The end of the hourglass figure

If you think that the body shape had changed over the last 50 years – you would be correct.

A new study has analyzed the body shapes of women 6000 and concluded that the fashion industry is completely out of sync with reality.

Research has found that although only 8 percent of women who have had that kind of hourglass figure flaunted by curvaceous movie stars of the 1950s such as Sophia Loren, designers and manufacturers have continued to make clothes to fit a slim-line version of this figure.

The size of the design variable is a source of consternation for fashion designers. Should design clothes that fit people – or rail about how women are too big?

Sophia Loren (1955)
The quintessential hourglass

Welsh fashion commentator Blight Jayne said many women found it difficult to find the right clothes to wear size. But she urged people to be more careful with their diet and to see their figures.

He said: "I think people should be more health and weight conscious.

"We have such high rates of obesity in this country we are catching up with the United States. Know that retailers should make large, but people should be more health conscious and try to stay within the structures that have been made over the years. (via icWales)

Over the last hundred years the body shape you want to have changed – and continue to change.

Fashion seems more obsessed with telling you how to hide your body shape – to try to make it conform to a standard that few women have.

This is changing – body scanners have found their way in some fashion shops, enabling staff to find the best match for your shape.