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Original poster

Seems like size 10 these days is considered 'large'?

374 replies

Echobelly · 31/07/2022 10:57

Caveat: Yes, I know actual clothes sizes are all over the place and not necessarily a guide to weight/shape.

I'm in my mid 40s and I'd swear when I was a kid, 10 was considered 'slim', yet it often seems to be talked about now as though it's the porky side.

I don't think that all that many women naturally fall into being a size 8 - I'd consider 10 a normal 'slim' size, I don't think anyone who is a size 10 would ever be medically overweight, even really short women like me.

Older people like me - do you think attitudes have changed? Younger women - have you grown up with 10 talked about as though it was an undesirable size to be?

OP posts:
mam0918 · 31/07/2022 14:39

CallMeKaterina · 31/07/2022 14:32

You cant possibly not know anyone who hasn't got a skeleton over a size 12.

Bit confusing as you use a double-negative here @mam0918 (can't possibly not know) Your statement really means you CAN know someone whose skeleton isn't over a size 12.

I can assure you my skeleton is around an 8 with a padding of fat on the tummy area.

Well good for you... do you think EVERYONE has a size 8 skeleton?

Also congrats on being a far superior at forum grammar to someone with a language center brain injury.

It was very clear what it meant but Im sure you feel really good about yourself because your smarter than someone juggling 3 kids, typing fast and disabled... good on you again for pointing it out and making it clear you know better, you really are an excellent human, pat yourself on the back.

bubblescoop · 31/07/2022 14:40

A size 10 is getting toward the larger side, yes.

DirectionToPerfection · 31/07/2022 14:43

It's absolutely true that a 10 today is bigger than a 10 from several decades ago.

It's also true that a modern size 10 is not fat.

woodhill · 31/07/2022 14:45

bubblescoop · 31/07/2022 14:40

A size 10 is getting toward the larger side, yes.

Really?

Sakura7 · 31/07/2022 14:47

bubblescoop · 31/07/2022 14:40

A size 10 is getting toward the larger side, yes.

How, when for most women it's slap bang in the middle of a healthy BMI range?

So much disordered thinking on this thread, it's really damaging for anyone who might be feeling insecure about their weight.

amicissimma · 31/07/2022 14:56

I've been more-or-less the same size since the 1970s (a bit cuddlier round the waist).

In the 70s I always wore a size 12. I have an old pair of jeans from then that I keep for mucky jobs and they still fit the same as they did then - snug but not tight. But now I generally buy an 8, or a 10 if the waist is fitted.

I do have some sympathy with the PP complaining about people making derogatory remarks about slim people. I get fed up with comments about how 'skinny' I am - I'm really not. Or about what I might or might not eat - what I want.

The worst is when people feel at liberty to poke me in the tummy and comment that there's no flesh on me - there's as much as I need, thanks. Being poked hurts. Yet when I said that on a MN thread a while ago I was told that I shouldn't mind, it's a compliment and not as bad as being Looked At for being overweight.

faretheewell · 31/07/2022 15:00

How, when for most women it's slap bang in the middle of a healthy BMI range?

So much disordered thinking on this thread, it's really damaging for anyone who might be feeling insecure about their weight.

I think it's just an illustration of how clothes size really can't tell you the whole story about body composition. Neither can BMI. There's no doubt clothes sizes are bigger than the 70s 80s counterparts. And obesity levels have gone up generally but that doesn't mean someone at a size 10 is fat, although it's not impossible for them to be.

Equally, I don't think it helps health by being overly protective with an 'anything goes' attitude. I think looking honestly at diet, body composition, size, weight, strength and fitness in a moderate and realistic way is the way forward for most people.

Kennykenkencat · 31/07/2022 15:03

Namerchangerextraordinaire · 31/07/2022 14:38

I have a size 8 skirt from the 90s that used to be loose on me - I was very slim.

It is much smaller than a size 8 item of clothing now & so called size 8 people can't even do the zip up.

Clothes are definitely bigger so I'd guess a modern 10 is a nineties 12- 14 if not 16 for those at the top end of the size.

Trouser legs also seem longer.
I only ever used to wear crops because it was so hard to find trousers that didn't look like I grew out of them a year ago, unless I went to a tall fitting.
I'm not tall.

Now, quite often I can find trousers that are long enough in regular shops & they have an extra tall which is too long for me.

I think people are just bigger now.
Not 'fatter', just overall taller, slightly larger frame etc.. which is probably a result of better nutrition & health growing up compared to previous generations.

Dd had so much trouble with leg length

When looking at womens trousers hung up on the racks. Those that look like a longer length when you pick them out are always the higher sizes and legs seem to look longer but actually the leg length doesn’t seem to get longer it is the bum length that goes longer.

Dd now shops in the children’s section and is currently wearing a t.shirt age 10 and a pair of baggy jeans age 14+

She is in her 20s

Palg68 · 31/07/2022 15:04

Im only 5ft 3 but a size 10 is definitely small. How much smaller can you get without falling into the skinny category? A size 10 is slim Christ.

I've never heard anyone refer to a size 10 as porky.... but some of these comments such as chubby at a size 10 are worrying.

Everyone carries weight differently but I don't see a size 12 as chubby perhaps if your quite busty you may look frumpy in certain tops, but that's probably a poor fit on your body shape!

Palg68 · 31/07/2022 15:05

bubblescoop · 31/07/2022 14:40

A size 10 is getting toward the larger side, yes.

