I just took k my measurements to buy the right size of jeans and apparently I should be buying size 20 even though..

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

I'm a size 14 and all my trousers are a 14.
Wtf. This is the size guide for Levi's jeans and honestly I'm in shock. I am absolutely not a 16 let a lone a 20!
My husband then went into fact checking mode and also measured me and couldn't believe it.
No wonder I bought a size 14 river island jeans and they didn't fit!

Almost the same. I'm a 27 waist and 36 hip and usually end up size 8 or 10. When I was younger that would definitely have been a 12 or 14 so there is an element of vanity sizing at play.
But like others, it's the thigh where I need more room. No skinnies for me!

I have lots of pairs of Levi’s, I’m a size 6-8 and wear either a 26 or 27 depending on the style, which is exactly what their size chart says for my UK dress size. I have never measured my waist/hips for their sizing chart.

This is also weird.
I'm half a stone heavier, 5'6 and still a size 8 (or 10 sometimes).

River Island sizing is quite small, in my opinion.

Not tried the jeans but I would be a 10/12 most places and anything I’ve ever bought from there I was a 14.

From your photo you are definitely not a size 20.

I have been the same size all my life, but my clothes tell me I’ve got smaller! I started as a 12/14 now I’m 8/10. I’m a 10 according to Levi’s

Sizing is nonsense really as each brand does their own thing.

Chart looks ok to me - I fluctuate between a 10 and 12 and have jeans in a range of sizes from 27 to 29, and one in 30 waist.

I also don’t find Levi’s sizing to be a problem - some jeans just have more stretch than others, depends how you want them to fit.

It looks right to me. I am a 12 and 30 waist

Does it work if you use only the hip measurement?

I find the hip measurement a more accurate gauge. I am a bit apple shaped and the waist measurements are a work of fiction. Occasionally I will come across a too tight waist band’ makes me fell sorry for pears.

Of all the people I know who are a 12 and a 16 I most definitely fit in-between them and look at 14. I don't think a 14 is small and before kids I was a 12.
You are rude and gas-lighty!

This thread has given me a good old blast of the past feeling.

I was a teenager in the eighties. I was considered tall at that time (5ft 7 and a half). I was not overweight. I was a size 14 which was the biggest size you could be without being a 'oversize' and nobody wanted to be that. In fact you couldn't buy size 16 in most shops, certainly not the ones aimed at teenagers. you could buy bigger sizes in M&S, BHS etc

It stuck in my mind that a size 12 which I could never fit into was around a 26 waist and my own which was a size 14 was 28 inch. I just checked the internet and it corrects me saying a size 12 was a 26.5 inch waist.

A size 14 was a 36 bust, 28 waist and 38 hips.

I think since vanity sizing came in everything is 2 sizes bigger than it was traditionally (although perhaps it has gotten even bigger now I would have to check). Traditionally there was never any size below an 8 (which is why we now have size 4's because these will be the people who used to be classed as an 8)

So I wear a size 18 now adays because I am without a doubt fat (trying to address that but definately fat). In the 'olden days' I would have been a 22.

This is what makes me realise I really, really do have a weight problem.

With everyone getting fatter our prespective of what is the right size has changed and myself included deludes myself 'oh well I can squeeze into an 18 so that is not too bad then' when in fact I am a size 22 and that conjures up imagines of women who were very fat indeed.

Humans do seem to have got taller in general since then because at 5ft 7 and a bit I no longer seem to be considered that tall. However we are all definately much fatter.

It’s the sizes underneath.

So if you go “plus size” you’d be smaller than a 14

Agree with PP that this sizing chart is not for those with a large hip:waist ratio but other than that it is normal-to-generous. In fact, as an apple I'd love this size chart.

So still very confused how OP can be surprised not to be a size 14 if waist measurement is actually 35inches?

OP you're not American, I assume? That is UK 18 so 20 seems closer to that.

I think maybe your photo isn’t very flattering - it looks like your stomach has been squashed in to those leggings! Go by measurements rather than photos!

These are the size 14r river island jeans which are only slightly tight 🤔

Looks right to me. My measurements put me between a 10 and a 12 ish. I usually wear a 12.
Perhaps your existing jeans are stretched out? Or your tape measure is off?
Sizes are all over the place though. I could shop around and cram myself into size 8 if I was so inclined.

Because everything I wear is a 14 and fitsm all my work trousers and jeans. So to fit Levi's size 20 seems a bit of a jump.
For all those vanity sizing quotes I was born in '86 so I've only known the "new" sizes.

Well, this will be a drip feed but we used a belt and then measured the belt as I don't have a flexible measuring tape. I also tried it with sellotape and then measured that and both were the same so I do think the measurements were right

I guess if you wear mid rise and not high rise it wouldn't be an issue. If you go by the hip measurement and a low to mid rise you can bypass the waist measurement.

Honestly OP I think it’s just because you don’t really have a waist. But overall you look like a size 14 to me. I guess all the size chart is saying is that someone size 20 could have your size of waist (but have bigger hip and chest measurements)

Do you usually wear stuff with stretch? Just realistically, if you measure a 20, and new 14s don't fit, then you're not a size 14.

I'd love a pair of Levis but I'd have to order them online and the sizings terrify me, so I appreciate the RL info!

Have you actually measured the waist on the river island jeans? If your waist measures 36 but the jeans measure 31.5, then you are squeezing into them. Maybe your waist measures smaller or maybe the jeans waist measures bigger?

They are new 14s on a brand I never usually buym which is what led me to look at the size chart. I bought a pair of black Next on a 14 and they do fit.