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?

I don't think it's changed much since 2010, but I tend to buy from quite a limited number of shops so perhaps other shops have changed.

No way in hell are the sizes the same now.

The other week I pulled a dress, and a pencil skirt (out of the attic,) that I used to wear circa 1989-1991 when I first met DH - it was a size 12. DD (current size 8) tried to put them on, and couldn't get the skirt past her hips. She got the dress half on then gave up as she was worried about splitting it. It wouldn't go over her back and shoulders properly. As I said she is a current size 8! This dress - and skirt (from around 35 years ago,) were a size 12!!! Yet DD couldn't get them on!

MAN I was slim then, and I didn't know it. I found an old diary where I used to log my weight and vital statistics - (the diary was from 1988 when I was around 20.) I was 8 stone 3, and 34-22-34. I HAD A 22 INCH WAIST!

Soooo tiny, yet I thought I was 'curvy.' Didn't realise I was so slim. Didn't help that I had a boyfriend at the time (only lasted 2 months!) who put his arm round my waist in the cinema and said 'you've got a roll of fat there!' With a 22 inch waist I fucking doubt it! I was so angry and upset that I stormed out of the cinema, and dumped him later that night.

But yeah, the sizes are all to cock these days. The post further back in the thread (featuring pics of Marylin Monroe and Holly Willoughby) proves that. Both women are gorgeous, but no way is Marylin a size 16, and Holly a size 10. As I said, all to cock!

Many female celebrities do actually flat out lie about their dress size. Some claim to be a size 8 - or a 6, and I think 'nah mate,' The actress Nicola Coughlan from Derry Girls and Bridgerton (pictured here,) claims she is a size 10, and I'm like nope! Even in today's sizings she is a 14 minimum. (At times a 16 I reckon.) She's cute and pretty, but I don't know why she - and other curvy actresses have to lie about their dress size.

Where do you shop that you find this?
I’d love to order my actual size and find it fits me. I’ve pretty much given up shopping as I constantly have to return items and buy the next size down, then return that one as it’s still too big, and the replacement next size down is too! Clothes wouldn’t be 2 or 3 sizes too big if sizes were static.

Yes me too, I don’t really recognise when people say sizes are so much bigger than the 2000s, well in jeans anyway. There’s always been some variation between different brands. I’ve been the same weight (give or take half a stone ish) and size 8 since I was a teen. I have a pair of Miss Sixtys from 2003ish in a waist 26 and Levis in waist 25 which still fit me, I buy Levis in the same size now and I’m still buying 8s from H&M. Having said that I find mango sizes huge and I find that clothes that come in xs/s/m etc tend to run much larger.

I imagine there was a bigger difference from clothes in the 80s but not so much the last 15 years or so imo.

I think it very much depends on the store. I think some stores do complimentary sizing and others don't. I find H&M & M&S sizing accurate to what it used to be.

I find H&M & M&S sizing accurate to what it used to be.

Really? I find that surprising, I had to go down 2 or 3 sizes in H&M and up 2 for one pair of trousers.
I gave up after going down 3 sizes in M&S and I don’t even bother looking at next any more as Size 10 jeans in there looked like clown trousers. It’s ridiculous.

This is a good place to post this photo of a skirt I found in a charity shop - don’t know when M&S stopped labelling clothes as St Michael, but it’s pretty far from what an M&S size 8 is now.

And this is the modern size guide…

Wow that’s really interesting! St Michael was dropped in 2000 so that’s pre then. I’m not sure even size 4s are 23 inch now!

as an experiment I’ve just found my old Joni jeans from topshop, they must be around 2014, so 10 years ago, in a size 8- they still fit and they’d be the size I’d buy now. They are comparable to my Stradivarius mum jeans in a size 8 and my mango ‘’mar” jeans in a size 6. 🤷‍♀️ must depend on cut and brand!

I've lost 13kg on Mounjaro so far.

