What is the point in a Size 4...

[BlockThatScrote]

When it drowns you as an 8?!

This isn't a teeny tiny poor me thread because I'm genuinely not. This is a Hush thread but there are other perpetrators too.

I'm 5'3, always at least 8st, 26H boobs. I've had two children and the belly to prove it. I'm not a size 4. I'm a size 8!

I knew Hush came up big and it was a fur coat so not something you'd want loads of layers on under (hence ordering a 4)... but you could fit two of me inside it.

I'm annoyed because I loved the coat but it got me wondering... "vanity sizing" seems to get worse every year, so what next? Do they just not want 100,000s of women's custom?

I used to spend so much money with them and pulled way back when the quality went down and the prices went up, but I'm tempted to just boycott them now.

Sainsbury's is another one where the smallest they usually do is an 8 and it's too big. I noticed they have a 6 in petite, but it seems to be getting worse and I'm finding more and more it's only the "younger" fast-fashion cheapo shops where I can buy something that's not the default smallest size (meaning the 100,000+ women smaller than me can shop there).

I guess what I'm saying is, if they're going to vanity size then great, but they should introduce "a number" to represent the sizes they've just shoved out of that size. So Hush apparently needs a 2 to cater to the 8s, and a 0 to cater to the 6s. And if you're actually a 4 (because of genes or illness or medication or eating disorders or whatever) then fuck them I suppose 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Aaaaaand breathe.

Oh fat percentage scales is probably a really good way to look at it actually as that will help me get my head around why I'm never a really small size even when slim and fit.

Although maybe I should start buying from Hush to make myself feel better

I pretty much ignore sizing charts now. With my measurements I am anything between an 18 and a 10!!!! With big boobs, but small frame, 30 HH, no waist, small hips, sizing for me just doesn't work.

I am also a bit fat, but that fat is squidgy, so can be belted in, which is also more flattering. If I go for the suggested mid range of 14/16, I am swamped, even the arms are too long. And as for all the boxy tops, just no.

So I now guess, buy a lot of jersey in winter, and in summer dresses elastic panels are my friends, and generally that way am a 12, sometimes a 10.

Yes yes yes!!! I feel my size has just been pushed off the bottom of the scale and it's so hard to know what to buy. I think coats are the worst offenders actually. 'Oversize' isn't an excuse because that's a cut and should be designable for a smaller frame.
Shopping in store isn't even the answer as lots of shops now don't carry the smaller sizes (?!?!)
I know shops have a returnability problem when people buy online, sorting out their sizes would go a long way to remedy that.

I'm so sick of oversize clothing. I'm 5'1, 30 25 35 and I just can't buy clothes in any of the more nicer stores like COS, Reid's, etc. I'm 35 and I want to dress my age but it's impossible to find nicely cut clothes that fit!

I also find the variation in sizing crazy. I definitely don’t consider myself petite at 6ft tall and just under 11 stone, but increasingly I need size XS, it’s madness, XS in H&M but M often in Zara, although that varies too and I have things in S from there also and one skirt in size L.
I’ve things in size 8 from M&S…I’m not a size 8, I’m slim, but feel a 10 is my real size and all the shops just mess with sizes to flatter their customers.

Sizing needs to move over to measurements that cannot be fudged to suit people- 32, 36 etc. or in cm.

Hush is particularly bad. You need to size down at least one, if not two sizes.

I have the coat that I think you’re talking about though - the design is particularly loose fitting.

I definitely don’t consider myself petite at 6ft tall and just under 11 stone, but increasingly I need size XS, it’s madness, XS in H&M but M often in Zara, although that varies too and I have things in S from there also and one skirt in size L.

what waist size are you?

This is exactly why I only buy clothes from 5 shops online. It's ridiculous.

^I can't fathom how thin you must be to be drowned by a size 4 even if it's really more like a small 8^

I would imagine she has a lovely figure, and very normally slim. You seem to have missed the point of the thread.

I think it's also the oversized fit thing. I'm a 12 in buttoned things, zips etc (29" waist) but dresses/tops I can buy some 10s. Also have the odd size 8 coat/knitwear because they were loose. This has been the same for 15 yrs plus for me.

I'm 5ft 10 though. I think it's harder if your shorter than average though as younger people are taller now & most shops probably base it off that.

