Sun Woman Editor
STAND aside, waifs and skinny minnies, for this year there’s a curvy girl coming through at the Miss England competition.
For the first time ever, a size-16 model has made it through to the last round of the beauty pageant.
Thank goodness for gorgeous Chloe Marshall, who has swept aside seven twiglets to be named Miss Surrey and is now heading for the finals.
The 16-year-old beauty therapy student says she wanted to become a model to reassure and give confidence to other “shapely” girls.
Chloe, from Guildford, says: “I wanted to go through to the Miss England finals to break the stereotype that you have to be tall and skinny to be considered beautiful.
“I wanted to make a bit of a statement. When I studied the other entrants for the competition I concluded that, pretty as they were, they were all uniformly blonde and Barbie doll-like.
Luscious
“I want to show girls out there that it is possible to be beautiful and not a standard size zero.”
Chloe, who is 5ft 10in and 38DD, has now been signed up by the Models Plus agency, whose boss Stevie Walters says: “She is gorgeous and has a luscious figure.
“We are sure she will be snapped up by fashion companies who want to project a realistic and achievable image to their customers.”
In an age when children of six are dieting, and eating disorders are increasing, it can be no coincidence that just over a year ago three catwalk models died of anorexia.
So it is more than a little refreshing to see a young model with a healthily proportioned attitude. After all, the average British woman is a size 16 so models who reflect real women are desperately needed.
Advertisement
Unlike more impressionable young girls, Chloe has refused to bow to peer pressure to be thin.
She says: “I didn’t give my figure a thought until my first day of secondary school, when I realised I was bigger than many other children.
“Someone called me ‘fat’. I was stunned by the nastiness of it.
“Children can be cruel so for a while the nicknames followed me. I got called ‘Fatty’ and it hurt.
“Mum told me, ‘You’re beautiful whatever size you are and never feel ashamed.’ By the age of 13 I was already a C cup.
“Flat-chested girls were jealous. Being curvy gave me kudos and from then on I embraced it. Now I want to be an ambassador for teenagers who are plus sizes.
“I’m happy the way I am. If the Miss England winner was a plus size it would really break the mould.”
The Sun’s Say No To Size Zero campaign aims to stop the exploitation of vulnerable models and the unhealthy message sent out by their emaciated bodies.
And, with more confident, curvy and beautiful girls like Chloe, that target becomes tangible.
