Is a size 12 from 14 years ago exactly the same as 12 today?

[ItIsAlwaysSwingsAndRoundabouts]

Wondering if dress sizes have changed in the last 14/15 years at all. I know sizes have altered quite a lot since the 70s but wondering if there's a slight change every few years?

No, it's much bigger

There is more than a slight change.
Today's size 12 is significantly larger than a size 12 of old.

Definitely much bigger. I am a size 14 but 30 years ago I couldn't have got near a size 14 at this weight, not a chance!

I have 20 year old 10s that are the same size as a more recent 6

I’ve pretty much been a size ‘12’ since I was 17 in 1997. Sneaking in to a 14 between the ages of 40-43

At 17 I weighed 9st. I recently got back in to a size 12 when I weighed 11st 10.

I’m down to 10st 10 now and a lot of 12s are too big.

Definitely changed. Am currently wearing a ~ 15 yr old size 16 top which fits nicely. In today’s sizes I’m a 10… even an 8 in some shops.

I was a size 10 when I was 18.

I'm still a size 10 (in new clothes) despite gaining four inches around the waist in the intervening 40 years.

There is a huge difference.

I think some shops are fairly consistent (sometimes in their inconsistency) I've got H&M stuff spanning 20 years and similar styles are similar sizes

Sizing has definitely changed over time, in my experience clothes are now 2 sizes bigger than they were in the 90s.
I’m not sure specifically what this would’ve looked like 14 years ago but I’m thinking probably 1 size difference in the 2010s.

I base this on being pretty much the same weight that I was in the mid 90s when I used to buy size 12 in Topshop.
15-20 years ago I was buying a 10 & now I typically buy size 8 in most shops.

Sizes used to be standard now they really mean nothing. I have dressmaking patterns from the 60s and the size 14 is tiny

I was a size 10 pre children. Years later, 2 kids, the menopause and at least a stone heavier, I'm an 8 and in some shops a 6.

OP asked about the past 15 years though, people responding referencing the 80s and 90s - that was 30/40 years ago!

Fwiw I haven't noticed a massive change in the past 15 years, I have clothes from 2010 that are the same size I buy now

Yeah so I tried to put on my size 14 jeans I had after my eldest was born.
My other jeans are size 14. My wide leg jeans are back in fashion and I whipped as I located these old ones in the depths of the wardrobe.

Couldn't get them over my fat arse.

So I'm gonna say yes, there's a difference!

A size 12 in one shop isn't even the same as a size 12 in another. Check the Euro size.

But are you exactly the same shape/weight as you were 14 years ago?

A size 8 now is about what a 12 was 30 years ago.

I buy a lot of vintage clothes and am a 12 in current clothes but a 16 ish in 70s-80s clothes.

Yes pretty much. My lowest weight was probably 5 or 10 years before that - I was about a stone lighter then and I wore one size smaller which I thought would be about right

I found an old dress from 15 ish years ago. Dorothy perkins size 12. It's TINY

I take size 12-14 and I bought a late 90s size 14 Next wool coat on ebay. It's massive on me.

Interestingly (as this will inevitably descend into a free-for-all about how humongously obese everyone is now and all sizes are vanity sizes and size 10 now would have been 22 back then), overweight BMI used to be anything over 30 until it was lowered to over 25 in 1998.

Size 12 was approx 26 inch waist in the 1990s.

Yes I find clothes sizes to be pretty static the last 15 years or so. From > 20 years ago, no.

I don't think they've changed much. I was a skinny 12 (probably more of a 10 but curvy hips mean only 12's would fit. Pre kids. Then I got a bit fatter and was a snug 12. Now I am quite a bit bigger and am now a 14. I'm not masses bigger and if I lost a stone I could fit back into my size 12's which are in the loft awaiting that magical day....they might have a long wait.

It depends where you shop. I have jeans from the 90s in a size 10 that are the same size as recently bought size 10 jeans.

Then I have clothes bought recently ranging from size 8-12 that measure all the same. I have 3 T-shirt's all the same but the sizing even between them varies.