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.

[TinselinaBumSquash]

Agreed. Excellent post Japanese

[YoDiggity]

It's not men who make women feel bad about themselves; it's we women.

That is so true. I have yo-yo'ed between a size 12 and a large 16 my whole adult life and I'm quite short with short legs so a 16 is not something I can carry off well.

I have literally hated myself at times, and the wrong comment from another woman can stay with me for years. Sometimes if I have a big social thing to go to I can get into such a state over what to wear and fretting over my low opinion of my body that I can barely bring myself to go and I try on every outfit I own and decide that I look shit in everything because I am not a size 8.

The other week I went to a black tie thing, and I did look nice if I say so myself, although I was having all the usual angst about being too fat, being the fattest among my friends etc. I'm currently a size 14 in M&S. I was walking across the room and I passed two men chatting, and one of them did a double take as I went by and I heard him mutter 'Sexy bitch' as I went by.

I am pushing 50 and I've spent my whole life wishing I could be slimmer and being really hard on myself for not being perfect, so you can imagine how I felt. On top of the fricking world.

[valiumredhead]

I'm not sure any men I know would describe Kirstie as 'fat' or even 'a bit big.'

You're right, women are the worst imo for body shaming.

[SundaySimmons]

The photo of her on the beach shows her to be overweight. My point was that the style of clothes she wears, successfully hides the blubbery bits, so therefore her way of dressing works for her.

I do not have any concern for her health as I do not know her and find those comments rather amusing! I do think in the beach photo she looks very out of shape and whether she can run for a bus or not, being overweight is unhealthy!

We can choose how we want to look. I choose not to be fat, that doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else, I just feel it's a shame that in recent years that people have for bigger. As a child in the 1970s my mother and none of my friends mothers were overweight but when my children were at school in the late 1990s/2000s, many mums were overweight, some considerably so.

I don't know the statistics, but just from looking around it does seem that as a society we have got fatter.

[Flangeofmingetown]

Sunday other people's weight is none of your concern. It is possible to be a thin on the outside and but have a lot of visceral fat wrapped around organs.

I look at that picture of her and I see a healthy woman who is shapely. A lot of men prefer hips and breasts and hourglass curves.They don't have the fear of flesh. The aesthetic women are constantly told to aspire to is thin and diminishing of physical sexual indicators and this comes primarily from other women. Fashion or competition?

It is easy to get into a cycle of self loathing when you are around other women who choose to bang on about diets all the time(a sure indicator of a weak interior existence) and make snide comments about other women. I think all this scrutiny is what causes a lot of food issues.

I choose different friends and to be a different sort of woman. I personally see difference as beautiful. There isn't just one type of style or beauty and they are lovely if you look with an open mind.

[DottyboutDots]

I look like KA and i am gorgeous, so she must be too.

[devilinside]

You can't really put all the blame on women though, it's how we are conditioned. Hollywood actresses have to be stick thin otherwise they bare the wrath of the media, most female presenters, celebs, except a couple of examples (allowed to get away with being 'bigger' because they are funny). Women's weight is under constant scrutiny. Attitudes like this are, depressing, but hardly surprising.

[Bunbaker]

I have just shown OH the beach shot and his comment was - she's a chunky lass.

[GoshAnneGorilla]

And we should care about your OH's opinion because?

You're proving Whole's (and others) point that we police and criticise women's bodies in a way men are rarely, if ever, subjected to.

[SofaCanary]

She's big, to deny it is just silly. She would have been considered huge in the 70s for example, the population as a whole is getting fatter, hence the whole 'real women' schtick.

Having said that, she carries it well and looks absolutely luscious with it.

[SofaCanary]

Sunday said it better than moi

[Bunbaker]

I agree with Sofa. I think KA is an attractive woman and dresses well for her shape. There is no denying that, but to say that she isn't carrying a bit of excess weight simply isn't true.

I have chunky thighs BTW, so no smugness here.

[KrabbyPatty]

I have often seen a theme on MN of skirting round saying someone is fat.

