BIGGER clothes for bigger women - retailers have finally got the message that we're not the 20-inch-waisted females of the 50s, nor the stick-thin Twiggies of the 60s.

It's been creeping in for a while, with the likes of high street store Evans and Dawn French's well-known clothing company French & Teague catering for what is after all the bulk of the female population.

But now everybody's doing it. Marks & Spencer is giving big women space on its rails, and its new advertising campaign - featuring size 16 model Amy Davis in the buff shouting "I'm normal" - is making its mark across the country.

It's a nice change to stop at traffic lights and see Ms Davis' big bottom, wide hips and ample bosom on billboards rather than the usual waif and stray who could hula-hoop with a doughnut. It's great being able to open a magazine or clothing catalogue and see a model who looks like she's lived on steak pie and chips for the past five years.

Big - and in fashion terms that's anything bigger than a size 12 - women (including me, I might add) are sorted.

But, this begs the question, what about men? Look at any men's magazine and you'll see trim, honed bodies, not an ounce of fat in sight. It's the same with catalogues - they're awash with tall, slim chaps. They don't give house room to the fat blokes of this world.

Yet look around you - the world is bursting at the seams with beer bellies, blokes with bosoms and workmen's bottoms. Big men are as common a sight as those so-called larger ladies.

I bet there are thousands of men out there who would love to be able to nip to M&S and see the likes of Jim Royle beaming down from the walls, promoting a new range of gear "for the outsize slob," or John Prescott on the fashion pages of FHM, proudly sporting a pair of large Levis to reveal a hefty slice of builder's bot. It would make them feel relaxed, like they belonged.

Men like their grub as much as we do. They like to sit for hours in front of the telly scoffing takeaways. They also love sinking a few beers at their local. All this adds up to expanding waistlines and the need for bigger sizes. Yet fashion stores aren't going overboard to cater for big fellas.

Women are no longer embarrassed by their size and it is because we have complained bitterly over the years that retailers are sitting up and listening. On the other hand, men are still reluctant to talk about their bodies.

When did you last hear two men discussing their hips and thighs?

And it's only relatively recently that men felt comfortable enough to spill the beans about their passion for fashion. It's highly unlikely that they'll put the two sensitive subjects together and start grumbling.

But if large lads want to break free from those huge replica football shirts and middle-aged men want to ditch those trousers that rest precariously under their stomachs in favour of something that looks like it actually fits them and looks good, they are going to have to say something.

The shops have listened to us, so they'll listen to them. We may see Jim Royle on an M&S ad yet.