Body beautiful?

How many women truly love the way they look? How many of us think we would be more attractive to other people, more popular, happier, even - if only we achieved the figure we’ve always wanted? Maybe you want a flatter stomach, bigger boobs or to drop a dress size or two. Maybe you’ve considered, or tried, drastic diets or surgery. You wouldn’t be alone – and it’s not hard to see why women are made to feel that their beautiful natural bodies are not good enough the way they are.

Picture perfect

Women are constantly bombarded with ‘perfect’ images of the female form every day of their lives. They are everywhere we look: in the magazines we read, the TV shows and films we watch, the adverts in the ad breaks, in music videos and on the billboards that surround us as we walk down the street. The impeccable figures of famous women are presented as part and parcel of their success and stylishness. In magazines, women celebrities are praised for their perfect figures or torn to pieces if they are deemed too heavy or too skinny versus the unwritten but all prevailing single standard of beauty. Unsurprisingly when we too compare ourselves to this standard we fail to measure up, resulting in not just body dissatisfaction, but depression, shame and guilt, which all contributes to the enormous pressure on women to conform to the body shape ideal.

Zero tolerance

Today one of the most extreme examples of a female body shape placed on a pedestal (or in this case, a catwalk) as the height of chic is the controversial size zero, the equivalent of a UK size 4. The modelling industry has been divided on this new extreme of designer thinness but the dangers of such a body shape portrayed as ideal were definitely brought home after two models died as a result of their struggle to achieve this almost unattainable body shape. With the average size in the UK being dress size 16 it certainly seems obscene to present size 4 as a desirable size.

On the plus side

The tide does seem to be starting to turn on the notion that only one size and shape is beautiful. Well-known fashion designers are starting to look more closely at the potential of

plus-size lingerie

and fashion and have begun booking plus-size models for their advertising campaigns and catwalks. The plus-size modelling industry is growing in leaps and bounds, with many well known model agencies creating divisions to specifically locate and develop potential plus-size models to serve demand.

We are starting to see fabulous full-figured women invading the media. And what a breath of fresh air it is, with Adele, Charlotte Church and Gossip’s Beth Ditto loud and proud in the music scene,

curvy

Colleen rivalling the wags in all the style stakes, the luscious Nigella Lawson on our TV screens, the divine Queen Latifah in big-hitting blockbusters and Chloe Marshall, the UK’s first ‘plus size’ Miss England entrant. And this is without even mentioning the host of gorgeous plus-size models taking the industry by storm. The work being done by the likes of

Gok Wan

also goes a long way to helping women realise that they are wonderful just as they are, whether completely naked or supported by the right lingerie. We salute

Gok Wan

for getting some gorgeous bodies of all shapes and sizes on our TV screens!

A vote for variety

Sometimes it may feel like women can never win, with magazines lambasting women for being too fat one week… and the next week (or even the next page) for being too skinny! Some women are naturally thin, some are naturally curvy, and as long as both are healthy then who is to say one is more ‘ideal’ than the other? Beauty should be about diversity – not one fixed image, because every woman is different and every size and shape can be beautiful.

It’s important to remember that the images we see in the media are just that, images, not reality. The models and movie stars with the flawless figures we see in advertising campaigns have not only got the best personal trainers and sometimes plastic surgeons in the business, but the best make-up artists, stylists and digital air-brushers too. No woman should be made to feel inferior because she does not match up to this. Striving all your life for a shape that has been sold to you in the media isn’t the key to happiness, and beating yourself up about it will only stop you from getting the most out of life. It’s so much simpler to learn to love yourself as you are. Just take a leaf out of Gok Wan’s book - and look hot with what you’ve got! With the right confidence-boosting underwear, anything is possible.