to think that most shops use vanity sizing now, and a 10 is really an old 14

[GetOrfMoiiLand]

Are there any shops which use what I would call 'old' sizes.

I remember when a 10 was really small. When I was in my teens and a lot smaller than now, I was a 12 at most. I am now a 10.

My gran (on clearing out her wardrobe) was always a size 12-14 - on trying on some jackets from the 80s which were a 14 they were very tight.

Hardly any shops stocked 8s, and they were tiny. Now every shop stocks 6's, and they are not really that small. My local Asda stocks clothes in a 4.

Not sure, it could be about the 'fit' IYKWIM

It may be seen as rude to people who are larger sizes,

I'm a 14/16, my Mum has a 14 dress from the late 60's, it fits me.

Marilyn Monroe was supposedly a 16 & was supposedly very similar measurements to what I am.

But I see loads of people who 'say' they are a 12 but have really squashed themselves into that 12 [nasty]

YANBU I have a size 16 top bought from a charity shop 15 years ago. It is probably a 12 in 'new money'.

I don't think it's a waste of youth. We'd all be cocky fuckers if we knew. And teenage boys would have got nowhere. We have to think we're repulsive until our 20s or we'd have no one to practice on.

"Oh you silly bugger re Bernard Manning.

Roy Chubby Brown. Get it right"

To myself, obviously.

Ahhh, that makes me feel better (the Zara thing, not being told I look like Roy Cubby Brown. I am a 14 in Zara.

My Aunt does that Sparky. She would be better accepting the size she is and flaunting it in a well fitting garment!

I agree (in my experience Next, Gap and the supermarkets are particularly "generous") but I think that there are shops that use the correct sizing.

Crazy, I agree, Next are ridiculous. The size ten t-shirt I bought fit my like a tent! I am not THAT thin

I like the idea of swapping to inches like men. I think it'd be an encouragement (to me at least) knowing that my waist was xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx inches (fatty) in terms of size & weight control.

My SIL used to always be a 10, same weight same shape she is now a size 6.

I remember the size chart from my mums "Great Universal" mail order catalogue from the 1980's. A size 14 was 36,28,38, a size 12 was 34,26,36 and a size 10 was 32,24,34. Size 10 was the smallest size they did.

Even when shops do have size guides, the clothes always seem to be cut much bigger than the measurements - A week after having my last c-section, I bought some cheap cords from M&S. I was around a 34 inch waist, but a size 12 was actually a little bit big at the back. A Size 12 was meant to be a 29 inch waist. Crazy.

I have an old pair of shorts from Asda that say size 16, 30 inch waist. And a 2year old pair of skinny jeans from Topshop, Size 12, 30 inch waist. I have size 12 shorts and trousers that fit me nicely and there is no way I am a 12, I am a comfy 14 for definite.

I have gone down more than one dress size without any change in shape / size /weight. Magic. I also find that the cheaper clothes are more guilty of this than the more expensive brands.

It is about time the shops just sold clothes in cm waist and cm length, cm bust a size x y or z means nothing to anyone

I'm massive and the opening post doesn't offend me. :) I shovelled the food in my mouth!
I think people have become bigger over the last 50 years or so, junk food can be cheap and is so readily available. Not an excuse for my weight problem or anybody elses.

But the waist used to be higher, didn't it? so it would be less inches?

SparkyTGD if you are a 36-23-37 then yes you are the same size as MM

Sorry to disabuse the old Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 but she really wasn't, most of the time. She was mostly 35-24-35, I believe and was about a size 12...

I'm on board with the marylin thing, it really irritates me. I'm 5ft5, a 16, I am overweight and wobbly, she was not. I have read up on her measurements and she was NOT a modern 16.

Not that I knew her. I'm just going by what I've read.

see, i find it's going the other way- when i was 19 (i'm 23 now, so only 4 years ago) 5"8 tall, at 11 1/2- 12 stone i was a size 12. recently, at 12 stone, (like, 3 months ago) i was a large 16- small 18.

yet, when i was 14/15 years old, my highest weight was 15 st 9, & i was an 18 then- even more

how does that work?

it shouldn't really matter what the label says BUT I have lost a lot of weight in the last few months and am wearing a size 10 for the first time ever. It definitely takes the shine off knowing it's really a 14!

I'm 5'5" too and vacillate between 12/14 (I'm a 10 in some shops to prove the point of this thread) and I don't look that good. Still, even when I was a 1980s size 10 I didn't look as good as her at her wobbliest.

I was a size 10-12 twenty years ago. I am still a size 10-12 but now weigh a stone heavier!

Right, I am a size 6. I have a jacket that is a SIZE 4 that is slightly too big for me.

There is just no way that I am a size 4. I am by no means skinny, yes, I'm slim, but I have boobs and a bum and a tummy. But it is becoming impossible for me to buy things that don't hang off me. Almost everything I own has lycra in, because that way it actually fits.

I hate it.