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?

Me too, except I am now a size 8, having been a size 10 when I was younger. I'm 62 now and I am at least was what would have been a size 12 back when I was young in the late 70s. I was slim when I was young, but ate what I wanted: I just didn't want to eat much, and that's how it was then. Portions were a lot smaller.

Did someone say we're all getting taller? I thought it was the opposite, but am happy to be corrected, as I'm only just above average at 5ft 6 and lately often described as tall )which I disagree with).

I think we have stopped growing now but yes if you look at history we have got taller & broader. I think average height in the 60s was 5ft 2

I think this is a prime example of why we should all be pushing for sizes in

Hard agree.

Dd is taller. Her waist size is the same as mine at her age.

What I have found with sizing even being the size I am is manufacturers seem to think that if your backside goes from 40” to 42” then it also lengthens by a couple of inches as well. I find trousers really hard to find (I shop in the mens section usually) because if I find a pair of trousers that fit me width wise, the gusset tends to be somewhere around by knees and the leg length trails on the floor. Or the leg length is right but when I pull the trousers up so everything is where it should be then the 20” leg length ends up half way up my shins

Something must be wrong if between Dd and myself, neither of us ventured into the woman’s clothing department if any stores.

I was a very slim size 10 in the 1980s. I think that would equate to a size 6 now so agree about vanity sizing . I have never come across anyone saying current size 10 is large though - but I guess I don't read that kind of media and the younger women I do know are definitely not ultra slim .

In 1995 I was suffering from anorexia. I was 6st 10lb and 5ft 3. I was mainly in a size 8. Rollout on 27 years and I’m 9st 10lb and a size 10. So 3 stone heavier. Clothes sizing has definitely got a lot bigger over the last 30 years!

I've got a pair of topshop jeans from 1996. They're a 14. But no one really wore tight clothes in my circle. I was also a 14 in work trousers in 2004, despite being considered very slim at 5'9.

Those jeans and trousers still fit me, even though I now have hips. Any trousers or jeans I buy now are a 12. Sometimes a 10 in dresses, but 10s don't always work for my shoulders.

I'm 5'8" and weigh between 9 and 9.5 stones depending on the day etc. I'm generally in a size 10 and by anyones definition I think I am slim. Yes I'm on the taller side, but I don't think a 10 is a big size at all.

The cut and fabric can mean that people who are bigger can wear smaller sizes, but in general I don't think it's a big size.

I'm 5'3", size 10 (just) and about half a stone over a healthy BMI according to the NHS so it is possible to be both.

I am aiming to lose a little more, not because I take the BMI as the be all and end all ‐ I have more muscular legs than average and fibroids which BMI cannot account for ‐ but because ahead of surgery for the aforementioned fibroids, I'd like to be in the best possible shape.

I am however not aiming to be a 6-8. I've lost a lot of weight to get to this point, if I lose too much more I think I will look ill or have too much excess skin. 10 is fine for me.

I think it all depends on your height - I'm 5'10 and think a 10 is fairly slim but not dainty or waifish by any means. Friends who are 5'0 have offered me size 8 dresses which they think are huge! I'm a 10-12 these days but am tall with a larger bust so I'll never look especially dainty

I think it’s the opposite actually. It feels like on every weight related thread the majority of people seem to think that size 8 or 10 is verging on the anorexic and size 16 is normal…

Absolutely. In a certain brand I am incredibly an 8 in jeans, but I know very well I'm not. I'm 5'4" and 11 stone.

No.

I waste a lot of my life on social media (yay, depression!) and I'm noticing that the trend is definitely moving away from big boobs and butt towards a very slim silhouette with small breasts. Some people were suggesting that pilates coming into fashion (and thus usurping weightlifting as the fashionable form of exercise) indicates that a slighter physique is now more favoured. It's noticeable when you look at trendy clothes as well - a lot of styles have built in cups which are very small, or only really work if you can go braless.

@Kennykenkencat I don't understand your point? people are taller & broader now with thicker waists. This doesn't mean everyone is.

Two things wrong here.

1. depends on height. I’m petite and if I’m a Next size 10 then I actually get near to “overweight” on the BMI thingy. (Which I am at the moment)

2. Vanity sizing: A size 8 these days is bigger than a size 8 when I was in my late teens.

I’m 34

@JosephineGH I said in some part. Having a thicker waist than 50 years ago doesn't necessarily mean obese

“Country Road size ten, Kim”. Just for the Australians…

Given the average size is now 14-16 I think of 10 as still being on the skim side….

I think a lot of it is vanity sizing in stores.

I was never a 10 in my 20s, always a 12. But now (no slimmer, fatter if anything) I can easily fit into size 10 from most shops.

I've noticed this too and find it kind of worrying having a daughter that is 13 so coming into prime body issue age. Bodies shouldn't come in and out of fashion.

Would you actually be 'significantly overweight' at a 10 though? With a BMI well over 25?

I think that would be pretty difficult for most people. Someone who is short with a small frame could conceivably be overweight at a 10 but not significantly so.

now singing Perfect 10 by Beautiful South 🤦🏼‍♀️

From an 80s phrase book (bizarrely) that gives women’s sizes:

Size 10 Bust 32”, waist 22”, hips 34”
Size 12 Bust 34”, waist 24”, hips 36”
Size 14 Bust 36”, waist 26”, hips 38”
Size 16 Bust 38”, waist 28”, hips 40”

And it doesn’t go above a size 16!

But people have got bigger and sizes have increased. We are taller now, and generally broader, as well as fatter. So if we kept to that sizing, a size 4 or 6 would probably be the size of an 8 year old child.