Are you a spud or a parnsip?

Before a man goes shopping for clothes he'd be wise to check his refrigerator.
Not for a sustaining snack but for a clue as to what he should be looking for during his trip to the fashion stores.

It seems that vegetables hold the key to identifying men's body shapes - from parsnips and potatoes, aubergines to green beans.

Fashion advisers at the John Lewis department store believe men can look 'good enough to eat' if they stick to simple style guidelines for their specific vegetable silhouette.

Men with wide shoulders and small hips, for example, are known as parsnips while those who are tall and skinny with long arms and legs are labelled green beans.

A narrow shoulder line and wide hips makes a man an aubergine, while potato types have large stomachs and short arms and legs.

Knowing exactly where he fits in on the vegetable patch will apparently help a man choose clothes to flatter his figure.

'It has become apparent that whilst women automatically take body shape into consideration when choosing clothes, men tend to select them according to comfort and ease of purchase rather than what really suits them,' said Geri Cox, a fashion adviser from the store's Oxford Street branch.

'We have found that vegetables are an ideal way of illustrating the four common body shapes of men.

'By encouraging men to think in terms of shape rather than size it will make it easier for them to buy clothes they know will look as well as feel good.'