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?

It's not changed so much in the last 25 years, it is very different from 30 years ago though.

I'm wearing clothes that are 15 years old!

I think this is a really tricksy way to measure it though as shapes differ.

Eg I'm short and currently in a size 12 at 8st 12lb

No. I have been pretty much the same size all my adult life.

I am now 50. In my early 20s I wore a size 10. Then, for ages, I was a size 8. Recently I have discovered that I am mostly a size 6. (Although for trousers and skirts it’s very hit and miss, because the measurements of garments vary so much! )

This!

I dont think clothes sizes have changed that much, if at all, in the last 14 years. I have clothes that old and they're the same size I buy now (I'm the same size).

I think the biggest change was 15-25years ago. In the last 10-15 years sizing hasn't grown to the same extent, i have 12's in my drawers from 12 or so years ago that are comparable to 12's now.
I currently wear a size 14 and i am definitely not as large as someone who was a size 18 in the 90's😂😂

I'm not sure how much size drift has taken place in the last 15 years, as opposed to the size changes in the last 30 years which have been massive.

Two things that complicate the issue is that
a) some (not all) posters will be comparing clothes they bought in their mid twenties from younger demographic shops with smaller sizing vs clothes they bought aged 40 from older demographic shops.
b) there has been a big trend for oversized clothes so a jacket or dress labelled size 10 with a picture on the website of a waif wearing a tent can equally be worn in a more standard fit by a size 16 woman.

I have some size 12 denim shorts and some size 12 sequin hot pants that are from maybe 10 years ago and they fit perfectly. I buy a 6 or 8 when I am buying new these days so I would say things have moved 2 sizes at least.

I also think we are heading into a period where clothes will get bigger still - loads of young people are much bigger and taller now, eg the teens i know are more like the size I and peers would have been in our late 20's, whereas when we were school leaving age most of us were skinny things with tiny waists and thin legs, the trend these days is for a stronger more muscular look.

Agree with this. A late 70s size 8 is a current size 4.
I delude myself I am not far too chub by getting into a size 10… but I have lots of vintage clothes and also my old 90s clothes in size 8s and my dd is wearing them, she is a 4 or smaller in current sizing.

It's definitely changed. I was always about 9stone 3 and a size 12 in my youth in the 1980s.

DD (now in her 20s) hovers around 10 stone and is generally a size 10. I was never a size 10 - and I was considerably thinner. We are exactly the same height.

I also found an old Laura Ashley skirt of my Mum’s the other day. It’s a size 16 , early 80s. It is like a modern 12.

I think M&S got bigger at some point in the last 10 years. Also, some retailers whose sizing was fairly conservative 15 years ago have now expanded. I couldn't wear a River Island 14 then, now I've even got some 12s (no, I haven't lost weight!)

Vanity sizing, as they call it. They've changed the sizing for years now. I'm on my weightloss journey and want to go back to my former size of 10-12 from many years ago before vanity sizing, which would now be atleast a size 8-10. So I'm aiming for today's size 8 - 10 instead.

Completely dependent on shop I'm Completely different sizes dependent on where I shop.

That would explain why I've put on a lot of weight but only gone up two dress. Thanks for that nugget 😭😭😭 it's worse than I thought 😂

Sad but went and dug them out to check. No difference between the 6 and the 12 and there is only maybe 10 years between purchase.

I don’t shop in M&S so wouldn’t know about their sizing. Interesting re: river island. I was an 8 in there 15 years ago and a size 10 now- maybe half a stone heavier now compared to then.

This from 2015. I do remember a "re measurment" exercise done in the ?70's which identified that women's proportions had changed so it wasn't just a case of relabelling sizes, the actual measurement ratios of bust to waist to hip and body, arm length and leg length had to change too. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/style/618358/Dress-sizes-truth

No, I am a size 10. Years ago (still the same measurements) I was 12/14.
I make my own clothes. These sizes haven’t changed. I woul buy a 12/14 pattern.

I had a size 14 skirt years ago when I sold it with the waist measurements I had to sell it as a size 10.

I went to buy a pair of jeans in a size (and style) that I knew would fit. The size 10 wouldn't go near my ass. I went a size up and they fit. I got them home and compared my old jeans (same shop) to the new ones. The size 12 were the same size as the 10 - if not slightly smaller. I asked the shop what the hell was going on with their sizing and I got if you're unhappy take them back.... not unhappy, just wondering why a pair of jeans are sized as one size bigger than they actually are. Also been a size 10 for top and bottom for years and years and recently bought an m&s coat the size 10 swamped me but the 8 fitted perfectly.

I work in fashion and used to design clothes and be a ‘fit model’ too for a brand - i.e at one point my proportions were exactly the brands ‘size 10’ so they used to make me try on samples to see how they fitted me. Then all clothes were ‘graded up’ from this size.

Size 12 depends on the shop, and always has!

Lots of shops now do what was called ‘vanity sizing’ a while back, as buying a bigger size puts a lot of customers off buying.

So, you’re correct! It’s not the same as it used to be, as most shops have adopted this vanity sizing.

Idk but I know sizes are big these days. I’ve recently lost nearly three stone and I thought I’d order some new trousers and jeans. Reckoned on needing a ten. Had to send them all back because they were too big. Now there’s no way I’m a true size 8. I‘m 10st 10. I think I look about a 12

Yes, people are thinking about 30-40 years ago.
Past fifteen years, sizing got weird, disproportionate and mostly big, but then that's
last four years me thinks.

I am 24 years older nearly 2 stone heavier, and still wearing a size 12?
I don't think so.........