to think that deeming a size 12 to be "LARGE" is rather insulting?

[ShirakawaKaede]

Was looking at dresses for DH to buy me for xmas. Found one I liked, chose my size: "UK Size 12 - LARGE". And just thought, 'Well, fuck you, then!'

Size 12 is not large, fashion-twats. Could they not just have put 'size 12'? Did they HAVE to add the extra shame?

Perhaps I am more sensitive about this than most as I was anorexic. I finally started eating normally & put on more weight than I had lost. I completely lost my confidence even to go out, see friends, attend college etc. It took YEARS to rebuild it.

And then you see this bullshit.

Well, you know it's nonsense, so ignore. They lose your business.

Sizes vary so much in relation to your build and height as to be impossible to compare between people anyway.

If you want a cheerier experience, try going into some shops aimed at older women. I remember an assistant in Jaeger saying 'oh, you'll be an eight', me thinking, um 12 actually but whatever makes your customers feel good!

i would tend to assume, esp on asos or any other retailer selling stuff for youngish girls/women, that small = 8, medium = 10, large = 12. if i went in a retailer for a more mature market, i'd assume (based on previous experience) that their sizes run bigger, so a 12 might only be a medium.

i can't see why it matters though. i bought a superdry shirt the other day and needed a size bigger than usual as they're tiny. i got the size that fitted me.

My SIL takes size 12 in next, 5ft5 tall and weighs 73kg. She looks large to me.

That's not to say a shop should label a size 12 a large. It depends on what shop it was in guess. It if was for young teens with different body shapes like h&m then I can see why they labelled it large but if its somewhere like m&s then hmm.

India Knight was tweeting about Mango doing this earlier. Horrific that my DD will grow up believing a very normal size is deemed large. In M&S a few years ago 12-14 was medium and 16-18 was large. Not sure what it is now as these things change. But I felt that was about right.

but if you make a 12 a medium, then a 10 is small, an 8 is extra small and a 6 is what, XXS? i mean, what difference does it make? there's only those 3 words SML and lots more than 3 sizes so what else would they do? brands that cater for smaller sizes are going to end up at a medium quicker than brands that cater for large sizes.

Mango is a spanish company and always get impression younger european women are quite small in comparision to uk sizes .

Countries think of france, spain, italy.

where as uk is more similar to usa. always think ironic usa has huge obesity/portion problems yet they have a size 0.

in uni worked for dorothy perkins and i dropped weight to a had to get voucher go get size 6uniform in top shop as same group and the smaller evans staff had to use voucher and go dorothy perkins.

I rarly see size 6s or 4 i uk shops.

hollister sizes are tiny .

Erol I tend to go like that. I have been size 10-12 most of my life (slightly smaller on top) and I always buy a 'small' from shops that size like that. I did have to buy an XL from an online store in China once (ebay!) and I was most disgruntled - it was a size 12, so I feel your pain, OP! YANBU!

I think it also depends on where the clothes are from on how wrong it is.

Many European brands (Mango, Zara, Vero Moda) are smaller than British brands because they cater to a different market. Southern European women tend to be shorter than British women. And also smaller boobed IME.

Going on SML sizes of my clothes bought in Italy are an M whereas in England I'm usually an S. I also have a pair of Chinese shorts that are an XL.

Isn't Mango Spanish? Our size 12 in the UK would be a large for them. I'm a 12 and in some countries Incan only get into XL.

Agree a 10-12, I'd class as medium in the UK.

Today's vanity sized 12's probably are a 'large' though, they're ceratinly not the same as a size 12 from ten years ago. And I say that as a current size 12 - I could by no means be described as a small woman! I have size 10's in my wardrobe from ten years ago that are bigger than some of my current size 14's. Ultimately I pay no attention to the label, it's just a random number. Pay attention to the tape measure and to how your health is. Those are the only absolutes in this world!

I don't know about insulting, but it is certainly ridiculous! Apparently half the women in UK are size 16 ,and above, so size 12 can't be large!

They have changed though, what is now size 12 used to be size 14.

size 12 is large if it's in a shop that caters mainly for smaller sizes. size 12 is small if it's in a shop that caters mainly for larger sizes. different shops have different markets, and different cuts that accommodate different body shapes. i really don't see how this can be 'insulting'.

and we can all see what size you are, comparative to other people, just by looking at you, so why do you care what's written in the label?

Really? So just because a size is classed as average that means it can't be large?

Vanity sizing is why my size, which has not changed since my late teens, has gone from S -> XS -> XXS. Ridiculous!

I've been size 8, 10, 12 (and I've had all 3 sizes in my wardrobe at the same time when I hadn't changed size because of the randomness of women's clothing sizing).

I've never felt like the fashion industry was commenting on my size regardless of the number or whether it was denoted as "large". I just buy what fits me.

I do think it's ridiculous that lots of labels stop at 12 or 14 though. It means they can't tailor for curves (even if the curves are size 10 curves). And speaking as a woman with a "generous" bottom and solid thighs, that causes problems even if you're not a size 16...

So I say don't let them get to you, it's not worth it!

YANBU. I've come to the conclusion that every shop just makes up their sizing. I'm a 10-12, in Topshop I can be an 8, 10 or 12, depending on the item and the material, in H&M I couldn't even do up a size 12 shirt yet fit into their items labelled S, Zara just seem to stitch random labels ib because I'm a S, M and L in there! I prefer when websites have a size guide with accurate measurements rather than S, M, L. Even worse is 8-10 then 12-14... what about us 10-12 women?! I know in Tesco and Dorothy Perkins that I'm always a 10 so buying from there is easy.

Vanity sizing has changed it all.

In e old days, 12 would be 'normal', but that can be anything from an 8 these days. So a modern 12 could indeed be "large" (old 16).

This is why I don't darken the threshold at Zara. I am a 12, sometimes 14 on top due to boobs and swimmers shoulders. The supercilious assistant told me they didn't make clothes "as big as you" when I asked how their S/m/l correlated to dress sizes. OTOH, I love being a (frumpy) Small at Land's End!

I once tried in the exact same dress in 3 different colours in French Connection, and I had to try an 8, 10 and 12 as each was different- bizarre!!

another one who has tried on dresses of the same "size" and same cut in the same shop and had some fit and some not

on an earlier thread on this topic somebody (apologies I cannot remember who)
dug up the fascinating information that the fabric is cut 30 pieces at a time so can vary by up to half an inch and is all robot stitched
so the whole thing is a shambles

Im a twelve in jeans but a ten in a top but a twelve in a dress ( due to boobage) im not in the slightest large,im.not teeny miniscule sylvanian families size but i am def not large.I dont think its insulting but i think it could upset people who are uncomfortable with their bodies.

Monsoon are also sods for bonkers sizing. I have stuff in my wardrobe that are 12,14 and 16!

Same, Limited

I don't even think it is vanity sizing, it's just that many shops have larger sizes and thus a wider range of clothes. I'm explaining that badly but what I mean is there are far more ranges in body shapes than S/M/L/XL. Whether you call it size 8 or size 10, or XS and S, doesn't matter really.

This has just stopped me tucking in to quality streets !