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?

I wore a 10 when I was 16 in the early 90s.

I'm a 6-8 now. I haven't lost weight.

I do, and know very few people over that size. If you’re size 20 then of course you won’t think size ten is large

this is what people are criticising. It's odd you can't acknowledge that someone who doesn't think size 10 big doesn't mean they are stuffing themselves with cake.

I agree with this. My Mum was a 14 back then, she didn't look large or out of proportion with any of her friends. They were all slim and pretty. She said it was a very common size for her friends - all 12-14s. Just because the sizes have changed, doesn't mean they are 'large' sizes now.

People who are a size 10 aren't fat though.

I don't think size 10 is considered big now - but it is true that a 10 in the 70's 80's 90's, was way smaller than now.

Sizes are so different to when I first started wearing adult sizes (80s). My friend was 5 foot and 6.5 stone, absolutely wee, and she wore size 8, which sometimes wasn't available in places like Chelsea Girl. I was much bigger and taller (slim though) and wore a 12 straight away. I only wear a 14 now but am several stones heavier. I'm sure I'm more like an 80s size 18.

Depends on build. I'm a 6 on bottom with bmi at 20. I've been close to overweight and too heavy for my build but still in an 8. I'm a 10 on top though.

I am sick to the back teeth with fat women thinking that they have free rein to sneer at anyone who isn’t.

But at size 8 and 56kg /8 stone 8 (similar to me though I weigh approx 8 stone 4) you're only a size below what you consider to be large and overweight

It is possible to challenge people without being rude and bringing cake shops into it!

I'm a BMI of 22, 5'8 and a size 10. It is build dependent but in general, if you're buying a modern 10, you're not going to be huge.

Wow. I'd rather eat cake and not be a cunt, tbh.

Early 1970s Chelsea Girl sizes were size 10: 32-24-34, size 12: 34-26-36, size 14: 36-28-38.

So the average French woman is on the cusp of being overweight@JosephineGH? How interesting. Clearly it is not just the UK where people are bigger than they used to be.

Vanity sizing, or inflation over time, is a problem in so far as it can give false reassurance that you are still the same size, objectively not a large one, eg 10. This practice, as others have said, creates much confusion when online shopping. I probably am a modern 10 (5”5, 9 stone, bmi 20.5), it’s the size I buy most often, but I have clothes between a 6 and a 14. Labelling clothes with this sort of sizing starts to become irrelevant. Also depends on what sort of fit you want.

I think there is a lot to be said for different body shapes. All you need are slightly wider hips or larger breasts and you need a larger size. We are such a multi cultural society too, with lots of people with dual heritage which can lead to some more unusual body shapes.

All the hiking and diet in the world wont shrink bones... my BONES (hips and shoulders) are a size 12 even when I was annorexic with a BMI of 14.

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

Does no one you know have boobs either? it really doesnt take much boob wise to be over a size 10 (a B-C cup can easily do it)

Vanity sizing! A size 10 now would have been at least a size 24 a few years ago. I take pride in my appearance so I'm very petite and teeny tiny (I fill up on huge salads) and I now wear a size 00, whereas when I was younger I was several sizes larger.

10 is small if you're tall!

@hamustro huge salads!! that's greedy 😜

I thought everyone now knew that sizes had changed and were more generous?

I was married in the mid 1980s and wore an off the peg wedding dress in a 10.
My waist was 24 inches, hips about 35 inches.

I now wear a 10 in jeans, an 8 in most dresses, and my waist is 27-28 inches.

I weigh the same as I did then, around 7st 7lbs (I am tiny framed) but obviously I've lost muscle and gained a couple of pounds round my tummy.

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.

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.

I’ve don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who thinks size 10 is chubby! Possibly if the person is very short. I’m a size 10 and my BMI is 18.6 so at the lower end of the healthy range. I think most people would describe me as slim but not thin or skinny.

Josephine you must be very slim and your BMI makes you underweight (and actually only just over the threshold for treatment for eating disorders) While you sound active and I imagine you are naturally thin, I don’t think it’s wise to imply that everyone who is a size 10 or over is fat. The vast majority of women who are a British standard size 10 will have a normal BMI. To suggest otherwise encourages disordered eating and IME is irresponsible.

You can't judge weight solely by dress sizes.

Dresses and trousers are all about whether there is a tightly fitting waist.

You can have voluminous dresses that are HUGE in a 10. In some of the boho styles this summer I was swamped in a 10 and needed a 6.

Some women have small waists and can fit into a 10. But they carry their weight on their bum, hips and thighs.

Others, like me, have small boobs, flat bottoms, slim thighs.

Actually I think op is right. When I was young size 10 was so thin. My dm is tiny and I can’t fit in her size 10 stuff from the 1980’s.

I can fit into my size 10 stuff from 25 years ago.

I now take a size 6 in todays sizing. Sometimes a 4 or a XXS.

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.

Sizing is so different these days.

I have a size 10 fake fur mini skirt from my raving and clubbing days, it’s 30 years old and a size 10, no give in it at all. I’m still a size 10 but I cannot get this skirt on.