Adele's influence over the music charts is undeniable. The London singer has just seen her second album 21 celebrate its 21st week at the top of the US charts and she shifted 730,000 units of her sophomore offering the week following her Grammys success. It doesn't end there, though. Adelemania seems to be spreading to the fashion world as well, with retail suppliers reporting a rise in 'plus size' mannequins for the shop window displays, in an attempt to appeal to the curvier customer.

The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld recently branded Adele "a little too fat" but his comments haven't gone down too well. A Telegraph article published on Monday (February 20, 2012), investigating the rise in the sale of larger mannequins quoted Jim Moody of Displaysense, a retail mannequin supplier, as saying "Lagerfeld may want size 0 on his catwalk but the commercial viability of the growing plus-size clothing market is being seized by high street chains and independent retailers alike." Fashion trends certainly seem to be swinging in the favour of those with natural curves. Vintage fashions from the 1940s and 1950s are in vogue and tend to suit an hourglass figure. And the Italian issue of Vogue recently featured a trio of 'larger' women on the cover; the magazine's editor Franca Sozzani commented "Why should these women slim down? Many of the women who have a few extra kilos are especially beautiful and also more feminine."

Adele is currently enjoying one of her most successful sales periods since 21 was released. The album has now sold over 18 million copies worldwide.