Why Macy Gray is big over here

Fed up with being forced to squeeze her ample behind into skimpy designer clothes, the Grammy award- winning singer Macy Gray is to launch her own plus-sized fashion range.

The rock star has designed a clothing line called Humps, which will launch early next year.

The world of retail is waking up to the fact that not all women are shaped like Victoria Beckham. Mango, the fashion chain, is using the size 16 model Crystal Renn for its autumn ranges in the UK. Renn has also modelled for Jean-Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana.

John Lewis has already taken a stand against the use of ultra-skinny models by featuring a much more normal size 12 in its summer swimwear campaign.

Ms Gray (pictured below) said of her new clothing line: "It's actually for voluptuous, curvaceous girls, girls with thighs and hips." She expects the range to be a hit with the "average-sized girl in America who is a size 12 or 14 [UK 16 or 18]" and who struggles to find "even a size 8 [UK size 12].

In the UK, a so-called "plus-sized" modelling industry has sprung up to cater for those rare opportunities when advertisers want women who are bigger than a size 8.

Louise MacCallum, 26, is a size 14 model who opened last year's Milan Fashion Week for the Italian designer Elena Miro.

She said: "In real life, size 14 is completely normal but in the fashion world it's obese."