The world’s definition of sexy, beautiful and desirable in the twentieth century (there still is no replacement yet) Marilyn Monroe had curves and was an American size 16. Then came the 70s and the 80s bohemia and Kate Moss, and things were never the same again.

Enter Adele, the singer with the angelic voice who has been tagged as the world’s answer to Amy Winehouse, the British singer who broke the world’s heart when she was found dead in her London apartment some weeks back.

Adele

Having made the cover of the October issue of Vogue, the definitive pure fashion journal, the curvaceous English rose phenomenon will probably be the first real concrete step towards the often talked about aim of the global fashion industry to get the waifs off the runway particularly after a model slumped and died on a runway in Paris after having lived on diet coke and lettuce for six weeks. According to the editorial of that issue, “Our cover girl, Adele, has won over the world with her heartbreaking voice and her ability to seem as if she very much herself.”

Also, that Adele’s very normality, her down-to-earth determination not to compromise herself, has become as much a part of her USP as, for example, Madonna’s constant, deliberate reinvention. Of herself, the singer says: “If I have to the face of anything, it should be the face of the full-fat coke”.

Maybe she should.