to not want all models to look like 'real' women?

[beattieedny]

Just that really. I am much more likely to buy clothing if the model looks like looks slim. I don't care for the current thing of showing clothes (aside from specifically for plus sized ofc) on fat people. It's not as attractive.
I am a thin person but have been fat by the way.

@SexyLittleNosferatu

Totally agree. On the one hand I think severe obesity is clearly a health issue and needs addressing, but on the other hand I am surrounded by women who are size 12s and 14s at work and relentlessly pursuing a thinner body and for what? Just eat nutritious foods when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full and move your body. Keep stress, alcohol, cigs to a minimum and live your life.

I do. Stepping away from diet culture has genuinely changed my life. I have pity for people with nothing else to talk about but calories and keto and clothes sizes and obesity. The threads on here are so sad.

Same here @SexyLittleNosferatu. I’m a 14-16 and wouldn’t say I ‘celebrate my curves’, more that I just realised I have more interesting things to think and talk about. It was so liberating the day I realised I didn’t have to constantly talk about my size and weight and what I was going to have for dinner tonight and how it was ‘ok’ for me to have that cookie at lunch because I was going to the gym later. One day I just disengaged from that cycle completely and my life almost immediately improved for the better.

I exercise a lot because I enjoy it and it makes me feel good, I keep an eye on what I’m eating because I know what gives me energy and what makes me feel sick and sluggish. But I don’t try to ‘lose weight’ any more.

Ever since I stopped dieting I’ve taken far better care of my appearance and started buying clothes I like. When I was slimmer and perpetually dieting I lived in cheap shapeless crap because there was ‘no point’ buying nice clothes until I reached my mythical goal weight. That’s no way to live!

I find it sad when people make their weight their whole identity and their proudest achievement.

I agree to an extent. I am overweight right now. I don't look or feel great and need to work on it. I don't need to see obese models to normalise unhealthy body weight. People are different shapes and sizes so I am not talking about different builds/heights/shapes but of the ads and companies that show unhealthy obese people in their clothes to normalise an unhealthy body and make them feel like its ok and they fit in. Just doesn't need to happen. There's a particular legging brand that advertise on Facebook that sell small sizes to super 40XL and show these unhealthy people in these tight clothes that don't flatter them anyway.

As I said I am overweight and want to do something about that for my health not look at others who are unhealthy in advertisements... Hard to explain my point in words but I get it. Unnecessary. Show us the different body shapes in healthy ranges in a variety of clothing instead of trying to make it ok to be obese and unhealthy...

Yabu I'm far more likely to order online from companies that have models in a variety of sizes. My evening dress (thus expensive) came from the company that had plus sized models on their website

I like the Yours website because it tells you the size and height of the model. The height is a great idea because I am on the edge of petite/regular so great way of working out where the hemline is likely to land or whether the wonder Web needs to come out.

I think it's good to show a range of body types, sizes and heights but I don't think it's right to use morbidly obese models. They should only use models within the healthy bmi range. They aren't supposed to use models with a bmi below 18 so why is it ok to use them with a bmi over 25?

It makes people think it's ok to be that size and I don't think it is. I don't care what anyone says, you cannot be that size and be healthy. Not for long, anyway.

And I say that as an obese person. I'm losing weight to become healthy.

Over 25? Are you sure that's the number you meant? That's just borderline overweight, it's not obese let alone morbidly obese.

Imo showing obese models isn't making it "OK" to be obese. (Although if you're happy then it's no one else's business really. And before anyone mentions nhs costs, my skinny sister uses the NHS more than I do so it's not always true)

What it does do is let us obese people see what the clothes look like on us. If I know I look as ok as a disgusting fat person can, I'm more likely to go out for a walk. I'm trying to lose weight. But I'm allowed to look nice in the mean time.

”Real women have curves.” That makes women who are underweight or a healthy bmi feel excluded. Curvy means hourglass, not Jess Holiday.

I'm finding it interesting to read that lots of people on this thread don't believe that seeing overweight and obese models more often in the media will make young girls think obesity is healthy. Yet at the same time I'm also seeing lots of talk about the negative impact of only seeing slim models. It doesn't make sense.

Arguing that a slimmer sibling has been to hospital more often than a larger sibling is ridiculous subjective logic. Obviously fat people on average are less healthy than slimmer people. There probably are fat people out there that eat healthy but eat too much or people with thyroid issues etc, but the reality is that most fat people eat significantly more unhealthy food than slimmer people.

