To think that vanity sizing has gotten ridiculous?

[Namila]

I recently bought a beautiful, vintage, evening gown for a formal event. The dress is from the '80s. When I saw the dress on the rack (a unique piece since it was second hand) and the label read "size 10", I was disappointed as usually size 10 is way too big for me.

I thought I would still try it on, thinking that perhaps a tailor could work on it and make it fit properly. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only it was not too big, it was nearly too tight!!

When I shop in "modern" stores I need to buy an 8, and sometimes even a 6. I'd normally swim in a 10! I am short and petite, but definitely not extremely skinny.

AIBU to think that this vanity sizing thing has gotten a bit crazy and the current sizes have nothing to do with the way sizes were even just a couple of decades ago?

I still have the clothes I met DH in in 1995. I'm fat now but a couple of years ago when I was a current 10-12 those 1990s 10-12 clothes fitted me just the same. So no bigger now from my own experience.

Size 14 (modern) for short people (half the population) is unlikely to be healthy.
Thus Vanity sizing has allowed the normalisation of excess weight
which is a health risk

It's not the number on the clothes that is unhealthy. It's the waist size for women under 5'4. The number on the clothes could be 6 or 20. Neither way does it normalise excess weight. It's just bloody clothes.

Anyhow, what are you suggesting that women who dare to be a size 16 or above wear? A regulation muumuu? Or maybe they shouldn't be seen in public?

Anyhow, what are you suggesting that women who dare to be a size 16 or above wear?
I do not give a stuff what they wear.
So long as they eat less and move more

15 years ago I as s stone lighter and a size 8-10. These days I’m an 8 and a 6 in next which is ridiculous as I’m 5ft 3 and 8.5 stone so not even the lower end of healthy weight

I object to the term vanity sizing. I think there has been some change in sizing... There are reasons for this (mostly relating to our health as a nation, it has to be said) - but society just has to explicitly link this phenomenon to that archetypal female fault... vanity Yeah, it's our fault clothes retailers have done this because we're all just VAIN idiots. Ffs.

Indeed. And I'll keep saying it until the health message starts to sink in on the bits of MN who choose not to read the science press

My BMI as a size 12 is perfectly healthy and under 25- now and when I was a teenager. My waist is 29 inches. I am 67 inches tall. Ratio is 43% Is that good enough for you? Do I pass your dumbass health check? I sincerely hope so because otherwise I would be unable to sleep tonight.

Merchant
I take it you know that the sizes of men's clothes have changed by even more.
If you take a tape measure to a pair of 34 inch waist jeans, they will be anything up to 40 inches
because they are designed to sit on the hips is the excuse the shops give.
Guys think they have a 34 inch waist year after year but they do not

it is NOT a sexist thing

Since when was 80s vintage? Feels like a couple of years ago

Any shop that wants to tell me I'm a size 10 is alright by me.

The vanity sizing argument is used to put women down and make people feel that despite being a healthy weight, they are kidding themselves and in the olden days they would have been heifers

This

Well, I hate vanity sizing because now I have to try everything on to find out what fits. I remember back in the 80s knowing my size and being able to just buy it rather than try it on.

It makes online shopping a bit hit or miss as well.

In the 1980s, I longed to be a size 10. Dieting was too much like hard work, so I wore size 12 on the bottom and size 14 on the top. Nobody except me thought I was particularly fat.

Now that I am in my forties, I'm the size I always longed to be, but a bit scraggy with it, and with wrinkles. I am a size 10 in m&s (they are consistent! ), a size 8 in the white stuff, size 10 in most charity shops across the board. .. and still buying size 16+ jumpers in asda!

I'm not sure what the moral is. .. and this is NOT a stealth boast. I lost weight through stress rather than healthy eating. I'm maintaining the size I am with healthy eating, but am certainly not criticising anyone who hates dieting. I hate it too, the whole thing is so depressing and overwhelming when you can't see an end to it.

Peece

Hmmm. When men are busy arguing with each other about how bad vanity sizing has become, maybe I'll agree with you that it's NOT a sexist thing

If men's sizes have changed, no one seems particularly het up about it or to be constantly starting threads about it, invoking the word 'vanity'. Maybe they are though - please link to enlighten me!

I will never be a slave to the weight police ever again. I had a terrible eating disorder caused by exh criticising my weight and am now after a long ilness getting a lot better at eating.
I won't look at the size I look to see if it looks right then try it on.
I was down to 5 stone because of criticism and I will not listen to it anymore

I have a 65 cm waist, it's about 26 inches, I am 5'2" tall and have a BMI of 22.8. My jean size is now a 6 or 8 ( american size 2) as a young woman I was the same size, but a 10 ... and sometimes a 12 ...

I am neither over nor underweight. I'm certainly not abnormally skinny ... it's the culture of size "0" and vanity sizing gone bonkers

If it was a vintage dress (or old) it was likely to be an old size ten which would be a 4-6 these days.

Which isn't really vanity sizing it's just how clothes were made and sized then.

Portia, well done! You are still alive to tell us what happened to you, and this is greatly to your credit!

Merchant
Men do not talk about it because they do not gossip about clothes
Link
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8739365/Wrong-trousers-on-the-High-Street-as-men-fall-victim-to-vanity-sizing.html
and another
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033555/Waistline-shrinking-Clothes-stores-using-vanity-sizing-make-trousers-inches-bigger-say-label.html
and another
www.businessinsider.com/why-mens-clothing-sizes-are-so-confusing-and-how-to-find-items-that-fit-2013-9?IR=T

I do wonder at all the posters so keen to point out how sizes have changed. I have always been a size 10-12 since I attained my adult height almost 20 years ago. My weight has also remained stable. I shop in roughly the same shops.

My BMI has always been 19-20. It would not be healthy for me to lose weight.

I agree that the term 'vanity' isn't helpful.

It is true to say that sizing varies between shops, and has changed over the past 30 years.

No-one is a 'size 10' or a 'size 16' or a size anything, because the garments labelled with these numbers don't have any sort of consistency in their sizing.

Op wasn't trying to have a dig at anyone. If people want to interpret any mention of changes in clothes size in that way, it's up to them.

@choli
This is the exact point I was going to make. The massive discrepancies between sizes makes clothes shopping an absolute nightmare!

I believe women's clothes should be measurement based as standard.

It'd make some move towards standardising clothing, we'd all be far more aware of our own bodies, shapes and sizes and it'd prevent 'designers' attempting to make their clothing more desirable than others by assuming that women will buy theirs because of the label sewn into it.

If clothing were sold based on waist measurement for higher waisted, and hip measurement for lower-waisted/hip hugging garments, people would have more of a chance of finding something that fits well and clothing manufacturers and shops would have far less crap that hasn't sold sat in racks waiting for sales.

I think it's disgusting that clothing manufacturers have the freedom to make up whatever size they feel like and put a number on it.

I especially wish that children's clothes were labelled with height measurements as in the rest of Europe.

My mum was a size 10 in the 1960s.

I have one of her vintage dresses that was altered to fit her. It fits as though it was made for me.

I've never been above a 6 as an adult woman. I think years ago when I was about 14 a topshop size 8-10 was an ok fit.

So old 10=6 in a lot of modern sizing. Or thereabouts.

I’m 6 feet tall and a size 14. I’m about a stone overweight

I’ve been a size 12 and I look unhealthy/too thin

So can never be the magical size 10... I’m a 12 1/2

Thanks Bananas
I'm getting better now and am putting some weight on.