London - Ladies, if you spend hours on the treadmill in pursuit of the perfect pins, stop a second – and take a look at your bones.
Because unless they’re entirely straight from thigh to ankle, you may as well give up now.
A plastic surgeon claims he has found the formula for the ideal pair of legs, and straight bones are the main ingredient.
Fahd Benslimane spent 12 years analysing photographs of models and athletes as well as a range of other sources, including Greek statues, Barbie dolls and sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, to work out what type of legs were considered the most attractive in the western world.
He concluded that legs with bones that run in a straight line from the top of the thigh through to the knee joint and ankle, with nips and curves at the knee and calf, were the most desirable, because they combine fragility with strength.
Those with perfect pins include the likes of Nicole Kidman, Greta Garbo and Kate Moss.
Benslimane’s report said: “As soon as the column departs from the straight axis, it deviates from our perception of beauty.”
But that alone is not enough because women need some curves for sexiness, he added.
On the inside of the leg the calf needs to have a short but well-defined convex curve. The best legs also have a short concave curve which descends into the ankle, and a much longer and smoother convex curve on the outside – and the curves on the inside and the outside of the legs should not be symmetrical.
Benslimane, who runs his own private clinic in Morocco, published his research in the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery journal.
He analysed more than 550 photographs of legs in fashion and health magazines, as well as images of models from Morocco, France, Ukraine, Hungary, and the US. He also looked at models who work as Hollywood body doubles, and at the legs of famous athletes, including Brazilian footballer Ronaldo, with the aim of finding an “ideal aesthetic model” on which to base surgery in the future.
Benslimane said: “Over the last 50 years, with the changes in women’s fashion, legs have become an important element of seduction.
“The first common denominator of all attractive legs is their straightness. Attractive legs are straight and in continuity with the thighs.
“The straightness of the legs of models who advertise leg stockings and lingerie is notable.”
Mark Soldin, of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, added that high heels make women with good legs even more attractive because they heighten their curves.
He explained: “The elevation of the heel enhances the convexity of the upper calf muscles, while making the ankle region appear even thinner, more fragile and feminine.” - Daily Mail