I agree Op! An 8 all my life, haven’t changed. I now need to find shops with 4/6, 8s now swamp me. It’s really irritating. My shopping has had to become more niche and sometimes I need to use the kids section.

The size charts bear no resemblance to the size of the clothes though. I’m 36 27 39, which should make me at least a 12 according to most size charts, and I wear a 10 in Zara/Stories/H&M, and an 8 in ASOS. I haven’t got anything from Hush/M&S/Next. I wear 27” jeans from Stories but 26” in Levi’s last time I tried jeans in there. I sometimes make my own clothes and I have to start with a size 12 on the modern pattern charts (the old Vogue patterns put my hips in a 16)!

I agree. I’m basically a straight 10, have been since I was 16, and in recent years I’ve increasingly been buying 8/XS, so yes not sure what anyone genuinely smaller than a 10 is supposed to do.

Some of it is the oversized business but just seems clothes are bigger, which must have a knock on effect on quality for the price, if they are using more fabric than they need. Sick of seeing loads of massive, poorly made garments made out if cheap fabric. The prices are not high, I wish they were and you got a better item.

@PammieDooveOrangeJoof I noticed this last year re shoe sizing. I’ve always been a size 4 and suddenly I had to buy size 3s as the size 4s were too big! Vanity sizing for footwear for goodness sake!

Similarly I have always been the same size/weight my entire adult life and I now wear a 6 not an 8 and I’m waiting for size 4 joggers to arrive from hush.

Oh, and I now find that almost everywhere cuts for people to have no waist at all.

@MaryLennoxsScowl

Oh, and I now find that almost everywhere cuts for people to have no waist at all.

I find this with jeans for sure.

Generally I have to size up for my hips to get in them but then the waists are 2 sizes too big. I've actually resorted to wearing Mom jeans a size smaller than they should be. So I think really I need a 10/12 to have the baggy mom look but I've bought 8/10 so they fit on my waist but are maybe technically not baggy enough on my bum.

But I still like a skinny and struggle - Levi's I've had some luck in certain styles but still bigger round the waist than the size measurements would have you think.

The sizing structure for women's/teen girl's clothing is ridiculous - it varies so much from store to store, and even within some stores. I really wish there was simply bust, waist, hip, length measurements, and they were used accordingly, e.g. bust/length for tops, waist/hip/leg length for jeans and so on.

i think maybe you need to take into consideration that lots of things in style at the moment are oversized on purpose and thats different to being too big.
It is a pain for buying online, but for instance im a 14-16 at the moment, but theres some tops in H&m that ive bought in small or extra small because I didnt want them as oversized as is the style now. I cant buy trousers from there at all though unless jersey, as even their 16s arent cut for fat thighs

I'm a lot larger than you but agree about inconsistent sizing . I'm a 14-16, nearer a 16 nowadays. I ordered a dress from Hush in a size 16, it's going back, but I would have needed a 12. I am far bigger than a size 12.

I was discussing this with DD recently. She was looking for a NYE party dress but has been trying to avoid PLT/ Boohoo etc. However, she's 5'3" and 7 stone. Sporty figure. There's nothing to fit her in almost all the mainstream adult women shops. The only shops that sell smaller sizes are the ones aimed at teens. She ended up in an OhPolly size 4 that fitted real well.

However- she's the same body type as both her grandmothers. Both 5'4", both 7 stone until they were in their late 50s and neither over 8 stone even now. And they never had trouble finding clothes to fit. Their body type was easily catered for. Apparently they were just size 8 in the 1960/70s.

There really isn't much out there for petite women.

I hate online clothes shopping for this reason. I miss browsing and trying clothes on. Hardly buy any clothes these days, and I just stick to one brand and style of jeans as I know they fit. I also loathe it when I have to pay for returns (plus the faff of getting money back before I can buy something else that may or may not fit. Thinking the fashion industry must be shooting itself in the foot a bit by ditching the high street.

Oh, and I now find that almost everywhere cuts for people to have no waist at all.

Isn't that because women are broader now?

This is why I buy from just 2-3 online shops that I know fit properly.

Sézane is pricey but spot on size-wise and will actually state “this comes up small so if you are between sizes then size up” or vice versa if it comes up big. So refreshing to be able to rely on website descriptions!