Health and beauty

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Will you be wearing size zero jeans?


15/ 8/2006

THOUGHT that celebrities couldn't get any thinner? Wrong. Today's famous faces are slimming down to a size zero in the name of fashion. A presenter with our sister television station Channel M, Beverley Walkden hit the streets to find out how it would go down in Manchester.

AS if finding the perfect pair of jeans wasn't already hard enough, now we're being encouraged to squeeze in to the latest style by becoming uber-thin.

I'm talking about the size zero jeans. And if you haven't already heard about this sinewy size, read on because you're going to start noticing them everywhere. They're hiding on rails all over the high street and reinforcing the fact that we're becoming fatter.

Basically, the American size zero is the equivalent to our British size four and are being worn by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Nicole Richie.

I tried on a pair from Gap and, while I'm a healthy size 12, there was absolutely no way they were pulling over my calf. A male colleague managed to get his arm in, and even that was a struggle.

But what gets me is how these celebrities manage to slim themselves down to the frame of a seven or eight-year-old girl. Surely no one could find this attractive in a woman? Wrong.

"I think a woman with a small frame looks quite nice, and if these jeans fit then I think they're perfectly acceptable", said city worker Mike Devine who is in his early thirties.

But surely most women would agree that aspiring to be little more than a skeleton is a case of fashion gone mad and unrealistic. Right. Nearly all the women we spoke to were aghast.

Holding up a pair of size zero jeans seemed to bring home to these women how hard and unhappy life must be as a female celebrity.

Terrible

"I think it's absolutely terrible", said shopper Joyce Hamill, who's in her fifties. "How many children has Posh got, and she's so small. I have a grand daughter who is 12 and she's a big girl and I want her to stay that way."

Joyce's grand daughter is of the same opinion. "I wouldn't want to wear these jeans. There's no bum space. I like my food too much and I think girls look better if they've got curves. If you're too straight it looks awful."

Now, admittedly, I've got a straight figure and have little in the way of bum or bust but that's because I'm made that way. As a kid I was tall and stick thin, but as we all know once we hit the 25 mark most of us start to flesh out if we haven't done so earlier. Aren't we defying nature by trying to turn the clock back on our bodies?

"It can't be healthy", says shopper Michelle Quinn, who's in her twenties. "But I guess shops have to cater for people who can get in to these jeans. In the flesh it doesn't look good. I would not aspire to be that thin and I don't think it's healthy. It can't be easy to maintain that weight."

Trend

Michelle's healthy attitude towards weight is fortunately one that most British women share - which means that there hasn't yet been that much demand for size zeros so far in this country. However, there are women in Manchester who will be aiming to follow the trend.

"These are women who are totally devoted to fashion," explains Ali Grocott, a demin specialist at Harvey Nichols in Exchange Swuare. "With the more mature women you can tell they're obsessed with fashion and probably don't eat very much. To be honest it doesn't really look nice, it's a I'm-trying-too-hard' look. We don't sell a lot of size zero, but we do sell a lot of 10s."

What else do you have to be to buy in to this fashion fad? Fairly rich is the answer. Sass & Bide skinny jeans are one of the most popular makes and cost '130. Superfine, worn by the likes of Kate Moss in US size two, range between '120 and '160. And J Brand worn by Angelina Jolie, also in US size two cost '130.

Victoria Beckham likes to wear Rock and Republic in her trademark zero, which again are above the hundred mark.

But I would like to know what real women think - sexy or scary? Email me at or submit your comments below.


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Most recent 2 of 29 user comments

   to be onest i think being a size zero is perfectly fine.... If people want to be a size zero well thats there problem its got nothink to do with anyone else... I would love to be a size zero... Its just that every time i think of starving myself its hard because i love eating haha... Has anyone got any advice for me And dont tell me that its not good to be a size zero because i couldnt care less i just want some informatiion x xx
lauren x, liverpool
28/08/2007 at 21:08

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   Beverely needs to realize that not everyone that fits into a size zero starved themselves to be that way. I am a size 0 and can fit into a 00 and I eat like a cow! Some of these posts are right by saying that you have to take height into account and some people are just born with extremely fast metabolisms. I did take offense to some of the material just because you are saying that anyone that is size 0 is unhealthy and called size 12 healthy. Some people fitting into a size twelve have unhealthy eating habits and therefor are no in a good state when people in size zeros can have good eating habits and still be called gross. It isn't our fault. If we are skinny and eat a salad people call us anorexic but if someone fatter eats a salad its "good" because they are loosing weight.

People need to get over the fact that your made the way you are and other people are made the way they are and you can't try and change it, so people needs to open their minds a little more because they aren't making it fair for those of us that are naturally skinny.
eliza
20/07/2007 at 21:21

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