London - With a slender waist and curves in all the right places, Marilyn Monroe’s physique has long been coveted by women – and admired by men.
But it seems the classic hourglass figure that the star epitomised could be on borrowed time.
The waist size of the average British woman has increased by more than seven inches since the 1950s, research has found, giving her more in common with a rectangle than an hourglass.
For a perfect hourglass figure, a woman’s hip and bust must be of equal size, with a narrow tapered waist. But a study has found that this shape is becoming increasingly rare.
In 1951, the average woman’s waist was 27 inches, with her bust and hips around ten inches larger. But researchers who surveyed 5 500 women found the average waist now measures 34 inches. Hip and bust dimensions, meanwhile, have grown by only an inch, leaving them just four inches larger than the waist.
As a result, almost half of British women are now classed as a “rectangle” – with little difference between bust, waist and hip measurements.
Donnamarie McBride of Harley Street beauty clinic LoveLite, which carried out the research, said they were “inundated” with requests for waistline reductions. - Daily Mail