Hourglass Curves.



Marilyn Monroe.

 Marilyn Monroe was and still is the ultimate sex bomb. She is the 1950's ICON that every woman wanted to be and every man wanted. Over and over she is named as the woman whose body every other woman wants to copy. Even though, and get this girls, she was voluptuous !! I know!! It just gets better and better for all us hour glass figured ladies out there........Marilyn was a voluptuous size 12 - 16. Wow!!



Marilyn with husband Arthur Miller.

 I have been an hour glass figure since I developed curves as a young teenager, and as I saw it then they were all in the wrong places. I spent as much time through school hiding those curves as best I could. I was not like the models splayed across fashion magazines. I just couldn't relate to them and the clothes they wore. Not only were, in my humble opinion , the eighties fashions hideous and unfeminine I didn't have any hope in hell of attaining a boyish lean figure that suited them, even when I dropped down to six and a half stone, my curves were still there as prominent as ever. I wasn't tall and I sure as hell wasn't flat chested or minus a waist, and no matter how much weight I lost that fact never changed one jot. Having curves can be a curse until you learn how to use them to your own advantage.

So it was a massive revelation to me when I discovered that Ms Marilyn Monroe was only 5ft 51/2" and ranged in her career it is speculated from a healthy sized 14 -16 to size 10 and to boot she was curvy, and I mean swit swoo (wolf whistle) curvy.......and men loved her, not only men but women too!

When I saw her in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blonde's with Jane Russell - who I also discovered was a buxom babe with a booty, I studied every stitch they wore and how they wore it avidly. Here was the key to me ditching the over sized jumpers and baggy Tees. These two lovely ladies held the answers to how to dress for a much fuller in and out figure and damn it did they look good doing it. How did they manage it?

Firstly they learned to love their body shape and identify what shape they were. It sounds so simple and easy when it's written in a small black and white sentence. Which is why I now have my own Ten Commandments and one of those golden rules is to  "Know thy body shape and love it"  . Time and time again I meet women who dislike who they are and hide their body shape because it's not what their head says it should be. That's the fashion magazines, movie stars and catwalk models talking honey - it ain't real life, that's the first thing you've got to realize. The next thing to do is - find out who you are and what shape you are. Then go from there.

Marilyn is one of the most beautiful, most photographed and most desirable women in the whole world over. You can't get much more fit looking than her! Having curves and being voluptuous is one of women's biggest assets, why would we want to look like a boy? It's crazy when you really think about it. Personally I think the modelling industry and movie world needs to see a lot more real women with real curves.

If a woman has curves these days she's placed instantly in the plus size department. Hello, I'm not over weight,  I have curve issues. And for those of us who do carry a little extra we don't want you labelling us as PLUS SIZED. How rude is that!? THE CURVACEOUS DEPARTMENT sounds much better and describes us more accurately I feel. Curves come in all shapes and sizes. We have curves and we know how to use them. x

One of my favourite stories about Marilyn Monroe is when she was walking along the road with actor Eli Wallach, who noted that no one was taking any notice of her. He said to her , "My God don't these people know who you are?!" Marilyn grinned at him and replied "I'm only recognized when I want to be. Watch this" . She began to swing her hips and walk in a way that was familiar to movie goers and was eventually mobbed by adoring fans.

I know that the average U.K female dress size and body shape is not represented by the catwalks and model shoots in fashion magazines - so why are they still trying to make us believe it is? It leads to women being unhappy about their bodies and wishing they were something they can never be. Some bodies are just not built that way. We are after all each of us unique, it's time we started to dress that way. As Mud Boy tells me constantly "Men like something to squeeze". I rest my case. x

They do say that a vintage size 16 is a modern 10. Remember girls they had some serious girdles and corseting going on back then. Although there is still a massive debate raging about the actual size of Marilyn Monroe's famous hourglass figure. Was she averagee size or was she bigger? First we have the Continental size difference to bridge, a British size 16 is an American size 12.  The thing is like all Hollywood stars of the time her clothes would have been hand made and designed to fit her perfectly. To be honest, I really don't care what size she was - she was damn hot that's what I know and women the world over would love to have her body confidence. Perhaps the most telling is when English actress Elizabeth Hurley spoke to Allure magazine saying "I've always thought Marilyn Monroe looked fabulous, but I'd kill myself if I was that fat.....I went to see her clothes in the exhibition, and I wanted to take a tape measure and measure what her hips were (laughs). She was very big". Really I think that statement says more about Liz Hurley than it does Marilyn, but I'll leave you to decide why.

