Is 'vanity sizing' getting worse?

[LaburnumGrove]

Years ago I was a 10 and my wedding dress was a 10 (very fitted waist) and my waist was 24 inches.

We all know that has changed and some 10s now are 28 inch waist.

But what about tops too?

I've noticed that more and more tops (T shirts etc) are available in a size 6 which was very unusual before.

I'm usually an 8 now in many clothes but some tops I'm verging on needing a 6. I'm petite and 32D bust but size 6 hardly ever existed in most brands years ago.

Yeah it’s crazy.

Yes - I have worn size 12 trousers for ever, but I’m certainly not the same shape and size as I was 20 years ago.

Yeah for sure. I’ve lost weight and whereas I was a 12 at this weight before, I’m a 10 which looks baggy.

Does it matter? As long as you can find clothes that fit properly does it really matter what size the label says?

It's been this way for years. I don't think it's "getting worse", no.

Yes definitely. I often see social media posts of woman delighted to be a 10. Its very obvious if it wasnt for vanity sizing they would be a 14 or 16 which is fine but be honest about it.

YANBU. I have a 29 / 30 inch waist. Bought a pair of size 8 trousers from Oliver Bonas. They are literally falling off me. The size 6 was out of stock. There is no way I'm an 8, let alone a 6. Where do skinny people shop?!

I was a size 8 when I was 15 and weighed at least a stone less!

As far back as the 90s I can remember people (and papers) saying average sizes were getting bigger because the average person's shape was changing over time.

I think it does matter especially when you are shopping online. If I shop for my husband it’s straightforward 34 waist trousers 29 inside leg. Large in a top. I can be anything from a 14 to a 20. I ordered a jacket the other week in an 18 as that was what the sizer ‘true fit’ told me to get. It was enormous, took it back to the shop as returning online wasn’t free, they didn’t have the smaller sizes so sourced the same one elsewhere. It’s a 14 and it’s still big enough to put a jumper under!
Companies moan about the number of returns but I’m sure if sizes were standard then more would get ordered and more kept. I’m put off ordering by the thought of having to return

Yes, definitely. But does it matter? I know roughly what size I am in most of my favourite brands and, although they vary broadly, I usually end up with clothes that fit. And that's despite buying all my clothes second hand (thus never trying anything on, so I've got to be pretty confident): Jigsaw (14) and All Saints and 'old' Ghost (12) but Free People (S) is a good example. I bought two jackets from M&S last year which were a size 8 (lol). I'd say I'm probably a tall, hourglass 12 in 'old' sizing.

I’ve recently lost a lot of weight. I’m now 10 stone at 5’4”. I was last this weight 15 years ago and then 25 years ago.
25 years ago I was a size 14
15 years ago a size 12
I’ve recently gone shopping and needed to buy everything in a size S or a 10.
I’m literally only just in the healthy weight range on the bmi chart. No way should I be a size small.

I was moaning to my mum about it. She found a dress she’d kept from the 1970s when she was 5’7” and 8.5 stone and it was a size 14!!!

I think the recent oversized trend has exacerbated this. I am a size 12 (29" waist) but would usually fit size 10 clothes. That's your normal amount of vanity sizing. But during the oversized trend I was buying size 6 or 8. Items were still loose, just not of tentlike proportions.

In general though, the only solution is for women's clothes to be sold by inches like men's are. It's much more difficult for manufacturers to add inches to the clothes if they are actually naming it "size 29 inches".

It matters when shops are constantly pushing us to shop online (particularly if you’re very small/large/tall/short).

it’s bad enough having to take three sizes of everything you want to purchase into the fitting room but having to do the same with online order to a infuriating.

Yes it’s really confusing and I can’t order online anymore as I always pick the wrong size ! As a teen in the 90s I was tiny and wore a size 8 and that was the smallest size I ever saw, I was very tall though and I remember my friend who was tiny and petite always having to go to top shop for most of her things as they seemed to be the only place with size 4/6. She often had to buy children’s clothes !

What I find annoying is that there is no consistency.

Yes it does matter, because I can no longer guarantee that a size will fit me without trying it on.

Sizing has become crazy - I’m now a size 6 - Laughs loudly! I have clothes in my wardrobe that are 8-10 from several years ago, H&M, Zara, that still fit me exactly the same way, yet I am now a size 6 and yes OP, tops are huge, I’m forever ordering online and taking it all back!

It matters in so much as I buy most of my clothes online as shops are some distance away ( J Lewis, Boden, Nobody's Child, Whistles, The White Company) and I'm having to return items or order 2 sizes (which I usually do.)

J Lewis own brand never, in my memory, used to do a 6.

Really? ‘It’s fine’ of course it’s fine, it’s an arbitrary number made up by the clothing industry.

This whole thread screams of posters being pissed off that ‘big’ people are smaller sizing now. Just like the faux concern threads over people on WLI 🙄🙄🙄

xd posts- me too.

Some size 6 clothes are baggy on me so it does matter for naturally skinny women

28 inch waist used to be size 14.

I don’t know? I have a few size 10 dresses I bought mid 90s (so 30 years ago) that I can still get into. My waist size has increased a bit due age and 3 pregnancies but I’m still the same size although my fat distribution has changed.

Markies have just went the other way, lots of complaints, they were always overly generous, now it’s moving back to the size it should be and lots of people complaining they can’t get their normal size on and obvs reticent to move up.

irs important to not Uk dress sizes has a two inch range on the waist

for me though most brands stick to the same size, so for example I know if I buy a size 8 in me and em it fits me, always has, and still does.

Are you being serious?
What sane person could possibly be bothered that 'larger people' can now buy smaller sizes?

The issue is that it's impossible to rely on a size without trying it on first.

If, like me, you live an hour away from a large town where there is a choice of shops, internet shopping is far easier.

So it's often a case of shelling out on a few sizes, waiting for the returns to be refunded and keeping track of them all!

Offcourse its fine to be bigger but why squeeze into a size 10 then pretend to be one? And why is vanity sizing even allowed? Its just confusing and makes it difficult to know what size to buy because each shop is so different. Sizes should be consistent across the industry. Bigger people are still bigger regardless of if they are wearing a vanity size 10. We have an obesity crisis as a country vanity sizing only adds to this issue.

Influencers pretending to be smaller than they clearly are is just sad. The Influencers who are honest about being larger and show people how to dress for it, wear the right size and explain to viewers what suits each shape normally look absolutely amazing.