Real women

Has anyone been watching the series Traitors?
The lead actress is supposed to be drop dead gorgeous and has all the men falling over her....what really?!!
She could be described as pretty, no more than that, but so so slim, thin actually and flat chested, than in reality men in the 1940’s wouldn’t have found her attractive at all.
My point being, that we are supposed to ‘aspire’ to the great cause of being stick thin, no matter that it isn’t attractive.

You can be beautiful whatever your body size and age. I detest ageism and “fat shaming”. It’s great to see people of all different Looks Modeling clothes and I don’t agree that we need to aspire to looking different from what we are!

I would like to see more older women in the media and in adverts. When was the last time you saw an ordinary looking female in her 60's in either?

The view that only thin (they were beyond slim), young, pretty models should be seen in advertising is thankfully out-of-date, and pretty disgusting. People come in all shapes, sizes, colours and ages. Until recently, images in advertising contributed to women’s insecurity, low self esteem and even body dysmorphia. Do you think it’s healthy for young girls to only have images that are thin and pretty to look at? What do you think about the images of disabled models, lacking one or more limbs? Are they okay, or would you rather not see them either?

Totally agree. Also about the overweight models that some companies use, which totally puts me off the clothing, even if it IS available in my size!
You have to be aspirational in advertising. I want to be inspired, even if I'm never going to achieve it (that's what parts me from my cash!) Not 'catered for' as in 'our big knickers will even fit YOU!'

I like to see what a garment would look like on my size (British 16-18) not on a 6ft 10inch size 4 model!

You cannot expect to look like someone years younger than yourself, just accept yourself for as you are and make the most of what assets you have
I am 80 and still enjoy buying new clothes and makeup which makes me feel good.
I had a lovely Mother's Day card from one of my daughters showing a duck with a face mask on and a towel round its head and inside it said to a stylish mom - it really made me laugh out loud

The fashion page of the Guardian newspaper at the weekend usually shows the same types of clothes on different aged models ranging from probably 20s to mid60s, they are however all on the slim (though not skinny) side.

Twiggy ,Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren were all stunning when they were younger and in a business where they have access to makeup artists ,get paid to promote face cream ,fashion etc. hardly your every day real women !!
I prefer Dawn French ,Mary Berry and Esther Ransom . I joined a free walking group to get fitter ..some of the glam grans just talk diets,do lunges whilst opening the curtains..and moan about wrinkles...I would rather be a bit chubby than vacuous and boring and I want to see older news readers, models, singers etc etc

I'm guilty of appreciating the sight of an attractive (to me, of course!) male/female on screen. Guess it's a kind of comfort zone for me. Never really thought about it in depth. Might do that now.

I think it's more realistic and helpful to see what clothes and styles will look like on different sized women. I may see something I love which is advertised and displayed on a slim young, model, and then I try it on and often realise it's not for me as it doesn't look so great! That's just life. In the alternative, I won't need any clothes!

I totally agree with Monica. I am in my 50s now. I dont look or act my age. I dont have a perfect figure anymore (though I suppose I never did else I would have been a model)

I look after my appearance and I think you can look just as good, if not better than when you were younger. More experience of what does and does not suit you, your more real less hang ups etc.

Twiggy, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirram are 3 names to be going on with who are older and real to our age groups and around who look fantastic

I am overweight, verging on obese, and I rarely ever buy clothes nowadays, in fact I have given away loads of them to a charity shop which is where most of them come from anyway. As my local department shop is having a sale I might just go and see what they have, but even there most of the clothes don't seem large enough. I live in a town full of fat old ladies.
Money is tight now and so are most clothes.

I pay no attention to adverts no matter what they are for. I am content to live without adverts.

I also disagree with the term "real women". I do think advertisers should use age appropriate models (male and female) when advertising products. I have even seen a company which sells clothes for "plus sized" women using models who can't be bigger than a size 10!

It's the same when they advertise razors and hair removing creams - the models they use are already totally hair free - as someone once said if you want to convince me to buy your razor shave a gorilla!

I think we need to see something which is just a bit better than ourselves so that we have something to aspire to but not unrealistic enough to make us despair.
There must a happy medium, surely?

I think the term real women is as stupid as the term natural birth!

What’s an unreal woman and what’s an unnatural birth? Senseless.

Women and men come in all shapes and sizes and all need to buy clothes and products so it seems good business to me to advertise to all.

Tess Holliday - on the catwalk, along with other Size 26 (shock, horror) models for many years.

Real Women have been in the news, on the news and on the catwalk for many years, it's not a new thing. Before that we were called BBWs.

I agree entirely with MOnica and would even say if you see yourself an unattractive then that's your perception but don't apply it to my Real Woman's shape

I defy anyone to tell me Joy Nash, Tess Holliday and Dawn French are unattractive - they just aren't.

We need to accept ourselves and ALL women and not judge or even suggest who should be seen or not seen based on some specious idea of attractiveness.

What irrirates me is when in the press they describe large/fat/obese models as curvy. I’ve been fat definitely not curvy.

I quite liked when thisMorning put the models name ,age and dress size on screen,gives you an idea of how it would look if you're a similar size.They seem to have stopped doing it though ,they say its "real" women they use not models and some are more mature but no dress size which is a shame .

The April fool makeover this morning was very funny though ,the outfit and makeup was suitable for a drag queen and we sussed it was a joke right away,apparently Holly Willoughby was taken in by it....so if she was so effusive about that outfit how does she really feel about a lot of the others that are horrific/

Its the young women advertising tena lady incontinence pads that get me!
It probably works which is why they do it.

If I wanted to look at an unattractive lumpy female with her best years behind her, dressed in her underwear I just need to look in the mirror.

How derogatory about women.

Going about my day looking at 'real' women, they come in all kinds, There are many real women of all ages from 20 - 90 who have aged well and remain slim and pleasant looking, and how demeaning to dismiss all those who are not slim in such a way. I am more than happy to see women of all shapes and sizes in adverts and one day on the catwalks. It is time fashion designers started showing whether they can really design well by designing smart attractive clothes cut to fit a normal shaped woman.

All designers do these days is dress clothes pegs.

I think it would be great to have some options when looking at a dress on-line.

What about.... looking at a dress/top etc that I fancy... wouldn't it be great to ask if I could see it on a size 16 or 18 model.

It all depends on what is being advertised doesn’t it?
I like to see a range of ages used for advertising and a range of looks too.