However Marilyn's dress maker had her sizes down as bust 36D (35-37 inches), waist 22-23 inches (whether this was before or after the fitting of a corset - who knows?), Hips (35-36 inches) and her weight like most women and her measurements fluctuated. We do know from studio records that they had to get a special mold made for her corset and swimwear because she was such an extreme hourglass shape, that they had no off the peg dummies for seamstresses to model on. All that says to me is lucky lady for having someone take so much care and attention in dressing her to perfection! Wish that it were me. x .

The first thing a woman needs to help her keep her curves under control is the right undergarments. How can you lift, tuck , nip and boost if you haven't got support to do so with? Cue the bra.


Marilyn and Jane working it!



Marilyn may have had an hourglass figure that made her a sizzling sensation, but she had a ton of help to make them work for her and not against her. Rule number one: Don't battle against your own body.

Little Ms Monroe wore the 1950's equivalent of the Wonderbra. It lifted and enhanced her cup size and gave her more than an inch. In 2009 Marilyn 1950's wonderbra went up for auction. This magic bra was able to perform it's duty because it was constructed to hold her breasts in with an inside cup and to lift with an outside cup. The ol' lift and squeeze baby, lift an' squeeze. Nowadays us busty girls have the wonderful Bravissimo and Figleaves to shop in. I never shop anywhere else for my undergarments as they know how to treat a bustier girls figure, they have my custom for life. x

Sultry Jane Russell.

Jane Russell wasn't lacking in the curve department either and happily showed all her assets refusing to cover them up. At 5ft 7 " tall she reportedly measured at a 38D-27-37 and while her actual dress size isn't known we do know that she was more volumptious than Marilyn, whose average film career size was a 12.

I'll let you into a little secret I'm a 30 FF in bra size and I know that I can wear either a size 12 or 14 up top depending on the cut, shape and style of the outfit, 10 if it's a very stretchy material. If it has buttons in a 12 forget it - unless I am sewn in. If it's a 14 with buttons it will fit up top but I will have to take the waist in to a 12. There is always a compromise somewhere, which is why for us bustier girls off the rail shopping is so difficult.

 Pepperberry though as their honest slogan says have 'clothes designed with your boobs in mind'. It's true they are one of the only shops I know of that actually take your bust measurment into account on the fitting of a dress, blouse, jumper or coat. It's about time too.



Marilyn looking divine.

 

 Jane Russell became a popular sexpot 1940's second World War pinup along with the curvy Betty Grable.

Here's a girl who certainly didn't let her curves hold her back. Jane was fiesty and fierce, she displayed all she got with a confident stride and wiggle when she meant it. Knowing just when to hold back and when to blow a hot blooded fuse.

How do we define an hourglass figure? Well the official definition is that your bust and hips are about the same proportion and you have a tiny waist. So put that into real and life and there is a wide range of sizes encompassed into the hourglass or figure of eight body shape. Remember no one body type is any better than another. It's all about loving you, for you.

Luckily for me the 1940's and 1950's are all about the hourglass figure. It was for me, as if the clothes had been designed just for moi. They got that my waist needed to be nipped in if I didn't want to look like a sack of lumpy potatoes. They understood that I needed my bust lifted, supported and separated if I didn't want monoboob syndrome and they certainly knew that the best skirts and dresses lengths for me was just below my knees in two oppoiste forms, whether in the full circle skirt or the tight wiggle. Clothes today just don't seem to fit me as well as they do from the past.

The thing we are perhaps yearning for is that these gorgeous girls of the past are at their most womanly, curvaceous and full on sex appeal. The thing that we can't quantify is not weight or body size - it's sheer sex appeal and sexiness. That doesn't come with diets or pills , it comes with loving your own body shape for what and who it is. Love you and the sexiness will ooze from every pore. Gauranteed. That little bit of je ne ce que - that no one can quite put their finger on.

So there we have it, like all normal women out there they wasn't just one size in any one place. We girls know that we can go from one store to another and either gain or loose one sometimes even two dress sizes. Yes it can be either depressing or exhilarating, but remember it's only a label. You can cut it out and no one will ever need to know - all they will see is that you feel and look fabulous in the dress - and that girlfriend is the be all and end all, there is no more that needs to be said.