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

[Echobelly]

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?

This 👆honestly OP what nonsense! Men, women and children have never been fatter, barely anyone is a size 10 and under even taking vanity sizing into consideration. As if anyone is insinuating that a size 10 is fat

I don't think there's a general attitude that a size 10 is 'porky'. Where did you get that from?

The prevailing attitude now seems to be acceptance of all sizes, which is in stark contrast to the size zero craze of the noughties.

Depends on your build. I'm a 6 on bottom and certainly not skinny, my bmi is 20 so well within the healthy range, I just have narrow hips.

It's an impression I get from some younger women in media, for example hearing a woman talk about feeling self-conscious about eating cake or burgers in public because 'I'm size 10'

Some clothing labels including 10 in plus size ranges.

People talking about 'needing' to be a size 6; the media talking about celebs 'slimming down' from a size 8

I mean, there is a media flipside in the last 2-3 years that there is greater acceptance and visibility of curvier figures now, although generally only very specific ones where the woman has an hourglass shape.

It's kind of two extremes at the moment it seems!

I have never heard anyone say it's 'porky' or on the larger side

Porky & larger size are different... I also don't know anyone that thinks the 10 means you are porky or overweight, teens especially want the curves these days, so it's not a bad thing to be bigger. It is larger than a 6 or 8 though, which are also bigger than they used to be, so yes it's technically a larger size, but that means little more than it's bigger

Yes, in the 70s I was a size 10 which was 32-22-34. It isn't that now (and neither am I!

I was a 12 in the late 80s/early 90s and measured 36-26-34. Those measurements are long gone for me too but some 'size 12s' and even 'size 10's fit me nowadays. I think I'd be at least a 16 in 80s measurements. For context I'm at the upper end of 'normal' BMI for my height.

Eh? It’s the opposite I think. 10 is seen as small now. I find most young women in my area are ‘curvy’ and in much bigger sizes than a 10. My teenage dc and their friends use ‘curve’/plus size ranges and it’s the norm.

Who is actually talking about slimming down from an 8 to a 6? Which celebs are they? Never heard it.

It's an impression I get from some younger women in media, for example hearing a woman talk about feeling self-conscious about eating cake or burgers in public because 'I'm size 10'

Are you in the UK?
I do know what you mean now - but I’ve only heard that on American shows. A US size 10 is a UK size 12-14.
Someone ‘slimming down to a 6’ is talking about slimming down to a UK size 8.

I'm 5ft 9 and 10 is the perfect size for me. Haven't heard anyone say it's big. Though sizes now are so much bigger than they used to be!

Definitely vanity sizing. I have just bought a size 10 blouse but I am not a size 10 by any stretch of the imagination. I just measured my petersham nursing belt with big sliver buckle from 38 years ago, which I wore all shift over a uniform dress and starched apron, it is 23.5 inches. I was probably a size 10 - 12 then. I am 5 ft 10.

I think this is just vanity sizing though.

I can only speak for me personally, and since someone else said they couldn't physically be an 8 without having their hipbones removed I guess I must be small boned...

But a size 10 for me is the very top end of a healthy bmi inching into the overweight category. Always been at the normal points in life you'd gain weight i.e post pregnancy.

Our sizing is fucked though. When I'm at the lower end of healthy BMI I can basically only buy a 4 - which are as rare as hens teeth - and even then a lot will end up looking oversized. And I'm really not skinny!! Actually laughing at the poster who suggested size 6-8 was skinny.

Actually skinny people, wether that's through eating disorders or illnesses or medication or just genetics, are forced into childrens sizes.

How do I know this? Well, you'd never look at me and think "ill" or "skinny" and I can't buy from a lot of shops, so christ knows what people who are actually ill or skinny do!

I'd love a return to actual measurements. And I'd love it if clothes manufacturers stopped making things 2 sizes bigger than they should be under the guise of that being in fashion. They're not making garments that fit with oversized tailoring, they're literally using a Size 14 pattern and labelling it Size 10.

Annoys me.

It's an impression I get from some younger women in media, for example hearing a woman talk about feeling self-conscious about eating cake or burgers in public because 'I'm size 10'

But surely that's just a bid for attention of the 'OMG but ur so skinny hun!' variety.

I wear vintage clothing. A 1970s 12 is a modern day 6- 8, by my reckoning. Vanity sizing is very noticeable.

A small-to-average height woman who wears a 10 may not be overweight but is not sylph-like either.

Are any of the media people you've heard American? American sizes are 4 out from British sizes, so an American 10 would be a UK 14.

While vanity sizing has changed size 10, it's still much thinner than average (I believe the average UK women is a 16?) and I've never heard anyone describing size 10 as large.

Honestly don't know what you're talking about here. A few randoms on Instagram doesn't really mean anything.

Where is 10 considered plus size?

When I was growing up there was huge pressure on girls to be stick thin, it's nothing like that now.

I still think size 10 is slim for the vast majority of people.

It’s vanity sizing. I’m a size 6/8 in clothes now.
Im exactly the same size I was when I was 15 and I was a 10/12.
I still wear some clothes from the 90s - I have a size 12 maxi skirt from warehouse- the waist measures 24 inches. It’s tiny. That would be a size 6 now.

Exactly this. Size 10 had a 24 inch waist in 1970 and now has around a 31 inch waist. A woman's waist size should be no more than 31.5 inches, so yes a size 10 is the largest size you should be to avoid increased risk of all sorts of bad health outcomes. For info I am not a size 10!

Sizes have got bigger but this thread has made me feel like crap.

Pre kids I was incredibly slim and struggled to fit into a size 10. Even with a BMI of 20. I am 5'8 and pear shaped.

Now about a stone heavier then pre-kids and easily fit into a 10 but was thinking I'm looking slim. Now I just think I'm bloody porky and should be a bloody size 14.

I've never heard size 10 considered a big size. I've actually seen the opposite where a 12 used to be the start of plus size but now they seem to start at 16 and even up to a size 14 is considered slim!

Sizes are totally misleading (wrong).

I was a size 10 (34,24,36) when I was 18. Now, 40 years later, I'm still a size 10 although now 36,28,38.

And most of the 'size10' tops I buy, I still have to add darts or take in at the side seams or I look like a sack of spuds.

I've consistently been a size 8-10 for the past 20 years of my adult life. While still healthy I've gained about a stone in that time and a CS pouch that adds bulk near my waist.

I've got a couple of vintage size 10s from the 70s & 80s that I haven't got a cat in hells chance of zipping up again. Vanity sizing has occured and increased the need for 4s/ 6s/ 8s that were rarer 30+ years ago, however I refute the idea that size 10 is porky. Women are taller and broader built than previous generations. I'm 5'2" like the previous generations of women in my family, but where older relatives were average, I'm short and the younger the women I'm with, the relatively shorter I am. A very small, slight built woman could be overweight at size 10, especially if her muscle tone is poor, but the vast majority of women, even of smaller than average build will not be "porky" at size 10.

Sizes have got bigger.

I'm a size 8 (or 6 depending on sizing) waist but have to buy vintage (for example St Michael) size 10-12. That makes some sense because I was a size 8 as a skinny teenager and while I'm still slim I'm not the same size as I was then, but I still wear a size 8 🤔