To wonder if this Zara model is a healthy size?

[MondayYogurt]

Most models are tall and slim but something just made me stop and look at these pictures for longer, wondering.

Is it just photoshop?

[JohnSteinbeck]

Reposting this here. I would buy this.

[LunaNorth]

@TellmewhoIam

My mother recently sent some family photos from the 1950s. The teenage girls have 18 to 21 inch waists but they also have curves and yet they don't look either skinny or 'thick'. I really wonder if we gain flesh differently because of hormones and additives in food and even in the air and the water table. I don't see any modern people with those shapes.

They were quite into shapewear in the 50s - corsets etc.

I’ve been watching a lot of old films lately, and some of the actors were shockingly thin. Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow - really bony. It’s not a new phenomenon, I don’t think.

[ObviousNameChage]

@P0lestar

But that body isn’t beautiful and the clothes don’t look good.

Are you actually saying clothes only look good on stick thin people? Who says? What a message to give young girls. It’s dreadful.

Any other body shapes /types that you don't consider beautiful?

[Pinuporc]

It's interesting because clothes apparently look better on tall thin/very thin women despite them being not representative of the general population

Obviously if you're tall and thin you can gauge roughly what they will be like on you but otherwise you can see some nice clothes, but not neccessarily have any idea of what they will look like if you're shorter and/or fatter than that (which, away from this thread, includes almost everyone!) I'm short and size 6-8 , so what looks like an above the knee length dress might be just below the knee, or mid calf length which is a different look and generally more unflattering
I like ASOS website where they tell you the height of the model (and use some petite models) which is more helpful to gauge how long a dress/trousers etc might be.

[whereislittleroo]

@bringincrazyback I agree, the problem is that it creates a situation where a size that is simply impossible for most people ends up being seen as aspirational and glamorous and increases the risk of disordered eating.

My first thought was that the models (especially the car photo) are underweight and that there has been some overzealous photoshop. I think photoshop should always be labelled. And much as it must be difficult for people who are naturally thin, we need to talk about the magazine/advertising/modeling industries because of their impact on young women in particular.

That said, it is never ok to shame someone for their shape or size. It does not help them gain or lose weight, it just makes them feel bad. And we are so much more than our bodies.

[bringincrazyback]

Every member of my family in the UK is obese but don't realise it.

Are you sure it's not just your definition of obese that's faulty? What actual sizes are they?

I ask because you're very vehement that 14 and 16 aren't 'normal' sizes and I categorically disagree.

[ObviousNameChage]

@bringincrazyback

Every member of my family in the UK is obese but don't realise it.

Are you sure it's not just your definition of obese that's faulty? What actual sizes are they?

I ask because you're very vehement that 14 and 16 aren't 'normal' sizes and I categorically disagree.

Normal is not the same as healthy weight.
The average size in the uk is 16. That doesn't mean it's an average healthy size.
And most women that are a size 16 (discounting very tall, big breasts, very muscly/sporty women) will be overweight.

[P0lestar]

And most women looking like the model in the Zara pic will be underweight and unhealthy.

My dd has been hospitalised several times looking like that.

[tallduckandhandsome]

There is something distasteful about these threads. Her body is not for your delectation, OP.

[P0lestar]

It is if it has a negative and dangerous impact on young girls which it does.

It was also the model’s choice to get paid ££££ and put it out there to be scrutinised.whilst selling clothes.

[Livingintheclouds]

My son's girlfriend is 5'9" and a size 4-6. Super skinny. But her mum is also shaped that way. They all struggle to keep weight on despite healthy appetites. Wish I had that problem!

[coogee]

Reposting this here. I would buy this.

I wouldn't.

[GreyhoundG1rl]

@Livingintheclouds

My son's girlfriend is 5'9" and a size 4-6. Super skinny. But her mum is also shaped that way. They all struggle to keep weight on despite healthy appetites. Wish I had that problem!

