To think that vanity sizing is getting ridiculous and to wonder where thin people buy their clothes?

[LiegeAndLief]

10 years ago, I used to be a perfectly normal size 12. In recent years I seem to have shrunk to a 10. Last week I had to go down to an 8 in two separate shops - one of which I bought several things in a 10 from 6 months ago which fitted perfectly!

This is not a stealth boast as I am certainly not getting any smaller.

The thing that really got me is that both shops had nothing smaller than an 8, either in store or on-line. I'm a fairly average size and know plenty of people smaller than me. It just seemed utterly ridiculous that I was wearing the smallest size in the shop.

To be fair, in shops like New Look and H&M which seem to be aimed more towards a teenage market I am very much still a 10, verging on 12. But that just makes it worse as it really irritates me that I can't just be the same size everywhere!

my heart bleeds

Oh you poor thing!!

I am starting to find this too. I am a 12 and size 10 jeans were falling off me in gap the other day. I am definitely a 12!

I have clothes ranging from an 8 to an 18 in my wardrobe, they all fit I'mone of these people who really doesn't care about size.
Tiny people buy their clothes from Hollister and the like - at least my teeny tiny SIL does.

Agree! Fat Face dress = size 6, H&M skinny cords = size 14

I now carry a tape measure with me as I can be various sizes in the same store on the same day.

I may have developed amazing morphing abilities that I am not aware of.

Fat Face and White Stuff clothes are HUGE!!

I've started to think this too. I bought a 'size 8' dress the other day and it's baggy. I am NOT tiny. I used to struggle into a 10 a while back and I'm no smaller. When I look at photos of my mum in the 80s when she was a 'size10' she had a waist like a tooth pick. Her jeans wouldn't have gone past my ankles!

Fat face and white stuff don't go up to my size

I agree - my gran had some clothes from the 70s, size 14 but they would be a 10 now.

Size 6 is not even that small is it. Everyone beopmans the size 0 trend but that is not that small is it - a UK 4. I am a size 8 and I am by no means skinny.

New Look 9-15 range.I wear the 13 year olds trousers and the age 14-15 year old tops because of having big boobs.The best thing about it is a lot of the girls wear now is the same as the adults, but a lot cheaper.

It doesn't matter in the slightest what arbitary number the manufacturer decides to put on its clothes.

Everyone owns clothes in wildly different sizes, which all fit.

I, for example, recently bought 2 dresses in TKMaxx. One in a 14, the other in a 20. Both fit. Both will be worn.

Plenty of shops to buy thin clothes in too.

Don't understand the beef really.

I don't really care what size I am, as I am still the same size iyswim! but I do a lot of my clothes shopping on line and it's really annoying to not know what size to order. I even tried looking at the size guide and measuring myself but that didn't work either.

I've had to stop looking at clothes in some shops because their size 10 is way too big for me
and I'm lean not thin
its daft
who are they trying to kid

Oh this hasn't cheered me up at all as I am a size 16-18 now which means I am fatter than I thought! Eeeek!

Also it was less of a complaint, more a feeling of incredulity that someone as average (read: bit flabby) as me could be wearing the smallest size in the shop!

I still can't squeeze into anything less than a size 12 pair of jeans anywhere though. Terminally pear shaped

I have notice this too, I hate shopping and it makes it harder still! I am currently wearing GAP size 30 yet used to be a 30 a good stone ago.

Clothes are getting bigger in some shops but not all, so there is massive inconsistency. Seems to be shops aimed at older customers (eg Fat Face) have generously cut clothes while teen shops like H & m are cut small. Depends who their target market is and whether they want to flatter their customers that they are a 10 or 12 when in dact they are a 14 or 16. But it's infuriating because you just want something that FITS and the size number is pretty meaningless.

I've recently become a size 8 for the first time in my life.

Thank you Tesco

I agree, and while I agree it is a First World Problem it annoys me because I don't have long to shop without kids (or am with small children) and they don't stay consistent and I would quite like a chance of getting the right size first time round rather than having to try on 3 of everything.

It is stupid that Gap size 10 jeans are way too big for me when I am definitely not skinny.

I agree, when I was 21 I was a size 8 and I still am despite being 6 inches larger around the waist. I really am not thin but if I go down a size would struggle to buy clothes.

I am a 12 in Fatface - I must be proper chunky, if everyone is saying that their clothes come up big!

I tried on a Gap size 4 skirt the other day and it was massive round the waist! I am slim, but hardly a stick insect! However I then tried on some of their size 6 jeans and couldn't get them over my bum!

The inconsistency is really annoying

Marks and Spencers clothes are madness as well (in many ways not just sizing).

The reason Gap sizes are so large is that they're American sizes ( which are 2 sizes bigger than UK equivalents -e.g. Gap size 10 = UK size 14!)