In my 20's I weighed 2 stone less and was a size 14 for trousers - now in my early 60s, heavier and a size 12... this is absurd!!

[loveyouradvice]

I'm blown away ... I could never wear size 12 trousers in my 20s despite being fairly slim but big hipped, it was always size 14 - dresses and tops were size 12.

Now in my early 60s, weighing 2 stone more, I seem to glide into size 12 trousers.

This feels absurd! Have sizes really been changed that much as our population gets fatter?

Short answer, yes they have!

I bought a vintage Jaeger outfit a little while back, probably 80s or so, with the ‘Made in England’ tag. It’s marked as a size 12, and waist 26” - size 12 now is for a 30” waist!

Really? Complete opposite for me. I was 9.5 stone and a size 10 in my 20s. I'm around 11 stone in my 40s and a size 14.

That sounds about right `@AelitaQueenofMars ... 4 inch... and that's me... I was 26in and now 30 in....hips much bigger of course!!!

Similar to me.

Though let's face it you could head out today and fit a 12 in one shop but need to get a 16 in another.

In fact sometimes you'd need a variety of sizes in the same shop.

A lot depends on the shop and material of clothes as they vary widely. When I gained weight I was kidding myself I was still a size 12 as I was wearing elasticated stuff. So now I go by stiff jeans with no stretch and I take that as the true size.

But with jeans, a size 10 was a 28" waist back in the 70s and 80s. Size 12 was 30".

Yep. When I was aged about 18 and weighed 9.5 stone (5'8" height) I was always a 12 in jeans and trousers and sometimes a 14, I wouldn't have been able to get a size 10 much past my knees!

I'm now 50 and weigh around 10.5 stone and can easily fit in a size 12 now. In M&S / Next I can sometimes get in a size 10

Haha, me too! As a slim teenager in the 90s I was a size 12... now I'm a stone heavier and a size 10

Yes, very true. I see the vanity sizing thing a lot on here. I wonder if it's more expensive clothes brands that do it? The cheaper high street stores where I shop maybe don't so much.

There was a great thread about the madness of clothing sizes over the years recently, with some cracking posts from someone in the industry, who explained that people refused to buy larger sizes so they re-labelled them.

Every jacket I own is a size 14 then I bought a vintage hacking jacket which wouldn’t meet! But if I were to buy size 16s, they’d all be falling off me. It’s bonkers. I buy a very wide variety of brands, but a 14 seems reasonably consistent, thankfully.

Some shops definitely do vanity sizing, or the reverse. I hate paying full price in case it won’t fit now so am a Vinted addict. 🙈

This is so true in the 90's I was anorexic and at a severely malnourished state could not get my hips into a size 8, these days an 8 fits easily and I am over 2 stone heavier.

If no one believes then look at vintage clothing- Karen Millen etc and see the difference

Next and M&S are the worst for vanity sizing. They're about two sizes out from 90's sizes these days.

I think the country has in general got a lot bigger - and for vanity reasons and denial so have the sizes

This creates a problem for naturally petite women as there are so few slim fitting clothes for smaller frames

Yes, I think so. I have a skirt belonging to my mum from the 1970's, size 14. The waist is tiny!

Damn you OP for drawing my attention to this. I've been somewhere between size 14 and 16 since my teens (now 47) despite looking significantly bigger in photographs and have convinced myself that I've been maintaining but becoming less photogenic.

Is it really a problem though?

I have 2 very slim daughters. Properly Mumsnet slim, teeny tiny, size french, can see their ribs etc etc. They certainly have no problems finding clothes if the frequent shopping trips and parcels arriving are anything to go by.

They definitely have. As a mid-late teenager I was a size 10 trousers (slim, but size 8 was slightly too tight especially on the legs as tall)
Now I'm slightly bigger, my hips are definitely wider and even some size 8 are a bit baggy. Size 10 generally won't even stay up properly. Seems like about 2 sizes difference to clothing.
It also explains why 6 never used to be sold in mainstream stores but now is.

A friend of mine who has stayed exactly the same weight and measurements for the last forty years has gone from a 10, to an 8, to a 6 in that time.

Ah, but they're still giants by MN standards,

I’m an 8-10 in most shops.
In M&S these sizes hang off me……

as pp's have said, you can't compare because sizing isn't standard.
let alone being a different size in a different shop, often I'm completely different sizes in the SAME shop

e.g. I've got both an XL and an XS top from H&M, bought at the same time. I'm usually a 12/14 in Asda/George but the last jumper I bought was an XS (I ordered the medium, then the small and both were too big) which on the 'size guide' was apparently equivalent to a 4-6!

I take a modern 12.
I had to go to a funeral a little while ago and couldn't do up a 30 year old 14 that I've hung onto because it's such good quality (pure wool, fully lined and didn't bankrupt me back in 1992).

It's not just that people have got fatter generally people are getting bigger, bigger feet, taller, bigger bone structure. And sizing is nor standardised. Generally waists have got bigger more than hips and busts and brands have accomodated

Vanity sizing is probably talked about everyday on MN. The big increases happened a while ago e.g 80s/90s, not so much 10s/20s, it always surprises me something that happened many years ago still catches so many on MN with suprise

And I don't really see why it's relevant. A size is an arbritray number. It does matter if a size 12 in 1980 was smaller than today

All I can say is that the Jaeger label specifically states 26” waist, and that it’s a size 12…

I make most of my own clothes, sewing patterns from longstanding companies like Vogue, Simplicity haven't changed their sizing, it's really interesting to see what the measurements are/were for the sizes! I've attached a picture, like many others here in 80s I was a size 12 but a stone lighter than I am now whereas I'm now an 8-10 in M&S or Next