A small example of the nonsense of clothes sizes

[thedevilinablackdress]

Recently got two pairs of trousers in a charity shop. Very similar style, fabric etc. Both fit well 😊
One is modern, size 12. The other I reckon 20 years old and a 14.

I can beat that!
Two dresses
One ASOS - size 14
One ASOS curve (usually comes up bigger) size 24

Both fit me

I think comparing vintage is a bit unfair because people have changed shape so much. I'm pretty much the same height as my DM, and weigh exactly the same as she did at my age (about 7 stone 5 - I'm a smidge taller, & she's a bit heavier now in her late 70s but otherwise we've always been pretty much identical since I reached my 20s).

I can't fit in any of her clothes from the 70s or 80s - the waists are far too small, & the shoulders too narrow. Even when I had a very stressful period & lost 5 or 6 lbs I'd still not have fitted in them. I'd say that's reflective of general trends, & clothes sizes have moved to take account of that.

I am an XXXL (or whatever their most ginormous size is) in Zara tops, a 14 in M&S, an 18 in Primark, and a 12 in Boden.

Have shapes changed that much in 20 years?
I think that argument applies if we're talking about the 40s or 50s when people had grown up with very different nutrition.

Try early 80s clothing & they really have - I guess women in their 30s/40s buying clothes then were born during rationing & the aftermath.

I don't think 20 years count as vintage. It's barely a generation.

I have a size 14 shift dress from Topshop, bought in 1992 when I was 18, which fits me perfectly. I buy size 8-10 in the shops today.

I think also clothes sizes have also always varied according to their market. So the way that Zara clothes run smaller than M&S now, 'older' brands ran older back in the day. I remember my Dad trying to buy my Mum a smart camel coat late 70s/early 80s (maybe for her 40th birthday) in a department store & they were all just ridiculously too big for her.

I used to find the same with smarter/office type wear when I first had a 'proper' job in the early 90s - an 8 in brands like Hobbs was not in any way a size 8 that would fit me!

Pre-pregnancy I had 3 pairs of jeans from Next - 2 were same style, one different - a 12, a 14 and a 16!

I have M & S clothes from twenty years ago that fitted me - size 12. Many years later, three children and several kilos extra I now fit M & S size 8 and 10!

I guess I'm not disagreeing that they've changed - only that they have done so to fit changing average figures/sizes (increased height, broader shoulders, larger waist sizes).

In the past most commonly the smallest size available was a 10, sometimes an 8, and it was generally a bit too big for me unless it was a cheaper brand / aimed at teens. These days smallest is usually an 8, sometimes a 6, and exactly the same is true. (With a shout out to the fabulous Uniqlo, friend to the short-arsed, and H&M, erratic but often good for small frames.)

I have a pair of size 14 jeans I bought as a sixth former. Now related to gardening clothes and yes stealth boast that they till fit

That was in c. 1987. Today I buy a 10 in most places and even an 8 in Next on occasion.

As a youngster I always thought of myself as a size 12/14, which was fine. It's ridiculous that in middle age I'm a 8/10

Op - you've got two items of clothing which are one size different to each other and that's "nonsense" ??

Surely most people have clothing that fits them but are different sizes in their wardrobes?

Sizes are different now. In 2005 I wanted skinny jeans. None anywhere would fit. All too baggy. Now I can get a 6 from primark or topshop/miss selfridge or urban outfitters. It's still a no to m&s or boden or next. I have gained about 5kgs in the almost 15 years. Maybe my shape has changed. It makes me wonder.

DM however was a 10 in 1980 odd. Still a 10 and has a considerably bigger middle due to babies and age.

I've got a pair of size 12 black velvet hot pants that I bought in Miss Selfridge in 1990. I buy a size 8/10 in shops now and can only just fit into those hot pants.

Actual size and fit of garments varies a lot even within the same store. I fit most pre pregnancy tops - even my older things - but not many bottoms. I’ve always assumed that was how hips altered after motherhood.

Regarding people in their 30s during 1980s being ‘born in the aftermath of rationing’, don’t know whether to laugh of be insulted. But I will say, Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 (not sure Uk or US tho) and my mum (now mid 80s) says she had never seen the concept of size 8 until the 1980s. My 1980s fitted tweed jacket (size 8) still fits even tho I tend to buy size 12 now in a jacket. The reason for this is that sleeves have got less generous including how much selvridge they have for letting down for those of us with long arms

Does it actually matter? Surely the sensible thing is to buy clothes that actually fit you no matter what it says on the label? and leave the size 8 label casually hanging out the back of your neck, whilst tucking in the size 18 label on your trousers

No, 30s in the 70s & 40s in the 1980s (as my DM would have been) = born in the 1940s. Rationing continued, with gradual easing up to the early 50s, ending finally in 1954.

My mum was born 1940, family joke was that she came in with the meat rationing

I'm a current size 14. Clearing out my mum's wardrobe, I found a very pretty size 14 black velvet dress from Richard Shops - must date back to the 70s.

I had to give it to size 8 dd.

I absolutely agree that clothing sizes are not worth paying too much attention to, and my use of the word nonsense was very light hearted. I was mildly amused.

Yesterday I had size 14 knickers and size 8 trousers!

I don't know about that.

I am a size 14. I am a size 14 in Boden and M&S and H&M and John Lewis and Oasis, and basically everywhere I shop.

And I bought a vintage coat from the 1970s earlier this week - size 14. Perfect fit.

Maybe I'm an anomaly?

I find it's massively different depending on the shop. I'm a 10 in Tesco, a 12 in M&S, H&M, Next and more likely a 14 in New Look, River Island, Topshop. I think it's because the latter shops are catering to a younger market.

When I was in school I wore Levis size 30 30
That's still my size but I'm nearly 2 stone heavier.

(20 years later)