To think there is no chuffing way this model is anywhere near a uk size 20

[TheLaineyWayIsEssex]

this model
Was looking for dresses on asos.com and clicked into the 'curve' section only to realise they start at size 20. I was aghast at how lovely and relatively healthy sized the model looked wearing clothes thatlooked like they fit, but supposedly are size 20.
I am size 16 and 5ft9.5 and look nowhere near as slim (shoulder blade envy).
So AIBU to think that either the model ( while clearly not a size 8) is not a size 20, or the whole thing haa been photoshopped to ridiculouslness?
Or option C might I actually look as slim (relatively) as the lovely model?

she's how I'm hoping to look in about a stone's time - and I'm a curvy 16 - 18 now and am tall, but will need to lose at least another stone to look anything like her

I'd say she's 16-18 at that height. On some of the other links I reckon the arms and legs are photoshopped.

The clothes are bloody awful, mix of unshaped sack and styles suited to size 10 teenagers.

def not a 20, but height does make a huge difference to size

it's very annoying that this thread has just made me buy a dress from Asos though...

She looks about my size. I'm 6ft tall and usually a 14. 16 in some shops, 12 in others, but it tends to average out to 14...

I read somewhere that they do this because if they put the clothes on people who are actually a size 20, 22, 24...30 - people don't buy them! They don't like to see them on someone who is actually their size.

Whether this is true or whether this is some great big pile of crap made up by the stores to justify their model choices, I don't know

I am 5'11 and looked like that at about a size 20. I would say, even, that I had slimmer arms - I was just very buxom in the body - bum, tum, norks.

If you are tall you really do carry weight very differently. Size 20 on a six footer and size 20 on a five footer are worlds apart

I'm not sure what size she is but she looks a lot better than the many knock kneed and glassy eyed girls you see in many fashion magazines.

She's about the same size as me and I'm a 14.

I'm 5'10" I looked like that when I was pregnant - and I was wearing an 18 then.

I can fluctuate 2 stone and not alter a dress size.

She isn't a size 20. But then, most places use models that are around a size 6 to model non-plus size clothes, so a woman who is a 10 or 12 is going to look rather different in them.

Lainey, Yours clothing are also really good, tonnes of choice. I've had some gorgeous stuff from there, mainly love them because they do 33" leg jeans! :o

Hecate I heard that too.
In any case, it is the models job to make the garment look as good as possible, no matter what size. As long as the company doesn't blatantly lie, then so what? In any case there is no substitute for trying the garment on.

MerryHippo, I'm also 5'11 and I was a size 18 after DC1 and would also say I looked about the same as her, but with more toned shoulders/upper arms. It all depends on where you carry the weight or where the extra inches are, I suppose.

It does state in her photos that she is 5'10, so it's entirely possible that she's a size 18?

I agree shape plays a big part in it. My friend and I are doing a Monday weigh in at the moment. We weigh almost exactly the same and I'm an inch taller than her. She is a size 14 and I'm a 16. Clothes that fit her don't go anywhere near me I have bigger boobs, broader shoulders and bigger hips.
My ex's wife is a size 20 but is a little taller than me again and goes in and out in all the right places. She wears bigger clothes yes but has a far nicer figure than me.

Is it not just a typo?

I don't think the site is actually saying that the model is a size 20.

It says that she is 5'10.
It then tells you that a size 20 item measures 116cm. It does not mean that she is wearing a size 20. She is probably an 18.

For the main range (and on most other clothing websites/shop mannequins) they always seem to show a size 8 model but sell up to size 18. So the dress will not look the same as it does on the model. Pretty normal I think and not unique to this 'curve' range

Well she's 5'10". I'm 5'4" and a size 14 and reckon on a smaller scale I look about that fat. She may be an 18 but then on a good day and in the right cut I can squeeze into a size 12 - as long as it's cut big across the shoulders and there's boob space.

Right my dd looked at plus size models in a lesson at school.
It goes something like this.
The company claim that they use plus size models, btw I have no idea what size that can actually mean. Anyway they take a shot of a woman modelling a bra and she has a large bust. They then edit onto, or kind of mix it? with the body of a slim woman, say a size 8, who is wearing the briefs. My dd showed me examples whereby common sense tells you that a woman who is say a 36EE is not the woman with a flat stomach, tiny waist and slim legs. she would have had to have breast implants to be that way and the boobs in the pictures are not fake.
Anyway this is how they can then claim that they use plus size models.
So that model could be a size 20 somewhere on her body, or she might not be I don't know.
Tis crap really as it gives the impression that you can have naturally large boobs and be incredibly slim everywhere else and that is seldom the case.

As an aside certain brands insist that if there is a man and woman in a shot they have the same colour eyes. she showed me an example and the colour is edited too.

This isn't to do with the changes to dress sizes (vanity sizing) over recent years (as discussed on another thread) is it?

Maybe the model's actual measurements indicate a size 20 in British Standards sizing?

Whether or not she is a size 12 or a 20 - those dresses are hideous for anyone even slightly plump.

Unless they happen to be very toned.

Strapless, sleeveless, too short.

Whatever size she is, she looks fabulous.

I'm 5'9" and when I was a size 16 I didn't look anywhere near that good.

Actually, she could be. I am a size 18 at 5ft10 inches and I don't look fat. I am well built, but most of my size is huge norks and wide hips, I'm not fat in the arms or legs, well muscled certainly but I don't have the chubby arms you generally get at that size. I have a size 36 back but am cursed with gg/h size boobs, a 32 inch waist but broad curvy hips and a muscly bottom. I do agree though, plus size clothes in uk are dire, I'd love to wear normal clothes just in a larger (and longer) size but once you get to the plus size they are hideous tent style things. I don't want to hide my curves, I want to show them off!

I think it's unlikey that the women in those pictures are even close to a size 20!
It's true that a size 20 does look completely different depending on the height of the person but even at that height I don't think they are more than a 14/16.
The fashion industry doesn't tend to use models larger than a size 16, even for plus size stuff, probably in order to make the clothes look 'as good as possible'.

I'm not sure why Lainey but this has really got my goat too!

I really feel that photoshopping and things like this where they use models who are clearly not a size 20 to sell clothes made for women who are size 20+ should be banned!

It's false advertising - like when companies got in trouble for 'enhancing' eyelashes and things to make their product look better or more effective. Essentially it's saying "you can achieve this look on your eyelashes with our mascara" when you can't, it's impossible because even they can't get that look without digital alterations.

It's the same here - with photoshopping it's saying "you could look like this person if you wear our dress/underwear/shoes" when you can't - they have to digitally trim down or create a body out of 'parts' to make a person who looks like that. They would probably argue that they are selling the product, not the image but (let's be realistic) you want to buy clothes that make you look good and if a product looks good on a model you might buy it because (subconsciously) you want to look as good in it as the person in the picture.

It's a completely false image and it makes me angry because no matter how much you work out or diet to get a 'model body' you are never going to make your body look like that of a model in a magazine who has had all her fat squidgy bits trimmed off by a computer!

....and breathe

sorry, rant over :D