A Helmsley fashion retailer is going large and launching a new outlet aimed specifically at the larger ladies among us. CLAIRE METCALFE went along to find out more.

MADRID may have banished size zero models from its catwalks, but a fashion house in Helmsley is taking much bigger steps to promote fashion for real women.

Pennita Brudenell, owner of Pennita on Castlegate, has decided that there is a real lack of designer and occasion wear for larger sizes, and is opening a second shop dedicated to size 16 to 24 ranges.

"At first I was quite nervous about the idea, " said Pennita, known as Penny, who has run the original shop for six years. "I'm quite slight myself and I thought that customers might think 'what does this stick insect know?' But I've been talking to ladies in the shop for a long time about it and I've had a fantastic response, people have been saying thank you for doing it."

Pennita Plus will be opening in Meeting House Court just off the market place in Helmsley at the end of this month and it promises to offer something completely unique which will put Helmsley on the map.

"I want to make it such a brilliant experience for customers, and I think people will travel from a wide area for this kind of specialist shop, " said Penny.

Spacious and air-conditioned, Pennita Plus is intended to make women feel relaxed and pampered, and there will be a real choice of stylish, fashionable clothes and accessories, offering a complete departure from the larger woman's uniform black and darker colours.

"I want bright colours - why shouldn't larger ladies wear colour? I don't want frumpy things that make people look oldfashioned. These collections are often so mumsy and dowdy, " said Penny.

"The thing with clothes for larger ladies, too, is that the definition and the shape is different, " she explained. "Some of the lines I have in here go up to size 22, but after size 20 you need to change the cut of the clothes. These clothes I have sourced are cut and shaped specifically for the larger sized women, and designed with them in mind. They want something floaty, not too figure-hugging and fitted, but they don't want to look like they're wearing a tent. I insist on seeing everything I buy modelled to make sure they are cut right."

And she is very definite in her views on the craze for manic dieting and size zero clothing.

"I think it's a load of rubbish, " she said. "I would hate to be a size zero, it's quite the opposite to the real shape of women's bodies. I think it's disgusting that we have our fashions shaped on such skinny models.

We're all under such pressure to look this certain version of perfect."

And one reason the original shop has been such a success is that it provides such a refreshing alternative to that pressure. "A lot of people come in here and they have lost direction, " she said. "They don't know what to wear. We already stock up to size 22. I think it's great that women have curves - that they have a bottom and a bust and a tummy and hips. I love the pear shape."

Excellent customer service means that women are encouraged to make the best of themselves - it's a gentler version of Trinny and Susannah - and as Penny sums it up: "I like to enhance people and help them make the most of what they've got."