I know it'll never happen but...

Wish I had a 36dd bust never mind 34 inch waist yet I am a size 16. x

Surely you try on clothes before you buy them and look in the mirror and make your buying decisions on that. By our age we should all have a pretty good idea of what suits us or not. Regardless what clothes are hung on in fashion photos

I am nearer the size of those models than most; size 10/12 with a 32B bust but what really defines what I wear and what suits me the facts that I have very narrow shoulders, a long waist which means my hipbones are virtually at my waist and most standard trousers are a comfortable fit around the armpits. and those delimiters have far more influence on how I look in something than seeing them on a stick thin model.

All those models stand in such silly poses that you cannot see what the clothes look like anyway. The only purpose of fashion photos is to give a rough guide to fashionable colours and features, like pussy cat bows etc. The girls are merely clothes hangers, not serving suggestions

Well M0nica, it was just an idle thought but I'm sure many of us would appreciate some sensible ideas for flattering clothes and be able to find them in order to try them on! Clothes suggestions for older ladies are often rather frumpy, I think.

A designer wants their garment to be displayed to its best advantage, and unfortunately that will be on a stick thin model.

I find more sensible ideas are featured in the cheaper weekly magazines. I agree that suggestions for older women are often rather frumpy.

In my sewing days this was my favourite blog - she's making her own pattern range now, and recognises the need for larger (curvy) sizes:
blog.bygertie.com/2017/12/11/charm-patterns-plus-size-survey/

lizzypopbottle DH always maintains that it is because today's designers are all fairly useless and could not tailor a garment properly - they use these stick thin models because they are unable to design garments that fit normal women properly.

"Do they know what a dart is?" he asked.
This from an engineer btw, with no connection to the fashion industry!

Ossie Clark was a brilliant designer, but his garments were still modelled by skinny models. It was ever thus in the industry, today's designers are no different, unfortunately for us.

The worst thing is that the models are under such pressure to be thin they eat cotton wool to stave off hunger pangs! It's actually called the cotton ball diet!

I don’t understand why stick thin models are used anyway, you can’t say they show clothes off to their best advantage! I’ve been looking at vintage photos from the 40s and 50s when the models were still thin but had curves and to my mind some curves are more attractive than the current ideal.

I’d like a dd chest too - I’m a b cup, sadly

I want a bum and a bust

Have some of mine? ?

You are right lizzypop it would be good to see more mature and curvy women in magazines modelling clothes.
We also need more actual shops selling clothing that suits us.

Anniebach I have more than enough bum and bust to cover the both of us. And it's a real pain trying to find clothes to fit properly. By general rule of thumb, if something fits my bust, it will hang off the shoulders and gape at the back. If it fits by huge bum and thighs, it will gape at the waist. Dresses are a nightmare.

I was trying on a selection of jeans in M&S today. After handing them all back I told the assistant it was a pity that the designers never realise that a size 16 or 18 woman is never going to have skinny match stick legs. She told me that the other problem they have is that size 6 clothes are all designed for 6 footers rather than the petite women who are usually size 6.

Deedee, my legs are also a problem, after my (non existent) waist. Why do manufacturers not realise that extra long, does not compensate for extra wide, thighs, that is.

lizzypopbottle Clothes suggestions for older ladies are often rather frumpy start by avoiding any clothes advertised as suitable for older women aka 'age appropriate' clothing.

I wear much the same clothes as DGD(10) and DiL(48) skinny trousers, leggings, ankle boots and a variety of tops, most bought from the usual high street chains: M&Co, Next, Monsoon,Sainsbury also Lands End (jeans). I have a limited wardrobe of clothes, wear them a lot then replace them when they wear out.

Yes what ever happened to the " hour glass figure" . So much nicer to model fashion with a shapely body than a lollipop stick figure. It's just not very true to life for most ladies who have had children. Yes the designers are talentless because they would make themselves a heck more popular if they catered to different shapes and sizes. Dopey Buggars!!

It depends what “fashion”you are looking for. Proper haute couture designers like Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, know how garments are constructed and tailored. Many of their designs are on a par with art, just look at the construction of , say a Chanel suit or evening gown that may be in one of their collections, it’s not the sort of thing you can find on your high street, they cost thousands, much of it constructed by hand. They are not “dopey buggers” as they can earn large amounts of money for their fashion houses who also can make money by selling luxury goods such as bags , perfume which people of any size buy. Such garments are shown off on the catwalk much better by tall skinny models - unfair I know, but it doesn’t stop older, different sized people taking some of the ideas and wearing versions of the clothes they like and can afford. Like many things in life, you get what you pay for.

I've got a nightmare figure to dress, top 3 sizes bigger than my bottom - bit like those games where someone draws half a person then folds the paper and next person draws the other half lol! Can only wear separates, and can't buy PJ sets etc.

I was talking about the shapes of everyday people. I don't really look at Chanel Suits and evening gowns to go shopping and do housework. That is for the upper classes.

My guess is that modelling on an "average" size 16 person would still not be mean modelling on a "real"person. Unfortunately, 'average' doesn't actually mean that most people are that shape - it is the number arrived at after all the wildly different vital statistics have been number crunched. Very few of us, even the size 16s, would match that average on every part of their body, if any at all.

I might see an outfit in a magazine and think 'oh, that looks nice', but I know my body shape well enough by now to recognise the fact that it wouldn't suit me/hang right on me/go over my hips etc.

There is a shop in our town that caters for BBWs and is run by two lovely BBW ladies but the dummies in the window are skinny Minnies. They said they tried bigger dummies but found it reduced the numbers of customers who came in to browse. Sadly proper size dummies seemed to put people off.

I'd prefer to see the clothes I'm considering buying on BBW dummies because I'd like to see how it would look on someone like me rather than someone who would look amazing in a bin bag.

Perhaps I could earn some money modelling clothes for ladies of a certain age , ?

When I look at fashion pages it's usually because it gives me a good laugh. Many are styles that only a silly fashion victim would wear and I wonder how many (or few) of the typical readers would even consider them.
The prices are just as laughable (or sometimes POA) and it's no wonder the models look so damn miserable having to pose in them. Fashion editors must live on another planet.