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Kylie's pearl of wisdom

Kylie Minogue is leaving audiences on her current tour gasping at her fabulous new showgirl look.

Understandably, Kylie may be gasping a bit herself.

The outfit, we are told, involves a corset which clinches her waist in - to an eye-watering 16 inches.

The story of Kylie and her corset has been much discussed this week. Can a 16in waist ever be good for a girl? Sensing that being seen to promote a 16in waist might not be good for a girl's image, Kylie's camp has since intervened to say that actually the corset isn't THAT tight. Her waist, in the tightly laced garment, is a whole 18in. Breathe easy, Miss Minogue.

The bit I find really fascinating about the corset story though, is the information about the designer. Apparently he's a gentleman called Mr Pearl. Mr Pearl is said to wear one of his own corsets which squeezes his manly middle into a delicate 18 inches.

In fact, Mr Pearl is said to have worn the garment so long that he now has a delightful hourglass figure.

Further information - he only ever takes it off to bathe. And he even wears his corset in bed. Presumably he's worried that during the night his abdomen might regroup.

And that, once again, he'd wake up to waist.