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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think clothes sizes have got bigger? And if they have, its doing no one any favours?

124 replies

WhiteTrash · 10/12/2011 19:50

I swear clothes sizes have got bigger. For example a size 14 today was a 16 10-15 years ago?

Ive had to change my diet dramatically recently which has resulted in weight loss. Im the same weight I was 10 years ago but Im buying a size that no way was I buying 10 years ago. A sizd I wore when I was 13-14 and no way on earth am I that skinny. Literally no possible way.

Its not the first time this theory has come up.

I know a lot of women dont have scales and just go by the way their clothes fit which is great, unless they're making sizes bigger!

And if they make them bigger in 10 more years where does it end?

Of course all clothes shop differ (some a lot!) but generally speaking.

OP posts:
TroublesomeEx · 11/12/2011 06:53

YANBU.

I can remember growing out of a skirt I loved when I was 17/18. It was a size 12 from Dorothy Perkins.

I weighed 8st 3 at the time.

I currently weigh 10st 9.

And I currently take a size 12 in Dorothy Perkins.

LennyGodber · 11/12/2011 07:37

As a teenager in the 90s I measured 38-27-38 and could just squeeze into size 14 bottoms in Topshop/Miss Selfridge, and could NEVER get a top or coat from there. Now my waist is definitely bigger and I am still wearing size 12 topshop skirts and jeans despite being pregnant...

I think some of the increase in size of women is hormonal - I look at my 18 year old cousin and her friends and they are fat in places girls just weren't when I was a youngster - big belly rolls and they nearly all have massive boobs. I was more overweight than my cousin at her age but didn't have as much fat, IYSWIM? And hardly anybody was bigger than a B or C cup!

Can it just be down to the Pill and hormones being excreted into the water supply or is it due to hormones in food and stuff too? I know teenagers probably do eat a bit more junk food these days but tbh my skinny friends constantly ate chips and chocolate when we were at school, I think there is a chance there's more to this "obesity epidemic" than diet and exercise, I wouldn't be at all surprised if something or other hasn't triggered hormonal switches in kids making them more prone to lay down fat.

As a shortarse can I just moan that standard trousers used to be about a 30 and long about 32, I could just get away with long if there were no standard left. Now standard is about a 33/34! Meh. I have "30" leg jeans going back to the mid 90s and they get steadily longer. Good for tall types though :)

whyme2 · 11/12/2011 09:03

I have noticed the trouser lengths too Lenny

I always used to have search out the long lengths in my twenties but now I have a couple of pairs bought recently which are standard length which fit fine and also two pairs which I bought in the long length and I need to take up by a couple of inches.

I haven't shrunk heightwise Xmas Grin

HoHoOpotomus · 11/12/2011 09:10

Perhaps though our bodies change shape over the years too.
You
May be back to the same weight you were 10-15 years ago but you probably carry more on hips! Thighs etc. I was certainly a lot more muscular 15 years ago - now more fat. So same weight, but after time and 2 kids, completely different body shape

TroublesomeEx · 11/12/2011 09:13

HoHoOpotomus You're right, but that doesn't explain why I am the same dress size as I was 20 years ago whilst being 2 stone heavier and considerably wobblier!!!! Grin

runningwilde · 11/12/2011 09:18

Totally! I have a size 14 vintage skirt from the 60's which is like a size 10 now.

ladyintheradiator · 11/12/2011 09:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ladyintheradiator · 11/12/2011 09:21

This reply has been deleted

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NinkyNonker · 11/12/2011 09:22

Yes, I tried my mother's wedding dress on, I was a 12 at the time so she was quite excited as she had been as well...let's just say the results were embarrassing.

I know as a species we are getting bigger, but not within a small generation (less than 30 yrs).

molly3478 · 11/12/2011 09:31

yep I was a size 8 in topshop jeans at age 14 now I have pencil skirts from there that are size 4! So most of the small size thing is just to make bigger people feel better like oh so small you must be unhealthy when in reality obesity is really the big crisis.

The advertising agency likes fat people though as they spend loads on dieting,celebrity magazines about skinny/fat people, food, things to make them feel better eg vanity sized clothes, gyms, faddy exercise things etc. Its a vicious circle the worse the feel then the more they spend.

Haziedoll · 11/12/2011 09:58

Are wedding dresses on the smaller side anyway? I was 8.5 stone and a size 10 when I got married (1996) but needed a size 12 and it was quite a snug fit.

