I want to look like Kirstie Allsopp ....

[fluffyduckie]

Love her clothes and hair and everything!

cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/secondary/105170.jpg

But not sure I could pull it off ..... or afford it!!

I am 5'2 and a 16/18 and casper pale with mid length brown hair. I just love the colours she wears and the shapes. I tend to be in black trousers and a boring top all the time.

[varigatedivy]

Helloboys
for you to bang full on into Lifeissweet with such nasty and barbed comments

But it's okay for you to call me Poison Ivy?

Nice.

[PlumBear]

Art at "COS-vampire-futuristic-hospital-orderly"

[PlumBear]

Arf, even. Bloody iPad

[VivaLeBeaver]

What's the cos vampire hospital orderly look? Must have missed this fashion.

[WillPenn]

I love KA's style and, having almost exactly the same figure as her (and another poster here), I have often toyed with going down the smart dresses/coats/skirts route. But I always like my slouchy clothes too much and can't be bothered to glam up all the time.

BTW I too have a BMI of 28 and am 5' 6" size 14/16. I go to the gym three times a week plus do 30mins of walking a day. I eat healthily. I am like this because I have an underactive thyroid and do not lose weight easily. My GP recently told me studies have shown it is better to be a healthy size 16 than a sedentary size 10.

KA probably has the figure she does because that was the way she was made - her weight is steady and she looks healthy and that is the important thing.

[ShreddedHoops]

I love 'Cos vampire futuristic hospital orderly' It's probably more me than KA is.

I think if I looked like her, dark hair, curvy figure, English rose complexion, it might work. But still - I don't like the persona she projects on telly, it is twee and sets my teeth on edge, the whole crafty thing. I quite liked her with Phil but not any more. Style wise I prefer a more simple, streamlined look personally. But I agree it suits her figure and personality, the faux-50s housewife thing, high heels and wrap dresses and 'embracing your curves' and cupcakes and lippy.

[Wibblytummy]

I love KA style. I often wish I knew where her dresses were from as I personally hate my upper arms and am big busted and she manages to find pretty fabric, sleeved dresses that flattering to those large of boob. All I can ever find in the shops that fit that bill is frumpy, cheap clingy wrap dresses.

Her butterfly dress on last night Christmas craft show was everything I want in a dress...

[ProfondoRosso]

COS-vampire-futuristic-hospital-orderly

This is gold!

OP, I'm a curvy woman too. Size 14 but with mighty big boobs. I like high heels and a wrap dress (avoid shirt dresses or anything that buttons up like the plague), but I wouldn't go for KA's A-line skirts. I always find a tube skirt more flattering. A bit of ruching around the waist is good. If in doubt, I look to #teamnigella

[WilsonFrickett]

OP it's all about the colour with KA. She never, ever wears black, have you noticed? Colour and pattern all the way. So even if some of her style is a bit twee for me, she always stands out - something it would be quite easy to emulate, no?

[ElizabethBathory]

Not that it matters but...she wears black all the time Wilson! Google image KA and she's wearing black in half the pictures. And it suit her because of her Snow White colouring.

And agree, there's not a chance anyone could know someone else's BMI from a picture. I know people lighter than me who are two sizes bigger, and vice versa. Her weight doesn't have much to do with her style anyway, except that her curves mean she can pull off 1950s style really well.

[ElizabethBathory]

*suits

[charitygirl]

bunbaker et al.,

Nothing bad will happen if ONE thread on MN which comments favourably on an 'overweight' woman's looks is allowed to stand without your policing it, and reminding us 'we've forgotten what normal looks like'.

I get that you're deeply concerned, and it is of course important that we get that you can tell a dangerously unhealthy fatty when you see one BUT next time you see a thread like this, consider what will happen if you don't post.

The women of MN will not see this thread, and lose the last vestige of self-c

[charitygirl]

Haha, posted accidentally mid-polemic, maybe fingers too fat.

Ok, short version, STFU idiots.

[TheSecretOfTheNile]

Slightly off topic, bit my personal trainer says not to take any notice whatsoever of BMIs. He is solid muscle and has a BMI of more than 25 owing to muscle being so much heavier than fat. What you need to look at us body fat percentage.

Anyway, I think KA is very attractive and seems like a very likeable, intelligent, interesting woman, just the sort of
person to have afternoon tea in a nice cafe with! :) I like my own style and wouldn't want to emulate her's or anyone else's, but we could certainly go shopping together...

[ProfondoRosso]

Yes, TheSecret! My DH is tall, broad and exercises lots so is quite muscular. BMI puts him at borderline obese.

[BanoffeeSplitz]

I think it's interesting that some people have criticised her because 'she doesn't wear clothes that flatter her figure'.

I don't like her much as a presenter - but regarding her style, I do really like the way she dresses to emphasise her curves & her solidity, almost matronliness. I do think it could be a frumpy look on someone less obviously pretty, though I think if you took care with grooming & pretty accessories it would cover that.

I'm thoroughly bored with the idea that women - of any shape from string bean to pumpkin, should always be trying to make themselves fit somewhere near the mean. I love it when people have the confidence to dress to accentuate the extremes of their body shape, whether that's huge boobs or pot belly or gangly skinny legs.

I think I'd go as far as to say that that's what gives people real style, and I'm always fascinated as to how people have pulled it off.

[BanoffeeSplitz]

If I imagine KA in clothes that would supposedly flatter her figure - then I think she would look frumpy.

[AlternativeMoniker53]

I heard her on television saying that she doesn't wear trousers, I wonder why one would entirely cut them out? I think she dresses beautifully for herself. I used to veer in that direction myself but am aware of sometimes ending up looking frumpy or fatter than I am so I tend to steer away more these days. It is a very stylish look however and I'm sure you know what suits you.

I'd start by looking on the Boden catalogue and then mooching in the more boutique-like high street stores. Jones the Bootmaker for starter shoes and bag to match. Present yourself at Clinique or similar and ask for the look, they'll love glossing you up. She always looks classy and that's worth a lot!

[Gillybobs]

She has been quoted as saying she buys most of her dresses from tucker. They are a bit pricey sadly..

www.polyvore.com/tucker_dresses/shop?brand=Tucker&category_id=3

I also appreciate a persons style when they have really made it their own, you know, when they don't slavishly follow trends. I like that she has a distinctive look and although she is always well dressed she never looks like she's tried too hard

[AlternativeMoniker53]

Ah yes, you can see Kirsty in those Tucker dresses can't you? Sadly £200-300 per dress might well be a bit much but who knows? Perhaps the OP has a lovely big dress fund!

I'm sitting here in slightly too short jeans tucked into knee boots and a dark blue wool top that used to have cream cuffs - they are now grey. I'd take Kirsty's look over this anytime!

[LittleBabyPigsus]

Agreed Banoffee. Fuck flattering, people should wear what they like. Also again, the only person who should comment on KA's health is her GP, not strangers on the internet. And no way is she obese.

[Bunbaker]

"I think she dresses beautifully for herself."

I agree. I also think she is an attractive woman.

"Fuck flattering, people should wear what they like"

So you think it is OK for women to wear thin leggings over a large backside and not expect people to comment on it? Because in the real world that isn't going to happen.

[chartreuse]

I remember from a previous thread that she wears Samantha Sung dresses from KJs Laundry

[justmethen]

I added a message on this thread yesterday and it didn't occur to me to comment on her weight. I assumed OP was referring to her dress sense/style. She looks completely normal to me.

[HanneHolm]

Agree. Fat and frumpy. Looks like chair of the WI