What's your BMI?

shedwithivy · 31/07/2022 15:10

faretheewell · 31/07/2022 14:33

Ironically, vanity sizing hasn't worked. People just shift their concept of what clothes size is deemed 'fat'. In reality clothes size isn't the whole story, bone structure and muscle mass mean the proportion of fat to body size is hugely varied.

Yes, the same sized clothes are bigger than they used to be. Yes, people are also a bit taller and often more heavily muscled than in days where malnutrition and severe poverty was more of an issue.

However, personally my bone structure hasn't changed as an adult. My weight has fluctuated in the past. But now at 50, I am the same weight and similar measurements as when I was at 16....although this has been achieved with a lot more exercise and care over what I eat than when I was 16!!!😂 At 16 I was a size 12, now I'm a size 8.

What a sensible post.

I also think this thread has shown just what a massive variation there is in women's bodies, and variation in shops based on their more likely clientele. Obviously if everything was completely standardised, there would be those of us with broad shoulders but tiny boobs, small waist but big thighs etc who would never find anything.

I think as a customer, my biggest frustration is when sizing within the same shop can vary so much (I would otherwise generally know that I am a 10 in one shop and a 12 in another, a medium in some and a large in others etc).

Maybe giving measurements in inches and an indication of fit would help too?

I mainly shop online these days and find the reviews section from other women who are wearing the clothes most helpful.

Back to the original question, I don't think a high street size 10 could be described as porky... even if it is nolonger considered particularly thin/tiny as it may have been in the past.

2boysand1princess · 31/07/2022 15:11

Think it’s to do with height too. I’m 5ft2 and a size 8. Which I think is “normal” weight for my body shape (petite, not big hips or chest!) I do tend to lose weight quick (ill, stress, lack of sleep etc) and I drop to a 6 which I think is too skinny for even a short person like me. I personally don’t like being that slim and makes me feel less confident about my body and health.

tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 15:20

Yet when I said that on a MN thread a while ago I was told that I shouldn't mind, it's a compliment and not as bad as being Looked At for being overweight.

obviously getting poked at is not acceptable but I don't think it is as bad. I'm very used to "you're so skinny" used as a compliment whereas "you're so fat" generally isn't. Lots of people have commented on my height but again it's generally positive eg you're so lucky you can wear flats or your legs are long. Even "you're so tall" seems less offensive then "you're so short" but i like being tall.

Mymoneydontjigglejiggle · 31/07/2022 15:39

I have seen this on social media, yes. However, it largely seems to come from American posters; there's a thing about 'mid-size' bodies which is often classed as 10-12. In the UK that would be a 14-16 I think. I saw a lot of posters on tik tok criticising a poster saying a 10-12 is larger / curvier and it transpired the whole thing was based on American sizing hence the confusion.

LuciferRising · 31/07/2022 15:44

I don't think a size 10 is big, however I think the whole we are getting taller and therefore have thicker waists and are broader is tosh. There are plenty of taller nations who somehow have avoided this. The UK is getting fatter and people do not exercise. We are, on whole, an unhealthy nation.

tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 15:53

We are getting taller & broader due to better nutrition & it's why height gains are lower in poorer areas. People also getting fatter doesn't make the previous point untrue.

amp.theguardian.com/education/2022/apr/18/bigger-classes-yes-pupils-too-uk-teachers-union-crammed

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/england-queen-mary-university-of-london-east-london-midlands-tower-hamlets-b957772.html?amp

Foldingchair · 31/07/2022 15:55

I think women's sizes are way more complicated than men's. Dh is oblong shaped. Dead easy.

My shoulders are 19inches wide. My waist 28 inches round/14 inches wide. Then there are boobs. I also have a long body. So I'm kind of carrot shaped to the waist. A 12 can be too tight at the shoulders but baggy at the waist. A 10 rides up under the arms.

I was a grunge kid, so considered myself above such things as body shape. Although I always thought my thighs and tummy were huge. Bums weren't really spoken of; just pinched a lot. However, I've found the trend for massive bums and thighs really weird- so clearly I was much more influenced by heroin chic, baywatch and lads mags than I thought. Which is quite interesting in the way I, and probably a whole generation, see the 'right' body.

My body would be great in the 40s and 50s. But I'd be too tall.

TheMoth · 31/07/2022 15:58

Kids are def getting fatter. It's always really sad to see yr7s so overweight, because that's before they even get into buying tonnes of crap on the way to school.

Reallyreallyborednow · 31/07/2022 16:05

I think it’s more to do with US sizing..

it all changed around the early 90’s, Victoria beckham et al, and the whole “size 0” fad.

before that a size 8 was pretty much the smallest size on the UK high street. Then people wanted clothes “size 0” so sized 4 and 6 were introduced- a 4 being equivalent to a US size 0.

however people weren’t actually getting thinner, they just wanted the label kudos, so shops didn’t actually sell more- to do that they simply changed the clothes sizes.

a size 8 used to be 24 waist 34 hips. Size 10 I think 26/36 Current size guide from Zara- a size 8 is 29/40, a 10- 31/42.

massive difference!

tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 16:12

Current size guide from Zara- a size 8 is 29/40, a 10- 31/42

I'm a 12 in Zara which is also a large. waist size is just under 30" normally

Reallyreallyborednow · 31/07/2022 16:14

I'm a 12 in Zara which is also a large. waist size is just under 30" normally

from their website:

Seems like size 10 these days is considered 'large'?
tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 16:16

@Reallyreallyborednow I just linked their a web page for jeans. Size 12 shows as 74cm & 102 cm

tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 16:17

Are you in a different country as pants isn't a category in the U.K.

tigertigerg · 31/07/2022 16:18

you must be as there isn't size 2s either, makes more sense now!