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Original poster

Vanity sizing re-visited...

97 replies

Notcontent · 28/06/2014 18:25

I know this has been discussed before, but I think it's getting worse...

I was just thinking after a recent shopping trip to j crew in London. I have not shopped there much but have a top from there, purchased about 5 years ago. It's a size small. But when I went there recently I tried on lots of tops and for some only XXS fitted me... I am petite and slim, but not a scrawny midget! About 5'3 tall and 50kg.

I have also noticed that Whistles have recently introduced size 4 and 6.... Size 8 there used to be fine but now I have to size down...

OP posts:

beccajoh · 29/06/2014 10:37

I've got a New Look skirt bought almost 20 years ago. The label says size 12. I can't even get it over my hips, yet if I go in new look now a 12 is huge on me. I can't be getting bigger AND smaller at the same time.

ThursdayLast · 29/06/2014 10:41

It pusses me off because it means you have to try everything on. I have a DS strapped to me front most of the time, so if I really want something I guess what size I think will fit, and try it on at home.
And Internet shopping is crazy hit and miss.

sherazade · 29/06/2014 10:48

Even Zara has joined the bandwagon I think! they're not as small as they used to be which means one less place for me to shop at !

Jubelteen · 29/06/2014 10:55

I always take a tape measure with me when clothes shopping, and quickly measure waist and chest before even bothering to try items on.
I don't take any notice of the size on the label and go on measurements only. I have clothes ranging from 10-18 which all fit and I have 36" bust, 30" waist, 36" hips.
I do think it fuels obesity though, at work women who are clearly overweight talk about only being a size 12, they won't divulge their measurements though.

OneLittleLady · 29/06/2014 12:11

there's huge inconsistencies in sizes in almost all shops. I have clothes in loads of different sizes and they all fit. I find it baffling that I can need an 18 in one shop but a 12 in another. Ive recently lost 3 stone and have gone from a large 22 to a mid 14 but even now, my clothes all have different size labels. it's no wonder people have no real idea of their own body shape and size if there's absolutely no consistency when it comes to the cut and size of clothes. Labels don't mean anything as it's only you who sees them but shopping is difficult and takes ages because absolutely everything needs to tried on in multiple sizes to find the one that fits. I have dresses that are identical except for the colour and they have been bought in two different sizes because of the massive difference in the way they've been cut.

burnishedsilver · 29/06/2014 12:17

I have a really old pair of jeans from next. I rarely wear them cause they're a too tight. They're a 12. Of what's in stock in next at the moment, size 8 jeans fit nicely. At this rate, in a few years I'll be shopping in the children's section. I haven't gotten any smaller. If anything my belly is bigger thanks to 3 kids.

JaceLancs · 29/06/2014 12:28

I can be anywhere between a 14 and a 24 and that can be in the same shop!

By my reckoning I am a size 16-18 at moment

The smallest item I am wearing at the moment is a Per Una skirt in a size 8!!!

RufusTheReindeer · 29/06/2014 12:31

Size 12/14 here

It's winding me up as well. Having to try on loads of clothes, some times the difference between two sizes is minuscule sometimes it's huge

I was a size 8/10 16 years ago...god knows what that actually translates to

And what really pisses me off is the fact that shops do this while blaming women's (not all the time) vanity!!!!!!

I don't give a flying fuck what my label says I can always cut it out

Noticed as well that in some catalogues if you use their measurements you come out as a 16 and when you try it on you need to hi a size or two lower

Saurus72 · 29/06/2014 12:40

What I really don't understand is how this can work for companies from a commercial perspective. So many people now shop online, so you would think it would be imperative for shops to have consistent sizing, to reduce the number if returns they get, which must after all cost them a lot to process.

For me, it's less about vanity sizing (my bathroom scales tell me the truth about that...!), and more about, when I go to a particular shop or their website, I know what size to order, and don't have to faff around ordering the same garment in three different sizes in the hope one will fit.

In Hobbs, I have bought three different sizes of clothes on the same day - that is freaking ridiculous. In Whistles, I bought a top in size small the other day; I am 36dd bra size - at no point ever a size small! I think shops don't realise how annoying this is, and how p*ssed off it makes us. The one thing it doesn 't do us fool us into thinking we are smaller than we think.

Bunbaker · 29/06/2014 12:51

Exactly Saurus72.

MillionPramMiles · 29/06/2014 13:05

Jubelteen: excellent idea!

Sicaq · 29/06/2014 13:12

Lottie, I find it to a small degree: I'm the same measurements as I was 20 years ago and I'd say in some places I've gone from a 10 to an 8. But in other shops like Topshop (don't judge me) my "size" has not gone down.