I've just donated all the size 12 clothes I've bought in the last 5-6 years which are all now too big and baggy. I've been overjoyed to get back into my older, smaller clothes which are all...size 12!!!

Im a loose 12 and a snug 10 and my waist is 34 inches on a good day

I think that tells you all you need to know about sizes. I think a 34 inch waist is around a size 16 if Im not mistaken.

No. Which I can say with certainty since I’ve been a 12/14 since 2005 and while I am personally a good two stone heavier (with the waist to prove it) I’m still ‘the same size’ if you believe the shops…

Definitely not. My current size 12 stuff from Next is slightly too big right now. My stuff from ten years ago from Next does not fit at all. And there is no consistency. Current size 12 in M&S is far too big for me.

River island, new look, next mainly . I always try two sizes on though when I shop but I always have done that, even 20+ years ago. I do think sizing can differ depending on where you shop too but again, I found that 20+ years ago. Overall I haven’t found sizing to have changed in the last 15 years. It is strange with women’s clothing. I mean even on this thread , someone has said size 10 was too big and they are 10 stone 10. Size 10 mainly fit me absolutely fine and I’m under 9 stone ( and 5’8 ).

Maybe I should shop in m and s and see if I’m now a 6 😂.

Not true. I used to buy 30 waist 30 leg jeans in the late 90s and 30in waist was classed as a 12, 28 was a 10. This was Levi's jeans and top shop.

I think that clothes sizes changed longer ago than 15 years.

More like 20+ years ago, I think, though I'm basing that purely on what I still have in my wardrobe from that long ago and how those things compare with what I have to buy now (I was a size 12 from my teens until I was about 40, but usually a 10 these days, even though my average weight, and my waist measurement, is slightly more now than it was then.

It does depend on the shop and the brand, though - sizes seem to be far less standard than I remember them being back in my day.

The 'waist' on jeans is not a true waist measurement because most jeans don't sit on your waist, they sit lower.

@Sethera yes that's true, especially those low rise hipsters in the 90s (with your thong sticking out at the back aaargh!). I thought they worked it out as if the waist was 30 though. Maybe it was based on men's jeans measurements where the waist doesn't really go in.

The question is quite specific. I'd say sizes have obviously grown in recent decades but the OP is only asking since 2010.

I'd wouldn't say that much over that time period. I have been consistently the same weight for 20 years. Haven't really noticed things growing in the last 10 years. Yes of course since the 70s but that wasn't the question.

Certain brands have always been more generous than others and there is random inconsistency.

The thing is though the sizing doesn’t even correspond with that. I measured my waist and it’s 29 inches so according to that I need a 12 but a 10 is too big for me. I was wearing a size 12 jean when I was three stone heavier. Very confusing

Anecdotal evidence but I've recently lost weight and am now a UK 8-10. Did a wardrobe clear out today and it just so happens some of my old favorites pre kids were there, 2008-10. Old New Look blazer size 12 - could barely do it up. Old Primark party dress size 10 - not a chance. Old French Connection jacket size 12 - no way.

Yes to last 15 years being the same - I have a 12 m & s skirt from 2008 and pretty similar to now (albeit I think m & s come up big). Re waist size I think this is a bad measure as I have always had a big waist because of my shape (I'm rectangle shape). I'm 5'6 so quite tall but even when I was around 8 stone 12 my waist was c. 30 inches, (this was in late 90s and i was a size 10) now 34 inches so quite big and I'm still only 24 BMI. Most of my life I've been a 12 even in the 80s and my weight has usually been between 9.5 and 10.5 stone.

I think sizes have changed. Back 15 years odd ago when I managed to lose weight I got down to 11st 7lbs and was a size 16. Now I am 11st 7lbs and fit size 12 jeans and 10 tops. I never got into a size 12 when I was younger. Not a chance. Even when I was slimmer as a teen, still a 14 was the lowest I could fit into.