Move over, Megan and Scarlett and Jessica and all the rest. Your best-before date has passed.

Or so sayeth Esquire magazine, which this week pronounced Mad Men vixen Christina Hendricks the most beautiful woman in America. This according to an Esquire poll of – get this – over 10,000 women readers, in which Christina earned 30% of the votes and beat not-so-shabby pretenders Megan Fox and Adriana Lima to name a few.

This is a LOT to digest. Let’s face it, if Christina Hendricks is the new acme of American beauty, it represents a sea change in what women like – and covet. Where to start …

• First, before we look south, it’s worth pointing out this is a massive triumph for the 2% of us who are redheads, and thus, a massive victory too for sunscreen makers everywhere (if you were a ginger, you’d understand!).
• Second, as the obvious press will tell you ad nauseam, Christina’s anointment marks a shift in tastes toward the Marilyn-esque hourglass figures of our parents’ or grandparents’ generation. Big-busted, small-waisted, and with generous curvy hips: this girl is a handful. So if you’ve spent your life moaning about the top-heavy size 2s who somehow became the fashion standard-bearers of the new millennium, fret no more. Christina is your new Wonder Woman!
• Finally, get ready for big push, so to speak, in the push-up bras and corsetry lines from major lingerie labels. Christina has never been shy about posing in her underwear, and has a fondness for almost painfully crushed cleavage. I’m not sure this is a good thing (especially for the B-and-C-cuppers out there), and I’ve often wished that CH would take a breath (literally!) and go up a size. Still, get ready to see this look everywhere.

And what advice does our new IT girl have for lingerie shoppers and wearers? One word: Panties. “Panties is a wonderful word,” she tells Esquire. “When did you stop saying “panties”? It’s sexy. It’s girlie. It’s naughty. Say it more.”

Now, can an endorsement deal with a major lingerie label be far behind, possibly even a Christina Hendricks signature line? Have a look at the photos above (from New York magazine) and below (from Esquire) and ask yourself: would you want this gal on your billboards?

ps. Someone had to say it: remember, the poll was open to American beauties only. Now if UK siren Rachel Weisz had been on the ballot – well, let’s just say that would be a battle of the middleweights worth watching!