I'm all for having average height models ranging from sizes 8 - 12. I'm not saying that fat people aren't entitled to look good and that their sizes shouldn't be available to buy. I do think that the growing trend for size 18 - 20 models will have a negative influence on younger girls.

We are doing the next generation a disservice to promote obesity in the way that we do. There is no point in protecting the mental health of fat people and then seeing their physical health ultimately suffer. Maybe not in their teenage years or 20s, but it generally will have an impact at some point in their lives.

Arguing that a slimmer sibling has been to hospital more often than a larger sibling is ridiculous subjective logic

I did say not always true. Aka you can't extrapolate from my sample size of 2. Of course obese people on average need more healthcare than slim people.

But that doesn't negate the fact that bodies of all sizes need clothes. And the people buying the clothes want to know what they will look like on them.

I think there's a happy medium- seeing a pencil thin person modelling a dress that would look better on a someone with hips and boobs is as bad as an obese model modelling a skimpy dress that only suits slender people.
It's good to have a mix but I find it hard to picture myself in an outfit when the model is really big and it's an unflattering look. To clarify- I'm a 12 so not a skinny minnie!

Yes, healthy bmi is 18-25.

The problem is that model figures are not achievable for the vast majority of people, so being constantly told this is what is beautiful is extremely harmful if other examples are not also included. This limited scope makes thin and fat people alike feel like they are never good enough or thin enough.
I have never known a girl or woman see an obese model and then say - ‘they have inspired me to look the same’. But it might just boost the confidence of people who struggle tremendously with their weight.
The obesity epidemic is a big and very complex problem, but excluding those women from the beauty and fashion sphere and ostracising them is not going to help anyone.

You have time to get mithered about 'real' women working as clothes models?

Are you not too busy making a twat of yourself by parading your ridiculous wish to impose your patriarchally-driven body facism onto other women?

Yes, that would be good.

I dream of future websites that will let you put in your height and weight and it will show you the 'closest to your size' model wearing the clothes.

I like to see different size models. For a start I can see quickly if something will flatter my body shape.

It saves the 'Oh this looks lovely' (on the size 8 model, Vs I try it on and look like a sack of spuds tied in the middle (size 14).

I think plump (not obese) models are fine to use.Most women in UK are size 16 plus anyway. Thus they are going to reach a wider audience with clothes shown on different dress sizes .(Also what about some shorter models too?)

I’d just like to see clothing modelled on all sized women, real is all of us, whether that be size 8 24, 10, 14, 18 etc short tall etc someone modelling an outfit in a size 6 will not help me imagine the same outfit on my size 14 figure especially if they are 5’10 and I’m 5’2 and yes I’m fat and I hate it and want to lose weight. I have no thyroid and it’s just not for shifting. I class myself as a real woman, I have a family, a job etc etc I don’t like the term based only on ladies who are since 14 and above - we are all real and we should all be represented in advertising and tv

More sites should do this imo. Models range from 10-22 so you can see how it looks in a variety of sizes. Ok so there's no one super skinny, or flat chested. But it's better than a lot of shops are doing.

😂

Not even engaging, Mumsnet is full of fat haters and disordered eating. Knock yourself out.

Companies have cottoned on to the fact that larger women have money to spend on clothes - I mean maybe they should all be spending it on Peleton bikes, slim fast and diet fads - but why should they - women of all sizes and ages wear clothes - and buy them.

Thin doesn't equal healthy either - I was once under a size 4 - I was a chain smoking anorexic - now I am larger - healthy, exercise regularly and don't smoke - all the teen tiny folk here would probably think I'm huge compared to how I was - fuck that shit I'd rather be alive!

As PPs have said, I would just like to see what clothes look like on somebody who looks like 12-14, early 40s me - I'm 5'9, so a bit taller than average, but certainly not a 6'+ catwalk stomper.

There must be a demand for a middle ground between size zero and 22?

Just what exactly are they being excluded from?

Really doesn't bother me at all.
I'm slim. Most of the clothes fit me just fine.
If you are slim, then why does that bother you? You have so much choice.
Why does the fact there are clothes fit different sizes bother you so much?
I had no problem buying what i want, being very slim.