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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think that "medium" isn't size 8-10 and "large" isn't size 10-12.

81 replies

Naetha · 13/05/2010 08:38

And that if I want a top that fits me properly, I shouldn't have to go for extra large?

I have a BMI of 25, 34C boobs. Am I really that big, or am I just shopping in the wrong places? Has the time come for me to start shopping at Cotton traders?

OP posts:
BritFish · 14/05/2010 00:57

i am a size 12 and am always instantly suspicious of the cut and fit of a brand if size 12 falls under their 'large' category. i dont have a problem with being large, but it always makes me suspicious of their motives.

you know whats more annoying? when i go into shops and i have to go up a size to fit my boobs in, but then look like a bag lady because of all the excessive material around my waist. especially 'fitted' stuff. apparently 'fitted' stuff is only really fitted if you have boobs smaller than a C cup.

NorthernSky · 14/05/2010 01:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

lilacclaire · 14/05/2010 01:15

Sizing is definitely too large.
At 5ft 11", size 10's are swinging off me, and there is no way im a 'real' size 10, I used to struggle to get into m/l sizes and a 14/16 would have been a comfy fit, now all of a sudden im a 10, don't think so.
Of course I like it, I just know its not entirely true.

miso · 14/05/2010 10:56

I am quite amused that being a British 14-16 makes me XXXL at Zara.

Skinny young scrap of a sales assistant tried to tell me that she didn't think Zara stocked clothes in "Extra Extra Extra Large" (she wasn't rude just genuinely disbelieving) but I had tried on the item in a different branch so I knew it existed!

I had to go back to the other branch to buy it mind you, so maybe they really didn't let XXXL stock through the doors in her branch [hmmm]

miso · 14/05/2010 10:57

That was a not a [hmmm] btw

ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 14/05/2010 11:01

I think 6 should be XXS, 8 XS, 10 S, 12 M, 14 L...errr, maybe not, 14 isn't large... erm...

AkiraZen · 14/05/2010 11:05

Actually up to 16 only covers about half the female population in this country. Size 16 is in fact the average size in the UK. Those of us larger than a 16 are made to feel disgusting and filled with self loathing all by a number on a label.

Marketers have missed a trick - when I was working I had a LOT of money and nowhere to spend it. Their loss.

pranma · 14/05/2010 13:43

XS=8
S=10/12
M=14/16
L=18/20
XL=20+
in my dreams of course

Goldenbear · 14/05/2010 18:54

I agree, unfortunately, I do fall into the category of self loathing when the figures are not adding up. Although I am pleased that a couple of people have commented on Zara's sizing. My DP bought me some skinny jeans in a size 12 from Zara needless to say I have not been able to wear them yet, I am between their 14 and 12.

mumbar · 14/05/2010 19:01

YANBU.

Have the same prob as all mn who've posted. Have clothes bought 2/3 yrs ago in size 12 that fit and sometimes now I can't fit a 14 when I weigh 4kg less than this time last year when I had to buy a 14!!

Bought a hoodie a month ago from NL and got a 16 as I wanted it to be larger. Glad I did as it fits me and if I'd have gone for my size would've had to paint it on!!

melpomene · 14/05/2010 20:20

I find that the sizing is also very small at H&M. I am usually size 10 but have to buy size 14 or 16 there. And just to make matters worse, their clothes seem to shrink significantly in the wash...

PatsyStone · 14/05/2010 20:50

YANBU to think that 8-10 should not be considered medium and 10-12 is definitely not large.

But, I disagree with those who think sizes have got smaller... I think it's gone the other way and sizes are bigger than they used to be. As a small person, I struggle in some shops now to buy anything as it's all too big, and whilst I am slim, I am not skinny, so I have no idea where really slim people get their clothes from now

Maybe shops like Zara and H&M, because they are European, are actually truer to size than the inflated sizing we have in UK based shops?

Salbysea · 14/05/2010 20:55

sizing is very large these days

I am definitely not the size I fit into in some shops, I can only assume they think that I can be flattered into spending in their shops for the sake of wearing a smaller label

I shop a lot in vintage shops and the sizes were much smaller in the past

oceryo · 14/05/2010 21:21

Small = 16-18

Sithmummy · 15/05/2010 11:29

YANBU I think I was in the same shop. When I asked the assistant if the top I liked came in a size 14, I was told that they didn't stock EXTRA LARGE!

NightLark · 15/05/2010 11:48

Sports and 'sports-type' (North Face, Roxy etc) clothes seem to have resisted the trend to increase their sizes, so are significantly smaller than high st fashion in my experience.

Bloody daft, as I (39 yrs old, BMI 22, size 12 high st) am L or XL in walking/running gear. Any bigger and there'd be no sports clothes for me.

Way to go encouraging people to get fit, or are we all just supposed to do ladies exercise in soft flowing yoga clothes?

Bonsoir · 15/05/2010 11:51

BMI of 25 is quite large. I have a BMI of 19 and wear a medium, usually.

ButIHardlyKnowYou · 15/05/2010 13:51

my bmi is 21-22 and I'm a medium.

thegrowlygus · 15/05/2010 13:58

BMi isn't terribly helpful in sizing (or in terms of health actually but that is a whole other story) - I am classed as overweight by my BMI but am a size 12 in most shops. (apart from Zara of course!)

WhatsAllThisThen · 15/05/2010 14:06

how tall are you, growlygus?

Earlybird · 15/05/2010 14:15

According to this information (scroll down), 'normal' BMI runs from 18.5 - 24.9. Anything below is underweight, anything above is overweight.

www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html

Isn't the 'average' British woman a size 14 or 16? If so, does the S-M-L -XL sizing need a re-think?

Mumsnut · 15/05/2010 14:27

Akira - you are so right! I was a size 8, 25 years ago as a student, and had no money to buy clothes with. Now I am a size 16, and could spend quite a bit ... but there's not a lot out there.

Ellokitty · 15/05/2010 16:12

Definitely agree that a 12 now is bigger than it used to be.

I still have the floaty skirt that I wore to my 18th birthday party in the early 90s. It is a size 12. I weighed about 7st then and was really quite thin.

Roll on almost 20 years, and I'm still a size 12 - but I weigh over 10st and am at the very top of the ideal weight. A few more pounds and I'd be overweight. There is no way I'd even get into that skirt now, let alone do it up - and yet it is a size 12 (and from Dorothy Perkins!)

So yes, 12 really has gotten bigger, and a 12 isn't really a 12 any more in my book.

MrsSeanBean · 27/05/2010 19:21

Medium 10-12?!!

I thought the 'average uk size' was size 16. Therefore, mathematically, should not 'M' be 14-16, small 10-12, large 18-20, and 6-8 extra small?

MrsSeanBean · 27/05/2010 19:26

BTW I am size 12 and was informed the other day when enquiring about a dress, that the 'larger' sizes had sold out . Ridiculous. It looks unhealthy / unnatural for most middle aged woman to be size 6-8, in my very humble opinion.