...says Christine Wareing as she sips from a glass of chilled white in Oscar's wine bar in York.

"People pigeon-hole you because of your age or your size, but they are not real. I can be any age or any size I want to be. That's what makes me a good model."

Today she looks like a very well maintained forty-something woman with curves in all the right places, a glossy salt and pepper mane and a shop full of designer accessories on display.

From her pink Chanel glasses to her Louis Vuitton briefcase, she is meticulously turned out from top to toe.

But she hasn't dressed up just to meet the press; dressing up is part of her routine - a routine that can start as early at 4.20am.

Christine, of Charlton Street, York, is a model for Jeff Banks amongst others, a stylist and a senior sales manager for Weekenders, which brings clothes right into clients' homes.

She is, not to put too fine a point on it, a very busy woman. So how does she find the time to look so glamorous?

"You have to find the time," she said. "I had to leave the house at 6am the other morning, so I got up at 4.20am to wash my hair and get ready.

"I wash my hair every day, I have my nails done every three weeks and I have a regular weekly regime of beauty treatments. You have to look after yourself because nobody else will.

"And it's good for you too. It's a bit of girlie, pampering time, some time out from the kids or your job or whatever. It's your own time, so make it count."

Christine has always had an interest in glamour, something she gets from her mother, who she describes as her "style icon".

"She has always, always looked supremely stylish," she said. "Maybe it's in the genes."

In the 70s she lived in Blackpool - then the beauty queen capital of Britain - but at five foot five and a half (don't forget that all important half), she was too short to compete.

This didn't stop her getting photographic modelling jobs though, and she was soon snapped up as the Benson & Hedges Golden Girl.

"It was such fun," she said. "I got to do all sorts of promotional work, like golf tournaments and race days. To be honest, it wasn't like work at all. I loved it."

After formal model training in Manchester, however, Christine decided it was time to get a "proper profession" under her belt.

So she turned to beauty therapy. She trained with Clarins in Paris and found success in salons up and down the UK, eventually settling in York ten years ago.

But her passion for fashion never left her. So when the Evening Press was looking for plus size models - Christine is a size 18-20 - for its annual fashion show, she decided the time had come for her to return to the catwalk.

"Plus size means anything from a size 16 up, so there were all shapes and sizes there," she said. "I think I stand out because I have a big personality too."

Her next modelling job was in a bridal show in Harrogate.

"I couldn't believe they wanted me as the bride," she said with a booming laugh. "But like I said, age doesn't mean anything - if they wanted me to be a bride, I could be a bride."

In fact she was a bride five times over in five different dresses and, as always, she stole the show.

After that her modelling career really began to take off and she was taken on at Catwalk Model Management in Leeds.

"In the past four years the work has really begun to build up," said Christine. "But it was last July when the biggie happened."

The "biggie" appeared to be an ordinary casting at first for plus size fitting models (models designers use as real life mannequins to ensure their clothes fit properly and have good movement).

"I went along and did my stuff," said Christine. "Then at 5pm the same day I got a phone call to say I'd got it. Although at the time I wasn't entirely sure what 'it' was."

When she turned up on her first day, all became clear.

"This chap came up and introduced himself as Jeff," she said. "I stood there trying to be cool and calm, but all the time I was thinking 'oh... my... God, it's Jeff Banks'."

They now meet three times a month for fittings for his Jeff & Co range, and have even developed their own working shorthand.

"If I come out in something that looks a bit smocky, he will say 'what do you think Chris, bit too Truro?'," she explained. "The other designers look at him as if he's flipped, but I know what he means. 'A bit Truro' means it's only something that a Cornish potter would wear, so I immediately turn round and take it off."

It is difficult to imagine Christine wearing anything that could make her look like a Cornish potter, she is such an undeniably womanly woman.

So what's her secret - the one thing that makes her stand out from the crowd?

Her answer is surprising, but somehow very apt...

Updated: 10:03 Tuesday, October 01, 2002