To say vanity sizes should be rolled back?

It was Fat Friends

I watched an old TV programme recently think 2000s and a 12 was a 26 waist!

Totally agree for the purely selfish reason that most shops don't go below a 6 and with the vanity sizings 6 is far too large. Not being a competitive teeny tiny, I just have a very small frame due to my ethnicity!

It is getting crazy and I do wonder what people who are actually small wear.

I'm a tall pear shape, with my weight on my hips and thighs. As a teenager, I used to buy size 14 jeans off the market. Admittedly, I think market clothes and those aimed at young people came up a bit smaller than some brands, but I always had a 14. I'm exactly the same weight 30 years later (go me 😆) and actually still have one of those pairs of jeans, cut down to shorts for doing the garden in.

This summer, I've been looking for new denim shorts. I needed some that fit round the wait but aren't too tight on the thighs. The answer? Size 8 from Next!!!

I'm an old school 12 and new style 6/8 too. I don't find the fact that my measurements now have a new number remotely 'unhelpful'. I judge my health on my BMI and my body size on my measurements. In what way do you find it hindrance? Because the sizes have been bigger for about 20 years now and you've clearly adapted to buying 8s instead of 12s.

Men's shirts are measured by collar size - who the fork thought that was a good gauge?

A guy I knew had an enormous neck (18") and the shirts used to drown him!

Life is so rough when you’re a teeny tiny.

I hate competitive slimness threads. I'm 12-14 (yes, including M&S clothes) but a couple of winters ago I bought an old size 12 Next coat from the 90s and it's massive on me. Just wear what fits you now from whatever shop you go in, there's no need to try to make perfectly normal in any era current M&S size 12s feel like giant zeppelins.

I have a very old cardigan from C&A which has the size (22) and the bust size (44) - 44" bust is now a size 18. (ASOS)

YANBU

Do threads like this do anything useful, or do they just serve as a way for people to make digs at bigger women (eg a modern size 12 would only fit someone "very large").
I'm not convinced that relabelling sizes would do anything to bring women's weight down, and as a PP said the whole numerical sizing thing is quite arbitrary anyway so why on earth would reverting to older sizes be any more "valid"? Surely what would be better would be to use actual measurements, as people have said, and then at least there would be some consistency.

Sizes are very different. I'm apparently only one size bigger than I was in the 1980s, which is patently not correct.

The problem comes when a size 6 or 8 is so much bigger than it was, and that means that actually those of us that were a size 6 or 8 can't actually buy regular clothes anymore. Clothes should just be sold by measurements then it would be factual and hopefully more consistent.

I'd much prefer consistency in sizes across all shops and brands.

Why does it matter? Why is your identity so enmeshed in being a 12 or a 8 or whatever? Wear clothes which fit you - end of story. Everyone has takes about how they are different sizes in different stores, even within the same store. If asked I’d say I was 12-14 top and 14 bottom but I have a Zara winter coat size XS which is perfect.

I recently bought a gorgeous dress, vintage, from the 80s, in a size 10. I thought it would be just right as I am probably more an 8 by modern standards. It would not zip up!! Devastated 😭😂

I don't care, but it is annoying to try and work out vintage sizes.

Off the point a bit but for me it's more about consistency. A size should be what it is and not a store's interpretation.

I've been a size 8 my whole adult life, including when measured for my wedding dress, which I presume was based on proper sizing measurements.

Even 20 years ago I couldn't shop in M&S as their size 8 stuff was far too big.

Edited because I posted twice due to poor connection

If it fits then wear it. Really it doesn't matter.
Although oddly M&S have gone the other way with menswear. My OH can't get shirts big enough, yet he's got a wardrobe full of older M&S shirts which fit fine 🤷‍♀️

Meaningless numbers should all be in the bin

Men's clothes don't have this bullshit

Really as long as there’s consistency with measurements it’s really a non issue that sizes have changed over a 60 year period.

A previous size 8 is no more valid than the current sizing for an 8. It’s all arbitrary.

I fit the size I fit, I don’t care what it used to be labelled as, nor does the number make be feel better or worse about myself

I don't care what they name them so long as sizes are the same across brands. A size 8 or 10 means nothing currently even in the same store they can be different sizes.

Is anyone still fooled by it?

Yanbu. M&S and Next are at least two sizes out. Add in modern stretchy fabric and its probably three sizes. An M&S modern 12 is easily an old 16.
It's not doing us any good at all.