Creator of the popular TV drama Mad Men encourages female cast members to avoid strenuous exercise and eat well in order to keep their hourglass figures.
January Jones, 32, who plays 60's housewife Betty Draper in the series said that creator Mather Weiner is anxious for the women's figures to reflect the curvier silhouettes of the sixties.
"He would prefer we didn't work out and that we eat really well, so we look like healthy women," Jones told Tatler magazine.
Jones is pleased the show brings back the idea that "it's okay to have curves and be a woman."
"I wish more women would realise it's what men like," she said.
Jones said she loves "beer and carbs" — and her new curvier shape after being told last year that she was too thin.
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Co-star, size-14 actress Christina Hendricks, who plays secretary Joan Harris was recently labelled "absolutely fabulous" by British Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone.
"We need more of these role models," she said. "There is such a sensation when there is a curvy role model. It shouldn't be so unusual."
And women are certainly in agreement. Hendricks was crowned "America's best looking woman" by an Esquire survey of 10,000 women.
"It's such a compliment, because of all those times I had agents who were like, 'You have to lose some weight,' and all of a sudden, people are celebrating it," Hendricks told Health magazine. "It's like: 'Oh, thank you! Thank you for letting me be me.'"
The actress said she felt "gorgeous" after gaining 7kg at the beginning of her modelling career.
"I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it," she said.
Emmy-Award winning Mad Men has just began its fourth season in the US.
Have your say: do you think the women of Mad Men are good role models?
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