to think that size 12 isn't large?

[wussbird]

Well am I?

Just looked on seraphine.co.uk for a maternity top I saw in a magazine and they have it in small, medium and large.

The large is a size 12-14!

Yes but big boned women do not tend to be short.

I'm a 12 and feel quite large sometimes, but compared to many other women I'm slim. Would love to be a 10 again, but don't have the discipline. Seems relative really - if an "average" woman is now a 16, 12 seems positively tiny!!

I'm 5"3 and a size 6/ 8 with a small frame so if I were a size 12 I would look large. It isn't big though at all espacially if you're tall

I'm 5"3 and a size 6/ 8 with a small frame so if I were a size 12 I would look large. It isn't big though at all espacially if you're tall

Always a problem so no one want to be called large or big when they are just that, bigger than average, but with healthy bmis etc. Some clothing ranges have a long range where the garment is produced for a tall person (my sister is your height and often uses these ranges)

Of course shorter women can be big boned! Just as taller women can have narrow hips/shoulders. Does it matter if it's typical or not? The labelling is just as hurtful/depressing/ out right rude.

Someone may have said this already but the stuff I bought from Seraphine was all too big so the sizes were not true.
I had to send it all back as it was enormous, I'm a size 12 to 14 and I ended up with size medium.

i think Framey has answered the op

Well they could be.....how many women under 5'4 do know with a size 7 foot ? Feet are a good indicator of build generally

PlentyofParsnips your name in the context of this thread reminds me of a daft game we used to play years ago. One of the questions was 'if the person on your left was a vegetable, what vegetable would they be'.

The question only ever came up about me twice, on both occasions I was described as a Parsnip

Other than at christmas, who thinks of a parsnip under pressure? I guess there was no denying I was parsnip looking in shape and colour

Ha! You want to get down the tanning shop, then you could be a carrot instead

I'm 5,5 with size 6 feet, but I'm still broad backed, wide hipped/narrow waisted. My point was it doesn't matter if it is 'Typical', you do get big boned women, regardless of height/feet size and it is insulting to be labelled 'fat' and told big bones/ structure doesn't exist.

To answer the OP, as a size 12 myself, and of average height, I would consider myself large against a size 6/8. I guess the sizing has to start somewhere, here it seems a 6 is an xs, 8 = s, 10 = M, 12 = L, 14 xl and up. I'm not sure how large the clothes go in the store, my guess is a 16 - is that fairly standard for stores?

civil, sorry, I was quoting the post above yours, didn't mean comment on your size :)

More generally, I got the 28" waist = size 12 thing from the Next sizing guide, it might be different elsewhere. I think even Next might do bigger than that in reality - I bought some of their jeans recently, and though my waist measures about 27", I found the waist massively too big for me, so big you can't even cinch it in with a belt without it looking odd (had another thread about this!). Quite tight in the hips/thighs though.
So I think the shape of clothing maybe is changing as well as the size, seems to be designed more for apple shapes these days.

Sizes are relative - i'm an 8-10 but am finding size 10s getting very large in most high street stores. In others I definitely need a 10 mind you I am short so I look chubby rather than slim - my taller sister is the same size and looks willowy and lovely.

Seraphine comes up very big so a 12 is probably equivalent to an xl and the clothes are rubbish - very poor quality.

I agree, Peachy. I'm 5'6", size 6 1/2 feet (but wide ). You could boil all the flesh off my bones and I still wouldn't fit in a size 10 top - I never have, even when my ribs have been visible (heartbreak diet).

There's also no allowance for the amount of muscle someone is carrying. I have big thighs and upper arms but they're rock hard muscle - no wobble at all.

I'm a size 14, 16 occasionally and every now and again a 12 depending on the shop. But i'm quite tall and dont look big, I feel quite large but often staff in changing rooms suggest I'm a 12 or bring me things in a 12 because I must look 'smaller' than I actually am. If you're 4'8'' and a size 12 or 14, it would probably look quite big.

It's all relative - tall 14's are not as big as small 14's or certainly dont look as big.

I agree that is ridiculous to make a 12-14 Large, so a 8-10 is a medium then? What is a small 4-6.
Sizing is a hoot, there are absolutely no standards which retailers share, and the actual measurements of sizes very wildly.
Go to Wallis or Fatface and a 12 is like a 16 in Top Shop.
Just cut off the size tag and write the size that YOU feel like, stuff 'em!

PeachyPossum, not sure if you're referring to my earlier post but I didn't mean to suggest that bone structure was not relevant. I don't think anyone on here has said that a size 12 is always large, height and frame obviously play a big part. My point was that women are on average a little bit taller than 40 years ago but at the same height bone structure has not changed significantly. By far the biggest change in women's bodies (as an average) over the past 40 years is down to extra fat.

I agree with thereisthesnowball. I don't think the size 12 is labelled large to be annoying, I think it's more that the company's founder is french and french/continental women tend to be smaller/shorter than British women. I'm an 8 in England but am more likely to fit into an M than an S at home in Italy.

Hmm, nice spolling and grammar there!

Jumpty, nah, wasn't referring to your post, more posts I have seen in the past iyswim?

I think there is a huge change in perception though, my stats are almost identical to M monroes, though I would need to wear a corset to match her waist size (I imagine she did too though!) as I'm off by about 4". Media labels me 'Large', shops label me 'Large' - Monroe was admired and a sought after figure.

Our stars are tiny compared to the stars of back then, which seems to alter the ideal we aim for. So whilst our 12, is their 16, our modern time insists we should be what would have been their 12, where as it was considered normal and attractive to have been their 16.

I'm not explaining myself very well! I thin perhaps they had more realism back then, that a women with wider hips & curves is every bit as gorgeous as a slim women so long as both are within a healthy parameter.

I'm an 8 in England but am more likely to fit into an M than an S at home in Italy.

BUCANEVE, I am the same! I am a size 8 here but a Medium in Italy and I wouldn't call myself/have never seen myself as thin, just normal if not a little rounded. In this country however everyone seems to think I am really tiny! I guess it's all relative.

My mum gave me a size 14 m& s suit she bought in 1976 it fits me perfectly but nowadays I take a size 10 for m & s clothes is that size deflation?

Sizes don't mean a thing. Really.

And [envious] at PeachyPossum's Monroe figure.