Time has run out for the shapely, hourglass figure. The curvaceous form - traditionally perceived as the embodiment of feminine beauty - is disappearing, according to analysis of the nation's expanding waistlines.
The results of the first UK National Sizing Survey were published yesterday, revealing that average measurements around women's midriffs have increased by 6.5in (16.5cm) in a little over 50 years.
Men's bodies are thought to have inflated by a similar proportion over the same period: an authoritative study of women's shapes was undertaken in 1951, providing a comparative baseline, but no such study was done for men who, it was then assumed, had suits tailor-made.
The latest survey took three years to complete, exploited sophisticated, three-dimensional bodyscanning technology, cost £1.2m and was jointly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry and 17 leading British clothes retailers. Its findings have prompted a sharp intake of abdominal flab.
We are, it suggests, getting larger and turning into tubular men and women - with measurements around our chests, waists and hips gradually converging. Preliminary results from an identical study in the US show we are not yet, however, as rotund as Americans.
Average measurements for British women were a 38.5in bust, 34in waist, and 40.5in hips; for men the figures were a 42in chest, 37in waist and 40.5in hips. In the 1951 survey, women's average measurements were 37, 27.5, and 39.
The figures are likely to reinforce political anxiety about the level of obesity but larger sizes may also reflect improved nutrition since the end of the second world war. The average woman at the start of the 1950s, for example,was 5ft 3in [159cm] tall; her counterpart today has grown to 5ft 4.5in.
The SizeUK survey took more than 1.5 million measurements from about 11,000 people during 2001 and 2002. The oldest volunteer was a 95-year-old woman. Participants were asked to walk into bodyscanning machines in shops and retail centres around the country, where stripes of white light were projected on to them.
The resulting distortions were recorded on camera and automatically broken down into a pattern of electronic points. Faster than a shop assistant's tape measure, the US-manufactured [TC]2 machines derived 130 measurements from each subject within seconds.
Women were generally more eager to volunteer than men but the numbers used for the study were statistically adjusted in an attempt to reflect the general population's breakdown by ethnicity, age (over 16), social background and regional distribution. It took 18 months to analyse the data.
Philip Treleaven, professor of computer science at University College London, was director of the survey. "The big thing we found out is that everyone is developing a tummy," he said yesterday. "It might have been more accurate to call it ShapeUK. The 3D scanners allow you to look at the curvature of people's stomachs and bottoms.
"There's never been such a survey producing such a wealth of size and shape data. Retailers will be able to use the data to help them cater for all their customers but it will also benefit other sectors such as the transport industry."
Andrew Crawford, of Bodymetrics, which is storing the data, said it was invaluable and could be cross-referenced with lifestyle questionnaires given to volunteers. "We asked people to what extent they went to gyms or sat on a couch and drank beer," he said. "Beyond fashion, this survey could help the transport industry - buses, planes, cars and trains - improve the dimensions of their seats. Furniture manufacturers could produce more comfortable chairs and sofas."
Medical experts may be able to exploit the technology to create matching prosthetic arms for those who have lost limbs in accidents, suggested Richard Barnes, the managing director of Select Research which participated in the study. "Plastic surgeons we talked to were very enthusiastic about it."
SizeUK made some calculations about the health of those it surveyed. Using body/mass indexes it judged that half of the men and women measured were normal, 38% of women and 44% of men were overweight or obese, and 12% of women and 6% of men were underweight.
Among the clothes retailers involved were Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser, Monsoon, Bhs and Miss Selfridge. The technology will enable companies to produce more accurate clothes dummies to send overseas to their sub-contractors producing their outfits.
In future, Mr Barnes said, shops may install bodyscanning machines to attract customers. The computer technology can generate images of figures fitted with clothes, saving the bother of trying on trousers or jackets. "It can be a bit difficult emotionally for people," he cautioned. "It's like hearing yourself on tape for the first time. You are seeing yourself as others see you."
