What is happening with dress sizes ??????

[mollymole]

Now I know I am not the smallest of size - size 12/14 top, and size 12 bottom
but I just bought 2 new dresses yesterday from our small independant boutique and guess what size i was ???? EXTRA LARGE - measured both dresses and armpit to armpit they measure 36"

I feel your pain, OP!

Where do you usually shop? M&S/Next etc are notorious for making their sizes vvv generous to flatter the customer into buying more. Zara/Mangoetc would call standard (e.g. Top Shop ish) UK size 14 XL or even XXL.

I know I tried on a size 12 jean jacket in one shop and it was a fitted shape and was too big. In another shop xl wouldn't do up!

I buy most of my clothes from US and have them from 4 to 10, all fit. What's even more ridiculous that the same brands have inconsisten sizing, I have a cK suit size 4 that fits and size 6 that is at the moment way too small - they both have simple pencil skirts so nothing to do with the cut.

It's vanity sizing. I dontthink there is any accurate sizing any more, it's so different from shop to shop.

Unbelievably I have items in my wardrobe that I wear range from an 8 to 16 and s to xl!

In most cases I am a 14 but I tried a pair of walking pants on yesterday and the 16 didn't come near me but ended up buying a 12 in a different brand and a size 10 sprayaway top and a 14 t shirt from Roxy. I got a medium Superdry shirt and a 12 Nougart dress.

Stupid isn't it.

I have a spanx suit thing. It's basically and all in one bodysuit for holding you in (I can't do just the pants, they roll down or all the fat splodges out of the top - the joys of being apple shaped).

I am a size 12/14 and the spank suit is labeled extra extra large. The bust is actually slightly too small - I'm only a B cup!

Who do they think are buying Spanx? Surely not stick insects or they wouldn't need them!!

It's frustrating isn't it? I don't like to order clothes off the Internet now as sizes are so inconsistent. I bought some jeans from GAP the other day and had to buy a (UK) size 8 as the 10s were too big. There is no way I am or ever have been an 8, I'm a 10. I asked the sales assistant if they are big sizes and she said they usually have complaints they are small! However I have similarly cut jeans from Topshop in a 10 and Miss Selfridge in a 12! It's madness. I always try things on now! And don't get me started on a 12 being a large or extra large - FFS!!! I was a 14 pre-preg and it was so upsetting to have to buy XL

My 11yo DD, who is the size and shape you would expect an 11 year old girl to be, has to buy a Large in Hollister.

I have been asking the same thing but because all sizes seem to have got bigger...

I have gone from a 10 to an 8 everywhere... but I haven't lost any weight or inches around my waist or hips...

I had to measure myself the other day to order a jacket from Toast. I came up as a 12. I wear size 10 Gap jeans and they are too big on the waist. I have a medium dress I bought from a boutique recently, I have some size 8 skirts as I am smallish waisted. i bought a jacket in the Topshop sale that's a size 8. I am always a 10 in Reiss and the shop assistants even ask what size you are normally and recommend you go down a size!

It's bonkers

BTW the Toast Jacket was too big - as was the 10 I returned it for

whilst i can agree about vanity sizing what i am really getting at is the way
we describe sizing
36-26-36 the size of the dresses i have just bought do not, to me equate to XL
we are teaching young girls that they need to be so thin that it is not natural -
if we back track these sizes
34-24-34 = large
32-22-32 = medium
30-20-30 = small
28-18-28 = extra small
surely this is insane

I agree 36-26-36 does not sound like XL. I'm 34-26-36 which works out to around size 10 usually. Independent designers may do things differently from high street stores though!
Personally wouldn't worry about the labels as long as the dresses fit.

Agree about vanity sizing in general though. I'm a good deal fatter and heavier than I was at 19, but have as if by magic managed to stay the same dress size! If only it were true...

This really irritates me. I buy a lot of stuff online and until recently could order an 8 and know it was going to fit. In the past few months I've had to send a lot of 8s back for being too bloody big, often at my own expense in postage and sometimes meaning that I don't have the outfit i need for a particular occasion.

Does anybody really fall for vanity sizing? I know that I'm slim, but I also know that I'm not tiny - so when I have to buy a 4 or a 6 I don't think I've somehow magically transformed to supermodel proportions, it's just crap non-standard sizing. And as a biker, it's an absolute pain to buy motorcycle leathers which need to be a close fit for safety when so many manufacturers aren't making them below an 8 and are making their 8s massive.

I get what you are saying Divine.
Like I said in an earlier post my clothes in my wardrobe range from 8 to 16.
There is no way on God's earth am I true 8!!

My bust is 36 my waist is 28 and my hips are 37.

I'm not small but I'm not huge either.

A lot of the times I don't even bother looking at the label. I just hold item near to me and have an appproxiamate guess and then try on.

Kate Middleton's physique may be natural to her but I think it's far too slim to be healthy for the average woman to aspire to.

I think it depends on whether they cater for other markets. Say a designer that sells a lot to Japan, they will have much smaller sizes than UK targeted stuff.

Well there's a big difference between being a size 14/16 and being the same size as Kate Middleton. You can be bigger than Kate Middleton and smaller than a size 14/16 and be perfectly healthy.

So I still disagree with you completely.