Zara - is this the shape women should aspire to be?

Trying to figure out whether I have ‘unreasonable’-sized boobs, ‘no’ boobs or am a ‘breastless’ woman.

They’re not large but they’ve fed two DC for a total of five years so it’s quite a puzzle.

Didn't really notice anything wrong with her figure. Normal slim to medium girl IMO. The dress would look lovely on a size 8 (model is likely size 8)

That model would look OK among a range of healthy weight differently sized models including ones with big busts or round hips (within healthy BMI). What I hate is that stick thin, hipless, breastless women seem to be the only ones girls are encouraged to aspire to. It's all very well loads of people piling on and saying 'she's not anorexic/I was that thin and I'm healthy' but what we never see is ordinary bodies. We get overweight women celebrating their curves or twig-shaped ones. Where are the muscular, or curvy mid range shaped bodies?

Well she's a model. Most people don't know models in their day to day lives. Most have a 'rectangle' body shape with small boobs, so size or weight doesn't come into it. Clothes hang well on that shape universally (usually).
Zara cuts their clothes for a smaller, continental frame, so many people don't suit them.
I think you should examine why you think your DD is an 'average' size 8 (10 years ago this was considered tiny) before making statements about what should be considered normal tbh.

YY Rufus, both to the arse v. face comment and the "god if she looks like a sack of spuds, what would it look like on me?" comment.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer-🤣 I always say it’s a choice between arse or face! And I don’t have to look at my own arse!

She looks very thin to me and not in a healthy way for a grown woman. But perhaps she is very young with a monster metabolism, maybe she isn’t but just doesn’t eat much, who knows, either way it’s not a massively aspirational or healthy image for young women.
I also find that Zara clothing is extremely small size wise, they aren’t a typical size set for U.K. shops at all.
I’m a 12 and wear their large or extra large. I don’t really care but is isn’t typical and some people do get very attached to their clothing size. Post babies I couldn’t get into any of their trousers or dresses.

I know what you mean Rufus. Or where the clothes are really wrinkled/not ironed. I think “what’s that going to look like after a day at work?”

The only thing wrong with that pic is the stupid bloody pose they made her do!

ASOS needs to allow reviews on their site. It stocks so many cheap nasty brands that is sometimes seems like quantity is better than quality. It must cost them a fortune to deal with all the returns.

Thats a good point janet, i dont often look at sites like asos

I have been put off clothes by the model

I always think if that beautiful young lady looks like a sack of spuds then fuck knows how bad I'll look!!!!

Funnily enough I was looking at Zara website yesterday that particular model unfortunately put me off a lot of their stuff. Made it all look shapeless and dull imo.

I could see some online retailers going for it Rufus.

Although to be honest I’m thinking Asos. They already sometimes do what is basically the same dress in four different variants/different label- Asos Design, Asos Curve (16+), Asos Tall, Asos Petite. All with separate listings and each with an appropriate model. So if you search e.g. “sequin party dress” you’ll see them close together in the search results, as they are all the same price point.

I think it’s interesting that they have always been online only though. So they have a different mindset e.g. doing the little video as well as stills.

I read an article by someone senior there who said that any clothes retailer who doesn’t realise that online is fundamentally different to bricks and mortar is going to be hit really hard in the next decade, and that the effects of that are already being seen.

As regards costs, I think if sites get better at showing what clothes look like on people, they will substantially reduce the amount of inventory they need or and postage/returns fees. Relying on people trying stuff on and sending it back just isn’t workable. So in that context 3 or 4 models/photographers instead of one could just be a smart investment.

Of course I know thin people. One of my best friends is very slim. However, she's also 55, grey haired, quite wrinkly and 5'4". She hasn't got the magic combination of extreme height and extremely low weight and being under 25 years old which are the usual requirements of fashion modelling.

electric

I got fat, was model like, now fat

And ive heard that at my age its face or figure

Thats my excuse and im bloody sticking to it

Agree it is difficult to manage but I think Instagram and google have a responsibility too.
I know parents who use apps to see everything their teens are viewing. It restricts things massively. Personally I think teen boys are even more at risk.
Sorry to derail totally!

treacle

Yes!!!

And lots of clothes are made for a size 6 person for the shows and then just 'expanded' for larger sizes

But that doesnt take boobs into account

This model looks like a slim girl nothing strange about her. Did your size 8 daughter try the dress on ?

I just find it a very, very strange thing to claim that you literally don't know a single thin person

Depends on the term 'know' surely

In my group of friends the smallest is a short size 10, the 17 year olds at work are a size 6 but i dont 'know' them

Ive seen size 6/8 women walking around...i was one myself in my youth

But i dont 'know' them

I agree that it would be good to see outfits on various women...but they are never going to go for that as I imagine it would be too expensive

Plus it may put people off trying the clothes if they see someone who looks like them and they dont look as good as they imagined...even though that person may not look like them ,

Ive mot explained that bit very well at all

“Smaller boobs seem to be de rigour”

About bloody time.

This comment really jumped out at me. Surely small boobs have always been the fashion? If you look back at fashion through the decades, models always had small breasts.

Even in lingerie modelling, you'll not see big boobs in the much hyped Victoria's Secret show, although you will see lots of badly fitting bras which push them into strange shapes and make them look bigger. Even Bravissimo, whose target market is for bigger boobs, had to use stock photos when they started out and didn't have the budget to do their own photoshoots, and they had to explain in their catalogue that they were unable to find photos of models wearing the bras in the sizes that they were actually selling. If I remember correctly, some of the ranges were only manufactured in bigger sizes, so the advertisers had actually had to go out of their way to adapt a bra to a smaller model in order to photograph what it was 'meant' to look like.

I'm not bothered by models being thin, slim is within our own control (and I'm not slim myself, but I'm working on it). But the mainstream fashion industry's obsession with ignoring the existence of boobs is infuriating. There's nothing wrong with being flat chested (it's my dream body shape, what I've always wished I look like) but equally it would be good to have the existence of breasts acknowledged.

WTF. Clothes are for people not the other way round.

Only if you make your own.

If you're making them for other people for profit, the correct answer is "neither". They're about that profit margin. Obviously in order to sell them at all you have to give the illusion that they're for people - but sometimes that illusion can be pretty far fetched (I refer you once more to the prevalence of cap sleeves).

WTF. Clothes are for people not the other way round. As women do we really think that it is ok to only make clothes that only look good on 6ft models with very small breasts. I mean really !!

I don't think they necessarily look better on 6 footers with small boobs, just that they photograph better on a certain type.

They may look equally shit on both types in the cold light of day. . The photos sometimes/often just create an illusion, which is what the brands needs to sell their shit stock.

When fashion outlets promote the occasional model who is very slim with more boobs, there is usually an outcry about how unusual that body type is.

I never expect anything to fit me or even look good in Zara. Now i've lost a bit of weight, Gap.is often too boxy for me. M&s tops used to be too short for me but they finalky lengthened them a few years ago. Find shops that do sell clothes that suit your dd, and/or go to a dressmaking class together.