FabbyChic · 11/12/2011 09:59

Read the news. years ago there was something in the papers about it.

A size 10 used to be a size 24 waist now a size 10 is a 28 waist

LennyGodber · 11/12/2011 10:21

I think wedding dresses tend to be smaller - I had a teeny tiny friend who used to really struggle to find clothes, she got married about 10 years ago and size 8 wedding dresses fit her fine with just a couple of alterations and I recall my cousin's disgust at her wedding dress being a size 14 when she was normally a (busty) size 10.

Also have vague memories of being a bridesmaid where one girl split her dress cos she was adamant she wouldn't wear anything bigger than a 16! I think she probably was a high st 14/16 at the time (80s).

gorionine · 11/12/2011 10:26

You do not have to go as far as 10-15 years ago. For the last 8-9 years until last September, I have been wearing a size 20 for trousers and when I recently bought some trousers for work, I fitted easily in a size 18 (ie not really too big but slightly loose at waist) and I am absolutely certain that I have not lost any weight and that my body shape has not changed either. Great for my ego thoughGrin

aubergineinautumn · 11/12/2011 10:41

Didn't M&S have a tv ad about 10 years ago (with naked woman on top of a mountain or something) where they said they measured loads of uk women and have totally changed their sizing? Does anyone else remember that?

ZonkedOut · 11/12/2011 10:48

I have noticed this too, both sizes and trousers lengths. I used to wear 14 regular in the early 90s, now I'm about 2 stone heavier, same height and wear 14 short.

Obviously, this varies a lot from shop to shop, but on the whole I think if someone is putting on weight and needs new clothes, they are more likely to shop at the place that says they need the same size as before, rather than a place where they need the next size up. Oh dear, my old clothes must have shrunk in the wash!

fuckityfuckfuckfuck · 11/12/2011 10:49

M and S are massive though. I bought some very cheap size 14 jeans from a charity shop yesterday, brand new from M and S, so I have somehting to wear after I give birth in Spring. I'm normally a size 10-12 and am 25 weeks pregnant. These jeans are baggy, I have stacks of room left where they go over my bump. They are not maternity. I do understand different shops have different target markets, the average M and S customer will want a different cut from the average River Island customer. But it must lull people into a false sense of security.

nativitywreck · 11/12/2011 10:59

Thats true aubergine. Standard measurements were changed, about 15 years ago I think.
Not just the hip/bust, but things like armholes too. That's why if you have sticky arms like me, you have to alter any dress you buy because the armholes are so massive.
Waists have become much much bigger in the last 25 or so years. I think it is processed food, and alcohol. Women used to eat a lot less in general and not drink very much.
I have noticed that young girls all seem to have giant boobs too, so maybe to pill is responsible for that. Or water bras!

nativitywreck · 11/12/2011 11:03

x post aubergine!
Wow, that chart is amazing. women in 1920 were so tiny!

hatesponge · 11/12/2011 11:18

waists have definitely got bigger - in the 60s/70s my mum and her friends all had waists that were 26" or less though they were still wearing sz 12-14s, that was pretty much the norm. One of my aunties (who admittedly was tiny) had a 20 inch waist, if she was still that size now cant imagine she would get clothes to fit her!

carabos · 11/12/2011 11:56

Same is true of shoe sizes IME. I am a size 4, always have been a size 4 and unusually, both feet are the same size (measured by a podiatrist after an accident). Except now I'm a size 3.

talkingnonsense · 11/12/2011 13:02

Well I have a size 14 m and s skirt I can't get into (15 years old) and I buy a 12 there today. And I have old monsoon 14s that fit beautifully, yet also get a 12 there today ( in skirts and trousers, not tops to be fair). So ime it is not just using different retailers.

Original poster
WhiteTrash · 11/12/2011 13:15

AIBU to be shocked at how many people keep hold of ancient tops and jumpers? Xmas Grin

Re the original AIBU - I thought as much! And 'vanity sizing' yes! I have actually heard this before, I realise now. Its no great though is it. No wonder 'size 0' now exists. If it goes up again (which it will be the looks) will we have to invent minus sizes? Thats ridic.

OP posts:
LittleJennyRobyn · 11/12/2011 16:52

Also agree with the shoe sizes, used to be a size 5 until about 17 then had to start wearing a 3 have done so until recently. I am now finding 3 are too small and am havng to go back up to a 4.