I wonder if some of this perception of "vanity sizing" is down to the increased use of Lycra, so we can stretch ourselves into sizes that aren't really right for us.

InMySpareTime · 29/06/2014 13:15

I've taken to wearing children's clothes! Currently I'm wearing DD's old a Boden kids age 11-12 t-shirt and size 8 M&S skinny jeans (which fall off without a belt).
I'm at the top of a healthy BMI (5ft, 8st 7, 32-23-36) goodness knows what I'd wear if I lost any more weight!
At least I save on VAT.

OneLittleLady · 29/06/2014 13:34

I shouldn't fit in children's clothes given that I weigh just over 13 stone but I do. I recently bought a children's maxi dress in New Look in age 14-15 and it fits like it was made especially for me. I'm 4' 11'' so height wise, children's stuff is perfect for me but I'm pretty sure given the size of my hips and boobs, that I shouldn't be able to wear anything meant for children.

TheFairyCaravan · 29/06/2014 13:59

I'm 5ft4 and 7stone12. When I got married 20 years ago I was the same weight and a size 10, sometimes clothes were a bit tight.

I have a pair of Dorothy Perkins jeans in a size 8 that literally fall down, and last week bout some Next shorts and a 6 are loose! It's madness, 10 years ago I was 7stone 4 and wasn't a bloody 6!

frillyskirt · 29/06/2014 14:04

Two places I haven't seen vanity sizing are Primark and Sainsburys. I don't shop in either all that much, but am often shocked if i try something on and it's about two sizes smaller than in the collective 'other shops'.

frillyskirt · 29/06/2014 14:05

.....But then both probably use the same factories despite the price discrepancy - and they're more likely being stingy with fabric than giving a shite about how we feel in the mirror.

Bunbaker · 29/06/2014 15:55

Sicaq Judging from the posts on here vanity sizing isn't a perception, but a reality. I first started buying my own clothes as a teenager, way back in 1973. I can assure you that size 10 was the smallest adult size. There was no such thing as sizes 8 or size 6 let alone anything smaller. I had a 23 inch waist and I wore a size 10.

I also think that teenager's clothes are larger than the smallest adult size.

DD is 13 and wears a size 6 adult size jeans. Age 13 jeans are way too wide and way too short.

ReadyToBreak · 29/06/2014 16:19

It has to stop!

The number of shops I can buy clothes in has dimished to only a handful as even the once impossible to fit in to size 6 is now too big for me in many high street stores. Bought a size 6 smart pencil skirt from Zara last month and it falls down!!!

I'm left with super dry, JW, A&F and Hollister where I'm still a size 8.

punygod · 29/06/2014 16:32

Am I the only person who doesn't notice this?

Oh shit. That means I'm growing in proportion to the clothes, doesn't it?

Bollocks

punygod · 29/06/2014 16:33

Am I the only person who doesn't notice this?

Oh shit. That means I'm growing in proportion to the clothes, doesn't it?

Bollocks

AntiDistinctlyMinty · 29/06/2014 16:41

I've recently lost just under a stone (I put almost three stone on during a course of steroids) and was thrilled that I fitted into the 16 jeans in Dorothy Perkins. I went home, thinking how nice it would be to get back into all the lovely clothes in my wardrobe. Did they fit? Did they buggery! I haven't bought anything new in years so hadn't realised how bad it's got. Judging by the fit yesterday I'll be in a 12 in the shop before I can get into the 16's in my wardrobe

frillyskirt · 29/06/2014 17:34

There was a website which explained this phenomenon a while ago but i can't recall it's name now. The woman who ran it had worked in the industry and explained 'vanity sizing' in this way:

She said that the industry always used a size 12 to represent average.
So if the population was getting larger, then so was the average.
So the industry simply made the 12 larger to reflect this new average.

Does this make sense?

Not sure if it's correct, but it was one explanation.
So the new size six is the old size 10, or whatever, but it's all relative.

It's so they can keep the middle ground as a size 12.

frillyskirt · 29/06/2014 17:36

So basically, clothes sizing is not a good way to check on your weight or health. It's just a rising and falling numbers game that means practically nothing.
Best to check your weight via measuring yourself, or using scales, etc.

Sicaq · 29/06/2014 18:17

Sure Bunbaker, I think it is real too in many shops: just not all, and not to three dress sizes. I've gone "down" one size since the 80s. But I also think that the stretchiness on fabric today contributes. Way Back When, clothes didn't gave as much give as they do today: even denim is full of Lycra nowadays.

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