...to think that it might not really be true that the UK average clothes size for women is UK size 16?

[which1]

I just can't help but think that that's not true. That this is the average has been floating around for years I know.

But whilst I do see some people who are size 16 or above, I do not think I see so many as to tip the scales to the extent that 16 becomes the average.

I would say that the average is a UK12.

(I'm not talking about on Mumsnet as the vast majority here are pretty slim and around size 8 average from all the threads that I see either about clothes sizes or posters who mention in passing on a related topic.)

I think people are generally polite on those threads, @Bluntness. I can think of one particular poster who is overweight and short, yet posts photos fishing for people to tell her she's slim. And they usually do.

It’s interesting reading about the size variance between women who have quite similar stats. For example, I’m 5’7”, 9st 7, definitely slim but often a 12 in trousers because I have no waist. Said trousers then hang around hips, arse and thighs because the rest of me is slim.

Slimmer, I mean. Or narrower than the trousers cut.

I'm 5 9" and have to either buy tall or size up because the length from my waist to crouch is so long.

@LittleDancers I’m 5ft 2 with a largish frame and hour glass shape. Five years ago I did WW and went down from 10st 5lb to 8st 7lb. At that weight I was size 6-8 and honestly I did look tiny. Some people thought I’d lost too much (and no they weren’t all jealous fatties who’d lost sight of “normal”). But I was still around the middle of the BMI range. I could have lost another stone and still been a “healthy weight”. but I would not have looked healthy!

I’m 5’10” and usually a size 12-14 in tall size as a normal 14 is quite short and wide especially in M&S and Next, I’m in my early 60s and I see a lot of women my age who are probably at least 6 inches shorter than me and probably size 14-16, hence the short wide clothes. 16 is probably average across everybody of all ages

I find some of the comments on this thread very telling.

People saying to be a 12 they would be very thin. They were emaciated when they were a size 6.

A 12 is not thin. Sorry if this hurts anyone's feels but a 12 is the last size before fat. 12 is OK but it is not slim. 14 up is fat. 8 and 6 is slim not emaciated. Starving people with no body fat are emaciated not slim size 8 western women.

My normal size is an 8 I'm 5 9". That is a normal healthy size. I went up to a 14 after having dc2 and I looked and felt awful. There was fat all over me. Nothing fit properly and everything was uncomfortable. I'm a. 10/12 now and I still consider myself overweight. I have far too much excess fat on my body.

If I was a size 8 at 5ft 9 I would look ill. Maybe you don’t @Lessthanzero but many would. I agree that we have lost sense of what is overweight but equally many women (and men) don’t recognise that being very slim isn’t always healthy either.

Size 6 is not healthily slim for many tall frames.

My friend's a size 6, 5 ft6 and unhealthily thin. Im not just saying this because I'm used to seeing overweight people and I don't know what normal slimness is - I do! My friend's BMI is in the underweight range and her doctor has told her to put on a stone. Her face looks quite skeletal. So size 6 isn't healthy for everyone.

Lessthanzero

Not only are you absolutely charming but you’re making sweeping generalisations using your own body shape.

A few years ago I had a 27/28inch waist (So certainly not ‘fat’) and still wore a size 14 due to my huge boobs at the time.
How unfortunate for you that you have fat everywhere at that size.

A thread where people share their height & bust-waist-hips measurements & typical clothes sizes could be useful.

I seem to have a 'big' frame & I wouldn't be emaciated at my height at size 6 or 8, but other people say that they would be. I don't have big boobs, is that the difference, maybe?

Hip size too probably. Some people have a slimmer frame, narrower hips so easier to be slim and a size six.

Starving people with no body fat are emaciated not slim size 8 western women. Exactly. I'm a 6 and underweight and I'm not emaciated. I'm strong for my size, not thin and weak.

My DM took a size 14. I've ended up about the same size, weight and shape as she was, and I take a 12 as sizing has definitely changed. At a 12, I am about half a stone overweight - and I am in the slimmer half of the women where I work.

So yes, a size 16 average sounds about right.

Lessthanzero you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Being 'fat' is determined by your BMI and body fat % , not the label in your clothes.

Hip size Is definitely a factor, I have a wide frame and thigh gap - good thing as I never get the dreaded thigh rub that even some very slim people get as my frame is wide, also broad shoulders and weigh 68 kg at 5’ 10” and size 12-14. I could never be less than a 12, I am just too wide framed. Some women are very narrow framed and are only a size 8 as they are more compact

If you ever buy vintage clothing you see very quickly that clothes sizing has changed massively, becoming larger in reality but smaller in "size". A size 12 then is more like and 8-10 now, retailers have chosen to vanity size clothes to make us feel better about the numbers

I am 5'2, 8.5st and a size 4-6 but i actually wear kids clothes mostly because you try finding a size 4 and I could grab you an entire handful of fat on more than one area of my body. If I were to get rid of all the extra fat I'd be brutally underweight. You can tell I am slim but not what size clothing I wear as I have an hourglass figure which is such a bitch in kids clothes so I've always looked curvy rather than bony but if you actually measured my hips they are not very wide at all I am just have a naturally petite frame. Size is very deceptive!

I'm a 16 but due to my body shape widening due to having kids. People don't believe I am a 16. I look more of a 12/14. But like I said my back and hips widened with every child so even though everything is loose on me they won't go on my hips unless it's a 16. I'm just a funny shape

Agree with the above poster. Im 5 ft 2.5 and around 7 stone 9 which I’ve weighed for years. Twenty years ago I was buying size 8-10. Now I have to buy 4-6 (generally speaking). The retailers are fooling us!

I have lost a lot of with and just about right BMI size.I am a small 14(almost a 12) on the bottom but still a 16 on top as my bust refuses to get smaller.
I was a standard size 12 back in the 80s and mostly they are smaller than some size 12 but sizes now vary widely and with better nutition even slim people body shape has changed since the post war years.

If I was a size 8 at 5ft 9 I would look ill. Maybe you don’t @Lessthanzero but many would. I agree that we have lost sense of what is overweight but equally many women (and men) don’t recognise that being very slim isn’t always healthy either.

Depends what your definition of ill is.
Do models and actresses look ill. Do sports women look ill. We're not supposed to have fat all over our bodies. That is ill. We're supposed to have a small amount of fat on our hips, bums and legs. The rest of our body should be lean.

Clothing size doesn’t mean much a UK high st brand will most likely be bigger than one with a strong market in another country (with smaller sized people)

A few years ago I had a 27/28inch waist (So certainly not ‘fat’)

That measurement is overweight though.