The modern day Rubinesque

I have been out walking over the past few mornings, whilst the temperature was less than 26 degrees and have noticed the number of very rounded, soft and somewhat independently mobile females walking around.
Even the youngsters are now filling out early and stores catering for the 18 to 36 sizes are starting to pop up in empty lots in the High Street. The new average is established as a size 16 and anything less than that is either an athlete or just plain skinny. Big bossom and big bottom is considered to be a celebration of what's feminine and their ability to 'be themselves'.
We are watching the beginnings of the Rubenesque women once more.
In the time when Rubens was painting, the wealthier they were was reflected in the weight and curvaceousness of their women. It also tied in with their ability to take a pregnancy to term and then a better chance of delivering a live birth, followed by nursing it afterwards, unless they had a wet-nurse, of course.
In those days, a well covered woman meant there had been no starvation and hence fewer health problems prior to conception.
Babies were fat, mothers were fat and this was seen as a sign of wealth. Look at pictures of this time and its a common theme.

My era was different. We had stick thin models who ate full sized English breakfasts, a lunch and dinner and never skimped on their food.......but only ate three times a day. No snacks, no quick cola, no quick burger and run, let alone a latte with all the added syrups and cream. They didn't need to, their three meals had enough calories to keep them going.
This lady, Twiggy, was one of the fore-runners and introduced us to a time when the austerity of wartime was over and times of plenty were on the way.
She showed us through her fashion, what every young woman wanted, to step away from mum and become a person with their own fashions, their own way of life.

A dress code began; jeans and Tshirts with beads and big sunglasses for one group, long flowing, flowery dresses with plunging neck lines revealing no bra needed and the leather clad, jack boot wearing group who always looked dirty, stank of engine oil and spent their lives dressed in black ,either by design or necessity.
It didn't matter which clique you belonged to, very rarely was anyone particularly overweight. The average size then was pretty much the same as it had been in the 1950s and hovered around size 12.

Now we have all this preoccupation with diets, reducing this, cutting out that, and its not working ,we're just getting bigger and soon we will be in the same position as those in Ruben's times; men seeking out the softer and bigger women because they will make better mates.
But will they? 
Or are we heading for a generation who dies young by comparison with ours?