Ideal (?) Body Shape in Korea

top model, 장윤주 (Jang Yoon Ju)

So I was doing my morning rounds through my favourite blogs, and I found something very interesting in a Fashion/Style blog in Korea.

The chart that shows 'ideal body size' which breaks down what an ideal size should be for a woman of heights between 150 to 170cm.

It is obvious these numbers are for the fashion model body shape and thus are grossly under what an average health woman should be, especially women in North America (The chart stops at 170cm=5'7").

The purpose of taking a look at this chart was only to see how the ideal "Asian Body Type" deviated from the Western standard.

Many girls in South Korea follow this table and aim for bodies like this.

Source: numerous Korean blogs/websites

However, a catwalk model's ideal measurements are:

5'9" - 6" Bust 32"-36" Waist 22"-26" Hips 33"-35"

175cm to 183cm - Bust 81-91cm Waist 55-66cm Hips 83-89cm

The height passes the graph but I believe the numbers 

seem to correlate with the graph pretty well. 

The first thing I noticed was the hip-to-waist ratio was not 0.7 which is considered the golden ratio. Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Alessandra Ambrosio, Jessica Alba all possess this ratio and have an hourglass figure.

Some celebrities fit into this graph but others don't and are still considered very popular in Korea. This means that beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder! I think it is most important to be healthy and achieve an equilibrium between your health and how you want to look.

The following are stars that are known for their 'ideal' bodies:

Kim Sa Rang (김사랑)

이시영 (Lee Si Young)

한채영 (Han Chae Young)

이다해 (Lee Da Hae)

The following are starlets that have atypical bodies but are still very well accepted in Korea:

신민아 (Shin Mina) 

강민경 (Kang Min Kyung)

*Disclaimer*
I feel like the chart is bringing a lot of mixed feelings from readers. The purpose of me putting up the chart was to draw attention to what Asian ideals are. Most importantly, what measurements a lot of kpop girls/Korean actresses  have to adhere to in order to be deemed as 'ideal' by the mass Korean general public. In no way was I trying to imply that this is what every girl should adopt as the 'ideals'. I hope I cleared up any misconceptions :) 

Guess I should be off to my kickboxing class!
I'm cutting out beer and refined carbs until my Dominican Republic trip in three weeks :)