To say vanity sizes should be rolled back?

'Teeny tiny' has become the new 'naice' on here.

I said yesterday that people can't help being small or short and not everybody who has commented, is bragging about it. Why would you boast about something that you can't help?

Thinly veiled teeny tiny stealth boast. Yawn.

My dd is very tall and very slim. She is mid 20s and shops in the children’s range because leg length in adult trousers don’t come in the same length as children’s trousers

Apparently because she has a 34” inside leg she must be at least a size 16

But they aren’t working because there is no standardised sizing. Even if a 42” breast 32” waist and 44” hips was a size 10 then we can decide what size we are from there

But when you have each clothing store having their own sizing guide you can’t really buy with confidence.

Recently went to buy a summer dress I took 11 size 16 dresses into the changing rooms and only 3 fitted.
The rest were too big or I couldn’t get the thing over my head or zip it up

Actually - just looking at M&S size guidelines, it does look like they are labelling shorter sizes as petite now - but sizes aren't necessarily petite in the traditional sense. I know I need shorter leg length (5' 3" with 65 cm inside leg), but I fit a regular body size, which is why I disregarded skirts labelled petite as I thought the waist would also be smaller (but they weren't). M&S have always had long/regular/short labels (I shop there a lot and have done for over 30 years). If size 16 short/petite also means that the item is smaller all over then I'll be size 18 or 20 petite in M&S now 😭

From M&S website

Height:

Our guide height for main range product is 5ft 6”.

For 5ft 3” and under please shop our petite range where garments have been developed to suit the petite stature.

Women of 5ft 10” and over please shop Tall

M&S petite is a bit shit. They do, however mix them all up with trousers and aren’t very good at having a separate area.

if they call them short then often the waist to crotch on a trouser is the same as standard, petite often that’s shorter (to allow for having a smaller pelvis as well as shorter leg bones). It’s always worth checking if you are short and need the petite if it’s something like high waisted trousers as they can end up looking a bit Simon cowell.

I understood petite ranges to be slightly smaller all over (and usually having their own section), the skirts and trousers labelled petite in M&S just appear to be shorter rather than smaller all over. Happy to stand corrected though.

I'm not kidding myself about anything. BMI 20, have always been a size 12 on top (even when ill and slightly underweight). Amused to know I'm 'very large'.

Agree that some consistency would be great and also accurate size charts. Have frequently consulted charts very carefully and ended up with too big garments.

Apart from Marks&Spencer which you dropped a size and anything in Laura Ashley that was a top or dress which was way always way too small (size 10 dress had 28” bust. Sizing did actually mean something

I could say to anyone to go out and buy me a size 10 skirt or jacket or dress or trousers from any shop and I would be guaranteed that it would fit because clothes were made to the fact a size 10 was 32” bust
22” waist and 34” hips going up or down the sizing meant adding or taking away 2” from those measurements

Now I couldn’t tell you what size I am because it depends not only on the store but also what the design is. So in the same store I could pick 4 similar styles of trousers and they would fit the same but the sizing would read 12, 14, 16 and 18

I have tried on 2 of the exact same size, and exact same style of clothing and found one was too big and one was too small

Petite ranges have existed for years!

Actually @Greyrockin - thinking about it more, I’m pretty sure “petite” was used for small person ranges to be a polite thing as calling a woman short wasn’t nice!

if all your bones are a bit shorter than the average, you need to buy the 16 petite not 16 regular. (The waist/chest measurements will be the same as the 16 regular but the whole thing will be designed for a smaller in height woman)

Petite has always meant short range. Short only works as a descriptor for skirts/trousers, for dresses, it’s to show the hem isn’t just shorter, but where the waist has been put is higher, the drop to cleavage is higher, arms are shorter etc.

its “smaller frame overall” not just “short legs” (short leg trousers often have the same waist to crotch length whereas petite it’s less)

I thought petite had always meant short - both in overall length and where the waist sits

Speaking of vanity labels, I was looking at skirts in M&S last week and noticed lots of “size 16” “and size 16 petite”. I automatically disregarded the ones labelled petite, but when I looked at them again, I noticed that they were shorter than the regular size 16’s. Looking around at other rails I realised that they’ve renamed “short” lengths to “petite” lengths. I am a short-arse but I’m definitely not petite, I think this will confuse people.

I can't shop in M&S because the clothes they sell in my size aren't made for a size eight woman. That's my entire point.

I didn't bring value judgements based on size into this. You decided to do that.

I have to admit I love the longer clothes. I'm in my 50s and 5'10, For years getting clothes long enough was a trial, but now I have lots of choice, even fit regular in some brands. Dresses are still an issue as the shaping is in the wrong places, but I don't wear them anyway and prefer mens shirts and jackets.

This is why is was so annoying my hips and bust should have fit into the size down, the waist measurement was 28-30.5 inches and mine is 28.5. The dress barely did up on my dd who is a size 4, and should have fit into the dress two sizes down according to their measurements. This was a British brand, who according to their socials count themselves as a luxury brand. So I really expected their size chart to be accurate.

I don't find vanity sizing so much an issue as just plain inconsistency

In my wardrobe I have 2 jersey dresses of a similar style
One is a size 14 from asos range
One is a size 24 from asos curve
I mean what does the actual size 24 do if they wanted that dress?!

Or buying M&S jeans. If I buy one light denim and one dark denim both in a size 16L in the SAME STYLE, they shouldn't be totally different fits and leg lengths

Re reading this , someone earlier mentioned when dress making, to not make it to fit the body exactly as we need 'ease' . Sorry I can't remember the posters name.
When we sit, flesh folds and needs somewhere to go.
So when buying clothes online if the waist of the garment measures, say, 71cm and your waist measures 71cm, you'd need to buy the next size up so there is some space for your body to move within the garment

This is why I don’t buy clothes online. I have to try everything on. I wore a size 14 in my 20s and can wear a modern size 14 even though I’m 3 stone heavier. It’s not just the sizing but a lot of material is so thin that you need to see/feel it.

It's worse in America. Sizes there tend to fit two sizes bigger than they do here in Canada. I'm usually an 8 here, but a 4 in US sizes. Then you have the Asian sizes, which are smaller. If you buy off Amazon, you'll often get Chinese goods, so you have to order 1-3 sizes up.

You've highlighted the biggest issue now we all face when shopping.
All the choice is online.
We can access anything in a way we couldn't years ago.

In the olden days, difference in sizing/ fit was exactly the same but we would trawl around a high st or shopping centre and try on loads of stuff to find that perfect item,
Now, we select online and it's so much harder. Also not made easier by all the fake stuff that's very cheap whereby the retailer uses a brand's photo ( with the models head cut off) and then retails a total piece of rubbish that one would never buy if you saw it in real life.

Something that really annoyed me lately was I bought an expensive(for me) dress, it was €260 so I made sure to measure myself before buying it. Using their size guide I should have comfortably fit into the size I bought. I had to pay to send it back lose out on the customs duty I paid because their sizes don't match up to their own size chart. I should have done research on the brand before buying because this was a common complaint. Silly me thought they would at least know their own sizing.

It's ridiculous, it shouldn't be pot luck whether or not something will fit.

Ugh I keep posting g too soon.
Shoes have definitely changed and it's a nightmare for me.
Long skinny feet . Italian lasts fitted me perfectly until Italian shoes became too difficult to find and are now super expensive.