If you're a size 12, what size is your waist (vintage clothes shock)

[careerchangeperhaps]

I wear a size 12. I came across an eBay listing for a vintage C&A skirt. Unsure of year but it was made in UK so likely to be 80s or earlier.
It's a size 12 but on the label says will fit waist 24". It's been a long time since someone wearing a size 12 would have had a 24" waist my thighs aren't far off that.
Vanity sizing really is hiding how fat we all are, isn't it?

Do any of you wear Fat Face jeans? I have some of theirs but find the sizing all over the place. But I don’t like to give up on them because about 5 years ago I found the perfect jeans there, size 14 and live in hope I’ll strike it lucky again.

Light bulb moment
Couldn't understand how I went on my first diet at 19 because I was going into a size 20 at 14st and now 25 years later I'm 18st and still a 20.

My mum had a 19 inch waist when she married (1960, age 25, height 5ft6). I haven't been able to get into her wedding dress since I was 10.
To be fair, she hasn't been able to get into it since her wedding day either. She relaxed and ate a lot on honeymoon, then got pregnsnt with me.

a 12 now is what a 16/18 was way back when - vanity sizing is ridiculous

I have a pair of size 16 jeans from 1997 and I need to be on the smaller side of 12 now in new look/asos etc to get into them

I think waist sizes have changed dramatically even for people who are not overweight.

Size 12 Vogue patterns used to be closer to 8/10. Old Vogue size 14 is more like the present shop 10 or Medium.

Vanity sizing has certainly inflated over time.

Everyone needs to ask for actual measurements when buying vintage clothes.

i can remember being a size 16, 28 inch waist at one point in my teens. I thought I was fat, I was in comparison to all my friends. Mostly I was a size 14 (26" inch waist) at 9 stone 2lb and 5'4. And that was not thought to be slim, just not quite fat! For the boys/young men in their early/mid 20's, a size 26"was the norm. DH was a 32" waist (6foot tall) when we met, I thought he was on the chubby side.

When I was in my 20s in the 1970s, I was a size 12 and my measurements were 34-24-36. My best friend was a size 10 and she measured 32-22-34.

I've always been a size 10.
In the 90s, at uni, I was 8 stone and wore a 10.
Now I'm closer to 11 stone, BMI slightly overweight, and most of my clothes are a 10.
M&S and Next I fit into an 8 in some stuff, it's ridiculous

What's happened to our bodies? Women's figures have been transformed in the past 60 years... with huge implications for our health | Daily Mail Online

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1213475/Whats-happened-bodies-Womens-figures-transformed-past-60-years--huge-implications-health.html

I am not sure if all of this is accurate but some of it must be.

Remember also the fashion was for waistbands to sit VERY high - all vintage skirts I've bought have been designed to sit at the highest (also smallest!) part of the waist e.g. right up under the ribs (26" measurement on me). Shopping modern clothes I would expect the waistband to sit a couple inches lower (30" measurement on me). So even for the same size skirt I would expect a number of inches difference in the 'waist' measurement to account for a lower rise.

Size 12, 31 inch waist here. I am 10 stone 6, and 5 foot 4. Used to be much slimmer at around 9 stone, waist way smaller, size 10.

“ NancyPickford

When I was in my 20s in the 1970s, I was a size 12 and my measurements were 34-24-36. My best friend was a size 10 and she measured 32-22-34.“

That correlates with my general experience too NP.

I think stress adds to waist size in women.

A size 12 used to be 26 inch waist in the 90s in the teen style shops then Topshop, DPs etc.

Please do keep sharing where a size 14/16 or bigger might fit into a 10/12

It may not be vintage at all. C&A is all over Europe, they only shut British branch.
I regularly buy clothes when I’m abroad and often then I resell them on ebay when I get bored of them.
When I list them I always state that is NOT a vintage item bought in 90s but in a fact bought last year in Prague!

I think stress adds to waist size in women.

For me it tends to be cake...

My waist is 28", I would need an 8 from M&S, 10 from most shops or 12 from Zara.

I am tall - 5'10" and near the bottom end of healthy BMI. I would be dangerously underweight with a 24" waist.

I'm not entirely sure that it's just vanity sizing. There's definitely an element of that but I also think we are just a different shape now? I do think that constantly wearing tight on the waist garments trains your body to distribute the weight differently - away from the waist, and that 20-30 odd years of waists sitting on the hips instead will have had an effect.

I mean - I could be wrong - but I certainly would not be healthier if my waist was that small, and I was the same shape.

And fwiw I am curvy, hourglass with a small waist compared to my hips.

Ah yes, the good old days where I was told wearing a size ten at five foot six and eight stone four meant that I was fat.

Can't wait to get back to those days again, as 'we've lost sight of what normal is the size at which to start abusing women and girls for their body shape ' [/sarcasm]

This is the problem. Its criminal that retailers have been allowed to do it.
Next is about two sizes out.

I studied fashion design in the early 2000s, I was totally shocked by what a size 12 really was (I was not it!). It's become standard practice for fashion companies to increase the sizing but keep the number to make women feel better when they go shopping and buy more.

Hmm, just read the Daily fail link, which appears to be quoting two actual surveys of women's body shapes so presumably the figures themselves are reliable.

It says the average woman in 1951 had a 27" waist and was a size 12 - so I'm not sure that the C&A size is indicative or accurate? Also - wasn't C&A aimed at quite a young customer and younger girls and women do have smaller waists because they haven't been stretched out by pregnancy.

I don't think this is just about vanity sizing? Decades ago people were smaller because they were undernourished, that's why people are generally taller and broader now (agreed they are also fatter). Also your shape changes after kids and around menopause. Some of the shops with large waist sizes are catering towards older women who are carrying more fat round the waist even if they haven't actually gained weight overall.

That is a seventies label, and yes a 1970s 12 was a 24” or 26” depending on the brand. A 4 or 6 now.

I am a size 14/16 and fit into a size 14/16 in most vintage clothes (40s clothing I tend to fit into 12s). You need to remember that shops didn’t have standard sizes back then & sizes were adjusted according to target markets even back then. The on trend 70s clothing meant for younger women are often inches smaller than the unfashionable clothing meant for older women. You also need to remember that women were a lot shorter and often wore girdles or corsets under their clothes.