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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

zukiecat · 11/12/2011 17:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

boglach · 11/12/2011 17:48

So so boring. yawn.

thenightsky · 11/12/2011 19:04

I don't give a shit what the numbers say to be honest. What really annoys me is having to take 3 sizes of one thing into the changing room.

This means I can only try two items on if the limit is 6 items.

LetmethinkNO · 12/12/2011 09:11

boglach it is boring taken in isolation, but when you condsider that we're getting fatter and fatter and there are real financial and health consequences for the country and us as individuals, it is significant.

Trills · 12/12/2011 09:19

According to the 1982 measurements I measure between a 10 and a 12. And that's what I generally have to buy, depending on material and fittedness.

So YAB a bit U to think that clothes sizes have changed in the last 15 years, because the 30-years-ago-measurements seem to be approximately right. Unless back in 1982 everyone actually made clothes smaller than the "standard" measurements recommended?

Trills · 12/12/2011 09:20

(apart from in Gap of course, everything is massive in Gap)

LesserOfTwoWeevils · 12/12/2011 11:30

Boglach, is someone holding a gun to your head to force you to read this? And comment on it?

AriesWithBellsOn · 12/12/2011 11:34

They do it with mirrors as well. I looked decidedly weird in an M&S mirror the other day, as though I needed medical attention. I'm thin, but not THAT thin

DoesNotGiveAFig · 12/12/2011 11:52

There's def a change in sizing - i have a GORGEOUS Laura Ashley Party Dress (it needed caps) from the 80's - fitted velvet bodice, big pouffy skirt.

It's a size 16 on the label, and fits perfectly. In today's shops I can buy a 14 and it fits, some are too big. Deffo a bit o vanity sizing there methinks as much as I wish it were different.

VeryLittleGravyOnMeXmasDinner · 12/12/2011 13:13

Sizes have got bigger IMO and IME.

20 years ago I weighed just over 8st at 5'8 and was a small size 10. I wore a lot of vintage clothes then, and could fit into size 10 Biba and 1970's Laura Ashley. My LA wedding dress had a 23" waist

Since then I've put on one-and-a-half stones (mostly round my middle) but I still fit into modern size 10 clothes comfortably. My lovely vintage wardrobe has been donated to Oxfam :( as there is no way I'll ever fit into it again.

nethunsreject · 12/12/2011 13:14

Yep, MUCH bigger.

I fit a 10 now. My 15 yr old size 14s are the same size.

tyler80 · 12/12/2011 13:33

Do people wear jeans that sit on their waist?

My jeans measure 29 ish round the waistband, they're labelled as a 10, however they fit somewhat lower than the narrowest part of me. It doesn't really indicate that sizing is much bigger, more that styles have changed.

BleurghUna · 12/12/2011 13:45

It's vanity sizing, designed so that at any given time 50% of women will be a size 12 or 14 because those sizes are considered "average". Never mind the fact that people aer getting bigger and bigger.
I just wish sizes would be consistent because I need to take about 76,853 items into the changing rooms to be sure of getting the right fit but I'm only allowed 4 at a time. It just makes shopping more complicated and time consuming. I don't mind buying a 14 or whatever, I just want clothes that fit!

BleurghUna · 12/12/2011 13:45

OneHandFlapping · 12/12/2011 13:50

I can't see that it matters. You try on different sizes, and buy the one that fits. Who cares what it's called, or what it would've been called in 1982.

Are we women really so easily manipulated into parting with our money by vanity sizing?

BleurghUna · 12/12/2011 13:57

My sentiments exactly OneHandFlapping!

ElderberrySyrup · 12/12/2011 14:00

It's more of a pain if you're internet clothes shopping, specially in a sale.

OrmIrian · 12/12/2011 14:01

I can totally agree that sizes should be consistent - so that any 12 I try on will fit as well as any other. I just don't get the moral panic about sizes getting larger? So what? Is it really soooo dreadful?

I seem to remember a study down back in the 80s that showed women generally were 'bigger' than in the 1940s. Not 'fatter' but bigger. Taller, broader-shouldered, bigger hands and feet - and yes, bigger waists and breasts. Malnutrition and rationning was great for making people skinny

fragola · 12/12/2011 14:19

Sizes have got loads bigger and the measurements on the "size guides" are just a joke.

One week after having a c-section with ds2 I wanted some big comfy jeans for my 34 inch stomach. I ended up with a pair of size 12 m&s cords, which were actually too big on the waist! According to their size chart, a size 12 has a 29 inch waist. The funny thing is though, if you looked on the reviews of the jeans online, people were commenting that they were "true to size" which just show how deluded everyone is becoming!

Whenever I'm buying online, I always find my rough measurements on the size charts and then order a size or two down, which is ridiculous.

Trills · 12/12/2011 14:24

As I often find myself writing on here: there is no such thing as "true to size".

If someone describes something as "true to size" they mean that the clothes that fit them bear a number that they like. That is all.

Trills · 12/12/2011 14:26

If you do a lot of shopping online then you should try this website.

You put your measurements in and it

a - recommends clothes that will flatter your shape
b - tells you what size you will be in various shops (that's assuming that the shops are honest when they say how big that waist of a size 12 is)

Bramshott · 12/12/2011 14:30

Orm - I don't know about moral panic, but for smaller people it's a real pain. At 18 I would fit into a high street size 10. Now, two children and a few extra pounds later I am quite often 'sized out' of a high street size 6. Nowhere does a 4, so I am left with a limited selection of where to shop, or shopping in kids departments which is okay for tops, but the trousers aren't cut with enough hip room.

I suppose the other reason why it's a problem is that it enables people to bury their heads in the sand about increasing weight, which doesn't help if we really do have the national obesity crisis that's being reported.

earthpixie · 12/12/2011 14:54

They've deffo got a lot bigger.
I'm probably 2-3 stone heavier than 1 was at 18 but am only 1 size bigger (or the same size, in some shops).
My friend weighed 6 stone in the mid 80s and is 5'2''. She wore a size 8 or 10. Size 8s were weirdly small, almost child-sized.

TartyMcFalalalalalalalalarty · 12/12/2011 15:01

I also think attitudes to healthy weight have changed (I'm talking about people's perceptions rather than.medically). My mum and her sisters are roughly the same height as me (5'4"), but whereas I think of 10st as reasonably slim, they're horrified if thus scale goes above 9!!

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