Kirstie Allsopp is fat. She might be considered gorgeous by some, or not, but she is fat.

[Fuckitthatlldo]

It works both ways though. I'm 5'5 and a size 8 and I get so sick of being referred to as "skinny" by women who are at all bigger than me.

Skinny is also an unflattering term that suggests ill-health, and in my experience is often used with an edge in the voice.

Honestly the things people seem to think it's ok to say to me! A friend was passing round some biscuits once and another friend said, "No it's alright, Fuckit's already eaten this week!" I would never dream of making disparaging comments about her weight. If I told her she needed to lose a few pounds (which quite frankly she does), that would rightly be deemed offensive.

I am not "skinny". I am slim, tallish (especially in heels) and despite having had three children and things not being quite what they used to be, I still have a streamlined hourglass shape and I still really like my figure. I consider myself to be really lucky.

All those barbed "skinny" comments and references to "real women" (as opposed to what exactly?) just come across as really bitter and jealous.

I couldn't give a flying eff what Kirstie Allsop looks like. I dislike her on the basis of her nasty politics and blatant materialism.

[Bunbaker]

"All those barbed "skinny" comments and references to "real women" (as opposed to what exactly?) just come across as really bitter and jealous."

I agree. I am very slim (with chunky thighs unfortunately), but get fed up with being called skinny. I am slim, not skinny.

[strictlovingmum]

She looks great, great hair, great teeth, glowing skin.
She is epitome of English rose and olde English elegance, her size is not small but tbh if she was any smaller she would not be KA, excessive dieting is not necessarily a good thing, bad skin, bad hair and scrunched up skin is not a good look and certainly not worth those size 8 jeans her size is perfectly acceptable, she is beautiful and confident, very well spoken too.

[strictlovingmum]

Arse of strikethrough didn't work, one too many vino's

[southeastastra]

she is bland all round, i remember when channel four was cutting edge. can't bbc find a slot for her on the one show?

[SofaCanary]

BBC can't find a slot big enough.

Sorry

[Mintyy]

She may possibly be technically slightly overweight (but I doubt it). But absolutely definitely not fat.

Am astonished at the level of ignorance on this thread.

Are you fat-phobics aware that she looks "fat" because she works in television-land where it is the norm to be at the very lowest end of acceptable bmi, not at the high end where she is?

Are you also aware that being moderately overweight is far less harmful in the long term for women than being moderately underweight?

I understand she is a size 14.

I am not a fan but I suspect I would like her 100 times more as a person if I met her than some of the freakishly obsessive and judgemental Mumsnetters on this thread.

[SoloXantiaClaws]

I dread to think what people now say about me (having gained some weight in recent years) after reading some really unpleasant posts about KA on here :( I don't think she could be termed 'fat' anyway.

[TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge]

Let's put it this way when it comes to her look - KA wears clothes,you see clothes making the most of her.

She isn't a coat hanger who is all about just showing a dress or a coat not showing herself ,as many women are (no,that's not a reference to size).You see a woman not an outfit.

[YoDiggity]

No-one is denying that she may be carrying a bit of excess weight but it's terribly sad that a thread designed to be complimentary about her dress sense, her hair and make-up etc, almost immediately turned into a bitchfest about her fatness. All those cries of horror and 'Eeewww No! How could you possibly aspire to look like someone so clearly over a size 10? If I was her size I'd have to kill myself'

Some women are so terrified of having any flesh beyond the bare minimum that they just cannot comprehend that anyone could find a plump woman beautiful. Because apparently it's supposed to be all about them.

Across the whole range of sizes from revoltingly, scarily thin to so obese you can barely walk KA is a very, very normal, healthy size. And there's no denying that she is exceptionally pretty and has a great sense of personal style, albeit a bit 'marmite.'

But averagely slim people object to being called 'skinny' then perhaps they should also bear in mind that averagely plump people might object to the spoken about as though they are a Jabba the Hutt.