Trouble in Boden

Boden is one of those brands that has a really defined target market - you know, the upper middle to upper class group of women above 35 who shop at Waitrose, eat cakes from Cath Kidston tins and sport Orla Kiely bags when they visit their local farm shop for organic produce. It boasts celebrity fans such as David and Samantha Cameron which says a lot about its "image".

Anyway, Boden has appeared in the press quite a lot lately because they've hired Helena Christensen as their new model. Apparently, a lot of Boden's core customer base are annoyed as they feel that Helena, being a gorgeous supermodel an' all, should not be considered an accurate representative of 'real women.' I totally understand the push for getting more 'real women' (i.e. women of all different sizes, ethnicities etc.) out there but I think this is a bit ridiculous as it's not like they've stuck some emaciated 15 year old model in their campaigns.

Helena is clearly gorgeous but I don't think there's anything bad about seeing a gorgeous woman in clothes. Everyone wants to look good and it's common sense that good clothes on a good-looking woman will make you more likely to buy. And in many ways, she does fit into the group which Boden are targeting: she's 43, a mother and works as a breast cancer fundraiser. A load of hot puff...