I don't believe anyone who has a "healthy appetite" struggles to maintain their weight, unless they have some metabolic disorder

[17june2021]

@GreyhoundG1rl us young people can without issue x

[GreyhoundG1rl]

[quote 17june2021]@GreyhoundG1rl us young people can without issue x[/quote]
Eh?

[bringincrazyback]

And most women that are a size 16 (discounting very tall, big breasts, very muscly/sporty women) will be overweight.

That's too broad a generalisation imo.

[17june2021]

@GreyhoundG1rl the poster you quoted stated her son’s girlfriend has a healthy appetite but doesn’t put weight on and maintains her size. You bizarrely said this is impossible without a disorder. I was merely reminding you that this is completely normal for young people.

[GreyhoundG1rl]

[quote 17june2021]@GreyhoundG1rl the poster you quoted stated her son’s girlfriend has a healthy appetite but doesn’t put weight on and maintains her size. You bizarrely said this is impossible without a disorder. I was merely reminding you that this is completely normal for young people.[/quote]
No, the post I quoted clearly claims they struggle to "KEEP weight on".
There's nothing bizarre about what I said, you just haven't understood the original post.

[BertramLacey]

I don't believe anyone who has a "healthy appetite" struggles to maintain their weight, unless they have some metabolic disorder

Another time when someone on MN refuses to believe something on the grounds they don't have direct experience of it. Until the menopause, I struggled to keep my weight up. I am very active: I cycle, ride, walk and run. I could eat whatever I liked and not put on weight. I think the confusion may arise from what counts as a "healthy appetite". I'll have what I consider to be a lot of food and then see what someone who is much sedentary is eating and realise they are packing away more than me. Of course they may be looking at me and thinking I eat like a bird, but if so it's more gannet than sparrow.

So for me, I have a healthy appetite because I'll eat maybe 2000-2500 calories a day and feel happy and full and not be able to manage more. I see people eating more calories and moving less and think that actually, it's their appetite that is unhealthy, not mine.

[GreyhoundG1rl]

Well, maybe. But the definition of a healthy appetite is one that maintains your weight, surely?
You can self define it as something else if you choose, obviously! But it won't be the generally understood meaning of the phrase.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"Obviously if you're tall and thin you can gauge roughly what they will be like on you but otherwise you can see some nice clothes, but not neccessarily have any idea of what they will look like if you're shorter and/or fatter than that (which, away from this thread, includes almost everyone!"

I'm used to figuring it out thanks to having seen models of similar sizes over the years. I know that a mini on a model will be a knee length on me.
My ideal would probably be a version of me to see it on e.g. a kind of online avatar, but failing that then models of a certain size. It could be a different size to the one used now, but should be the same. Diversity doesn't work.
As I mentioned above, the M&S campaign where they used real women didn't work at all, you couldn't tell if it was the clothes or the models that gave a certain shape.

[Gwenhwyfar]

@tallduckandhandsome

There is something distasteful about these threads. Her body is not for your delectation, OP.

For delectation, I don't know, but up for debate, yes, since she's a model and using her body to show off clothes is her job.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"the definition of a healthy appetite is one that maintains your weight, surely?"

Or one that maintains a HEALTHY weight.

[GreyhoundG1rl]

@Gwenhwyfar

"the definition of a healthy appetite is one that maintains your weight, surely?"

Or one that maintains a HEALTHY weight.

Sure. But if you find yourself inexplicably yo-yo ing down the scales, it won't be because you're indulging your healthy appetite.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"Are you actually saying clothes only look good on stick thin people? hmm"

No, I didn't say that, but I know that at my size, which is close to what someone quoted above, they don't look very good. When you're short, the clothes don't fall in the right place.

I do need to see the clothes on a thin person, even if not a 'stick' thin person to see whether the clothes add any girth, make the person look chunky, etc. If the model is medium, I can't see that.
However, if all models were medium and all the same, then I would probably get used to that and be able to judge from that. I just need some consistency.