There is no perfect body shape

Now, don't take this too seriously. This is an observation of female-focused popular television. I realise this is not the most high-brow or intelligently created, politcally correct or even morally conscious media ever. It's aim is to sell certain products or ideas. Do be warned: this post makes me sound like a tamed feminazi. Apologies.

I was watching one of Gok Wan's creations (I recognise he didn't create it and was just asked to front it - ultimate credit/blame goes to the production team and marketing managers) and whilst I was content to be entertained, I was struck by the mixed messages it was giving out. The clear statement was that there was no perfect body shape. It recognised that there are different proportions: pear, hour glass, apple, straight/boyish, top heavy and so on. It did concentrate on the main recognisable types in order to simplify it to its daytime(ish) audience but I do give it credit for at least being, at first, unjudgmental at these perfectly natural differences in women.

Immediately after introducing different body shapes, Gok takes varying women and dresses them accordingly. He points out weaknesses or 'bad points' of their figures then tries to create 'that perfect hour glass'. Hold up. What? Pointing out weaknesses is the worst possible thing you can do to a body-conscious woman. It doesn't matter if you sandwich that with 'you have a great bum' and 'your face is stunning', that woman will focus on the negative that's been found by the beady-eyed body spy.  And to then dress this woman to create a 'perfect' body shape... excuse me, reverse back to the original statement of there being no perfect body shape!

This is the one consistency I see in any television programme, magazine article, video or website that advises on dressing to suit shape: a large, hugely noticable percentage of them aim to create an hour glass. How about the women who have 'boyish' figures and want to maintain that look? How about those who really like having wide hips and small boobs? What about them? How about embracing the 'bad points' which they may be proud of? Aren't we in the age of liberation? How have we got to this point and not created clothes that actually flaunt supposedly bad features? Surely, with the clothes-hanger models the industry drapes the catwalk with, we've come up with at least a two-tone range that consists of clothes normal people can wear and pieces of needlessly expensive material that is dropped onto size minus two models with fierce cheekbones that pretends to look like actual clothing. ...I'll put my claws away.

But seriously, in this particular show, Gok was creating 'high street' looks to compete with super expensive bottom-less wallet looks. If I remember correctly, one of them, along the theme of 'blue', set the expensive look back over £1000. It was just a sparkly dress. It looked hideous, too. If I wanted to look like a disco ball, I'd dip myself in glue and roll in a paddling pool of glitter and sprinkles. Or maybe go to a primary school and spell correctly to be covered in gold stars. Too far? The problem here, apart from the ridiculous prices of high-end fashion, is that the high street outfits just were not affordable. Gok created what he referred to as a 'halterneck top'. It was a scarf, only just covering the modesty of the model and showing the entirity of her back. It was literally just tucked in to the trousers. If she walked for more than the length of a catwalk and back, the movement created may have displaced it and released her twin bad points. Hey, they were small. This is abhorrent, right? Sigh. My point is that this scarf-top was marketed as affordable at £30. No. If I wanted a silky top, I'd buy a silky top. I wouldn't buy a scarf in order to create one. And if I was lacking one, I think I'd just think of something else.

I'm all for recycling and coming up with new ideas for clothes I have already but I'm not up for being told that a £50 top plus £30 accessory, £80 shoes and £35 trousers/skirt is an 'affordable' outfit. It just isn't.

Gok and co, please stop reeling women in by reassuring them that there is no perfect body shape then telling them that they MUST have an hour glass figure or the dreaded disappointed face will be round the corner. Please stop trying to make them spend large amounts of hard-earnt money on items of clothing that they won't use as their primary purpose. Not everyone wants to look 'edgy' or 'high-fashion'. It's okay to be content with casual, unremarkable day wear. It's okay to not wear a suit to a coffee meeting. It's okay to be imbalanced in figure. It's also okay to occasionally show a bit of bum and get things 'wrong' for a while. A confident woman could look good in a bin bag if she really wanted to. That's cool, too.