The High Street Get Real

Image taken from Debenhams online Swimwear section

So, a funny thing happened to me yesterday while I was out shopping on the high street- I saw a model in a store window that actually looked normal. I know, shock horror.

Everywhere I go these days I’m confronted with the image of perfection; young beautiful girls with impossibly skinny frames and glowing with airbrushed radiance.

Even in plus size stores, I always find the women posing in those promotional photos to be a tad unrealistic, so in every corner of the market women are being presented with a target which is impossible to achieve.

Clearly this is an issue which does irritate me, so I definitely did a double take when confronted on my shopping trip with an image of an un-airbrushed model in her summer swimwear.

Although I was shocked, I can’t say I was surprised having read in the papers this week about Debenhams ditching the airbrushing and M&S’s campaign to find a ‘real woman’ for their new season’s line.

The woman in question looked gorgeous; yes she was slim and radiant, but she hadn’t been altered in one way. No unnecessary reshaping, hair removal or re-shading certain areas- it was a definite step in the right direction.

Debenhams seem to really be rebelling against the traditional fashion values on the high street now and clearly aren’t afraid to try new things. After all this is the store who gave us size 16 mannequins in the window and used a disabled model to re-launch Ben de Lisi’s new Principles range for the store.

M&S is following suit by running a competition to find a real lady for their new DD+ lingerie collection. By bringing reality back to the high street, I think they stand a real chance of making up the lost ground caused by the recession.

After all who wants to spend money on clothes that look fantastic on the model but horrendous on us real women? And that’s why the losses continue, until they rest of the retailers realise this. British high street... take note!