if she said here I am, I'm a dress size 16 and I look great. Because she does but because she says I'm a size 12 it takes away from how great she looks. Or at least it does to me but perhaps I'm a moaning old boot.

 

[norfolk dumpling]

Would you REALLY want to be all decked out in Kim&Co or Michele Hope on TV? :taphead:

Nah.........

 

[Mrs James]

Again, Princess Anne is always quoted as a size 10/12 er, really ?

i can confirm that i met Annie :wink2: last year at my son's passing out parade and was amazed at how tiny she is....

 

[Springflower]

I think the problem has less to do with size and more to do with shape. I'm 5'8 with long, slender legs and 14/16 hips - that's the good bit!!! The down side is a waist which is a good 22 and that's with the benefit of an elasticated waist. I can't actually admit to being apple shaped because from the back I appear no more than size 14 and totally bumless - keeping those elasticated waists where they should be isn't easy!!! For a brief time I was a 10/12 and the problems I experience now are the same ones I experienced then. It seems to me that whilst weight changes, shape doesn't. Thankfully, I've learned, over time to wear clothes which suit my shape but I have to confess to stamping my foot with frustration when I see something I would kill for and it looks hideous on me. Long live elasticated waists and tops with batwing sleeves but not necessarily by Kim&Co.
Best wishes from Springflower.

 

[donna255]

the thing with celebs they are always if larger a size 18 no one is allow to be larger than a size 18 in the media. I remember on ditigalspy someone put a link to a paper and an article about Dawn French. The paper said she was a size 28, then the OP came back later that day and said the article now said Dawn was a size 18!!!! There was a lot of love for Dawn but no way was she a size 18 I will say she was a size 28.

Clothes sizes all have a set idea what this size is. Now I am 5'1 and half inches tall, I am curvy(large chested), but because I am short have short arms etc. Yet petite sizing normally only goes to a size 14 or 16 if you are lucky. So therefore shorter people are not allow to be heavier according to clothes makers or shops. So though I could be the same weight as someone say 5'6" they will wear a smaller size than me.

Now I am a size 14 and have lost 5st in two years. But I know for a fact I was a size 14 when in my twenties and thirties and only weighted 9-9 and half stone. By the way I am now 10st 6lbs. So back then I would be wearing a size 16. I actually have an old pair of jeans I kept from the early 90s(don't ask I loved them), no stretch in them and they are a size 18. They are far too big waist and hips, I wore them one day and my friend made me go change as they look stupid!!

The thing with stores and everything made foreign, I have found you try on item on too big, long etc. Yet lift another same size and item and it could be far too small. I was told that in each country they have a number of factories making the same thing. One might cut it a bit bigger, one the correct size and the third smaller.

As for QVC I own two coats, one a L which fitted me at size 20 and another is a XL and it fitted when I was that size.

Yesterday I caught a few shows of Tiana B, and the model Jane was on. She was shorter than the other model and larger, whether she because she was standing next to a taller much slimmer model. But the dresses made her look really dumpy and short. Now I will say in real life she is not actually as big as she looked in those dresses, infact no doubt normal women sized.

 

[borednow]

i agree about how the sizing is different today when compared to 15/20 years ago.
in my 20's i used to be a size 42 (a 14 or 16) and i was a good stone lighter then than i am now. i have recently lost a shed load of weight and i am in a 40/42 but still would need to lose another 5 or 6 kg to get back to my old weight.
back then on the high street i always had to go for the xl and now i can wear anything from an m to an xl. it is a great ego boost to wear an M until you put it next to an xl from another make and the xl is smaller lol