For once, the momentous new look of autumn/winter was not the changing shape of trousers, the power shoulder or the new coat. It was, in fact, the models who were wearing the garments, many of whom looked decidedly more shapely this season.

Curves -- whisper it -- are making a comeback on the catwalk.

It had to happen some time. Three fashion models died from anorexia in 2007; Madrid Fashion Week officials banned underweight models in 2006, and UK Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman, spoke out about dangerously underweight models earlier this year, although her pronouncement came a bit late given that she was at the forefront of the heroin-chic look 10 years ago.

Augurs that this attitude was filtering down to the catwalk came when size 12-14 model, Whitney Thompson, won the 10th series of America's Top Model.

Now Lara Stone has been snapped up for her celebrated Brigitte Bardot-like figure, and Daisy Lowe, who was once told she was too fat to be a model, has been signed up as the new face of Marc by Marc Jacobs.

bombshell

But the poster girl of the seismic shift is Crystal Renn. The 23-year-old, who began modelling at 13, admitted she was anorexic for much of her career. The excessive dieting and militant exercise regimes eventually took their toll, though. She recalls visiting her bookers after a particularly long stint of dieting. "My body felt like it was crumbling . . . they looked me up and down and said, 'Your legs. You need to bring your legs down.'"

It was the last straw for the exhausted model. "I said, 'I'm killing myself. I'm not going to be any use to you if I'm dead!'"

Now a size 16, Renn, with her '50s-bombshell figure, is more sought after than ever. She's a favourite with designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana, and she has secured editorials in style bibles Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Elle.

In a world where the fall of a hemline can cause mass hysteria, it's easy to see why the changing shape of a model can be decreed The Next Big Thing.

It's a trend that Julian Fallon, MD of Dublin modelling agency 1st Option, has noticed: "Clients are asking for hips and boobs. I much prefer the athletic-looking, curvy model.

"Women were built for curves. I was a model 23 years ago and in my day we all had hips and boobs and curves."

There's a definite resurgence of curves, but the shift has been fostered, not engendered, by the fashion world.

The real trend initiators are Jennifer Lopez, whose shapely rear introduced the phrase "bum implants" to the cultural lexicon, Kelly Brook for reminding us what an hour-glass figure looks like and Scarlett Johansson for showing us how to dress one.

Later, Bond girl Gemma Arterton asserted that she was proud of her feminine figure. "I refuse to conform to this muscly, sinewy look that so many actresses seem to think is attractive. "

Eva Mendes, Kim Kardashian and Christina Hendricks have also followed suit by refusing to conform to the size-zero aesthetic. "I get men coming up to me and saying, 'Oh, my gosh, you're Marilyn. It's so refreshing to finally see that on TV,'" said Hendricks.

Even Kate Moss, the archetype of heroin chic, admitted to upsizing. "I just put on a couple pounds and they went in the right place," said the model. "I've started wearing bras. It's a miracle."

Elsewhere, the recent popularity of male opinion in female media has confirmed what many of us knew already: men prefer a bit of meat on the bone and not a "piece of gristle", as Guy Ritchie famously described Madonna.

When men vote in body surveys, they consistently plump for curvier women. Take More! magazine's Big Bloke Survey of more than 1,500 men. The winner was the pneumatic Kelly Brook.

The previous year, actress Scarlett Johansson was listed as having the ideal shape, while the bootylicious Beyonce came second. Of the men surveyed, 90pc said they preferred a curvy woman.

The most revealing body poll, though, came from men's magazine FHM. They lined up three models: a size eight, a size 12 and a size 14 and asked 60,000 men which body shape they were most attracted to. Four out of five opted for the size 12 and 14 models.

Other quarters have theorised that the change could be a response to the economic crisis. "In periods when we are impoverished, as now, there is a vogue for voluptuous women," says Stephen Bayley, author of Woman as Design.

Whatever the reason, we're not only seeing a shift in the desired body shape but a change in the clothes that suit it.

The much-touted justification for stick-thin models is that clothes hang better on a wire-hanger frame. And often they do, when the clothes aren't tailored to accommodate breasts and hips, that is.

Designer Antonio Berardi is making a conscious effort to eschew sinewy arms and protruding clavicles in favour of Botticellian curves this season.

"I don't want all those girls with pale skin who look the same," he said. "My family is Italian -- I am inspired by a womanly aesthetic."

Irish designer Joanne Hynes agrees: "The androgynous grunge look has been done, and the loose cut that was a lifestyle choice for too long is over. Real women are coming back.

"Women are looking for a dress that works hard on the female body, and this season in particular, women are looking for a great dress."

athletic

Which would explain the popularity of Victoria Beckham's dress label. All '40s-style peplum waists and internal corsetry, the label has been designed to give women curves where there were previously none.

Of course, the range looks better on women who already boast a shapelier form. Witness the difference when the same dress was worn by Beckham herself and more athletic-looking Elle Macpherson.

The look is filtering into the mainstream, according to Irish personal trainer, Paul Byrne: "Most of my female clients like a shapely body -- not a skinny body, but a curvy, toned body. It's much more practical and, of course, much more healthy."

Evolutionarily speaking, men are hardwired to prefer shapelier women. A number of scientific studies have shown that they are more attracted to women with a greater waist-hip differential. It's a basic procreational drive. In fact, a man favouring a super-skinny woman is tantamount to a woman saying: "I just love a man with a small penis".

Weighing in, it's obvious that a paradigm shift has finally occurred: curves are back.

Now, who's for dessert?

- Katie Byrne