Zara - is this the shape women should aspire to be?

[TanyaTonyaMargaret]

I was just looking for a dress for my teen dd for Christmas. I looked on Zara www.zara.com/uk/en/sequin-dress-p00387169.html?v1=7386534&v2=1074622.

My dd is average (size 8) and has what my mother would refer to as a ‘good bust’. She’s a similar shape to most of her friends. It’s almost impossible to gauge whether these clothes would look good on her. I have lots of ‘slim’ friends but don’t know anyone who looks even remotely the shape of these women. I know four women who are 6 ft but they don’t look anything like this shape either. To be fair to Zara I then looked at their male clothing to see what their models were like. They were fairly slim but not like the women. I’m not saying they need to use overweight people but just vaguely average would be great.

Hopefully it’s just Zara and I am about to be delighted by what I find on other retailer’s sites. Fingers crossed.

Agree it is difficult to manage but I think Instagram and google have a responsibility too.
I know parents who use apps to see everything their teens are viewing. It restricts things massively. Personally I think teen boys are even more at risk.
Sorry to derail totally!

electric

I got fat, was model like, now fat

And ive heard that at my age its face or figure

Thats my excuse and im bloody sticking to it

Of course I know thin people. One of my best friends is very slim. However, she's also 55, grey haired, quite wrinkly and 5'4". She hasn't got the magic combination of extreme height and extremely low weight and being under 25 years old which are the usual requirements of fashion modelling.

I could see some online retailers going for it Rufus.

Although to be honest I’m thinking Asos. They already sometimes do what is basically the same dress in four different variants/different label- Asos Design, Asos Curve (16+), Asos Tall, Asos Petite. All with separate listings and each with an appropriate model. So if you search e.g. “sequin party dress” you’ll see them close together in the search results, as they are all the same price point.

I think it’s interesting that they have always been online only though. So they have a different mindset e.g. doing the little video as well as stills.

I read an article by someone senior there who said that any clothes retailer who doesn’t realise that online is fundamentally different to bricks and mortar is going to be hit really hard in the next decade, and that the effects of that are already being seen.

As regards costs, I think if sites get better at showing what clothes look like on people, they will substantially reduce the amount of inventory they need or and postage/returns fees. Relying on people trying stuff on and sending it back just isn’t workable. So in that context 3 or 4 models/photographers instead of one could just be a smart investment.

Funnily enough I was looking at Zara website yesterday that particular model unfortunately put me off a lot of their stuff. Made it all look shapeless and dull imo.

Thats a good point janet, i dont often look at sites like asos

I have been put off clothes by the model

I always think if that beautiful young lady looks like a sack of spuds then fuck knows how bad I'll look!!!!

The only thing wrong with that pic is the stupid bloody pose they made her do!

ASOS needs to allow reviews on their site. It stocks so many cheap nasty brands that is sometimes seems like quantity is better than quality. It must cost them a fortune to deal with all the returns.

I know what you mean Rufus. Or where the clothes are really wrinkled/not ironed. I think “what’s that going to look like after a day at work?”

She looks very thin to me and not in a healthy way for a grown woman. But perhaps she is very young with a monster metabolism, maybe she isn’t but just doesn’t eat much, who knows, either way it’s not a massively aspirational or healthy image for young women.
I also find that Zara clothing is extremely small size wise, they aren’t a typical size set for U.K. shops at all.
I’m a 12 and wear their large or extra large. I don’t really care but is isn’t typical and some people do get very attached to their clothing size. Post babies I couldn’t get into any of their trousers or dresses.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer-🤣 I always say it’s a choice between arse or face! And I don’t have to look at my own arse!

YY Rufus, both to the arse v. face comment and the "god if she looks like a sack of spuds, what would it look like on me?" comment.

Electric - I’ve polled dh in case I have forgotten anyone since I can’t bear the though of you being astonished all morning - how stressful. He thought of the same skinny chap in NZ and reminded me of one other friend we have. However she has problems with IBS. When things are good she is slim, when they are bad she tips into thin (and she hates it). Hope that satisfies you. Oh and dh knows a keen cyclist at work who he says is borderline thin.

So there you go, a chap in NZ, an overkeen cyclist and someone with a bowel disorder. Wishing you a pleasant rest of the morning.

Oh and I still don’t know anyone who looks like that model.

Well she's a model. Most people don't know models in their day to day lives. Most have a 'rectangle' body shape with small boobs, so size or weight doesn't come into it. Clothes hang well on that shape universally (usually).
Zara cuts their clothes for a smaller, continental frame, so many people don't suit them.
I think you should examine why you think your DD is an 'average' size 8 (10 years ago this was considered tiny) before making statements about what should be considered normal tbh.

That model would look OK among a range of healthy weight differently sized models including ones with big busts or round hips (within healthy BMI). What I hate is that stick thin, hipless, breastless women seem to be the only ones girls are encouraged to aspire to. It's all very well loads of people piling on and saying 'she's not anorexic/I was that thin and I'm healthy' but what we never see is ordinary bodies. We get overweight women celebrating their curves or twig-shaped ones. Where are the muscular, or curvy mid range shaped bodies?

Didn't really notice anything wrong with her figure. Normal slim to medium girl IMO. The dress would look lovely on a size 8 (model is likely size 8)

Trying to figure out whether I have ‘unreasonable’-sized boobs, ‘no’ boobs or am a ‘breastless’ woman.

They’re not large but they’ve fed two DC for a total of five years so it’s quite a puzzle.

Not really on topic but as I saw it recently, Jackie Green was surprised her clothes didn't fit properly anymore after having her boob job.

I don't think we should aspire to be a different shape to the one we are.

Dressing for your shape has lots of guides though. Trinny and Susannah did a whole series and book? about it.

I'm an hour glass. When I carry more weight, I'm just a bigger hour glass! You can't change your shape.

not rtft so apologise if I'm repeating ehat other havr said but I completely het why op is saying. most models are stick thin and straight up and down which is fine as long as they are not skeletal. However it is harder for a woman with an hourglass figure or just a different figure to he models to imagine what the clothing will look like on us when there's barely any representation online.
In an ideal world the same piece of clothing could be modelled by a skinnier model and also one who has a curvier figure,by that I mean hips and boobs but still a slim size as obviously there's already clothes geared towards plus size women.

sorry about the typos.

ITA, onestep. Apart from the models, it's a challenge to find clothes that fit well if you're a perfectly healthy weight (nowhere near Evans type sizes) but with breasts or, heaven help you, arm muscles. Especially if you're petite.

Most high street clothes are made for people with small boobs. As a teenager I was stuck in size 16 tops even though I was a size 10 waist. Bravissimo clothes completely changed my life. I think clothes for larger chests are harder/more expensive to make so most high street stores don't bother.

That model is definitely a size 8 considering she's 5"9

if she was a size 6 she'd definitely look ill and malnourished.

those who are saying my daughters are size 6, I'm guessing they're pretty short and not 5"9?

if people saw me they'd guess I'm a size 6 but im actually an 8 but because I'm tall and have small bust I give an illusion that I'm smaller than I am.

don't forget catalogues are no longer allowed to use models who have an unhealthy BMI or they'll get fined.

I expected to click on the link and see a teeny tiny model but she looks fairly average to me and her boobs are bigger than I expected.

I do hate that style of dress - I think it looks good on very few people as it's so shapeless and the high neck is not great either.