"The passion for dieting ignores the fact that women are different shapes and sizes (47% of British women take a size 16 or over)."
Does this "size" refer to the size of clothes?
I believe that British sizes run slightly differently, but in American sizing, 16 is the largest that is considered "regular." Anything above that is considered a "plus" size.
To put sizes in perspective, the average size of most actresses today (Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie) is a very petite two. Marilyn Monroe was a size 12, which was considered sexy and curvacious in her day, but would be positively porky by today's show business standards. Of course, there is a vast difference between Hollywood and real life.![]()
Certainly, as far as shoe sizes are concerned. But I could believe Marilyn Monroe was a size 12. As to your more recent examples, I have difficulty remembering the names of these stick insects. I think women's clothes sizes go up to 18 here, but many shops stock nothing bigger than a 16 (in fact, some boutiques don't stock anything over a 12).
In a healthy move recently, Marks and Spencer (big clothes chain) insisted that all their models should be a 14.
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