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.

That 'Mum' was trying to say you can always 'pretend' you are a size zero or whatever- just cut out the label.

This thread is not about being in denial over your size.

It's about the inconvenience of how sizing has changed and keeps changing, making it very hard to buy clothes online or in shops without trying them on.

Its hard when you are actually looking for a true small size though.

Until my early 30s I just didnt put on weight I was naturally 6.5st or below and 5'5" I could eat whatever I wanted and that was still my size

At school in the 90s, my poor mum had to sew in all my clothes to get them to fit. I also lived 70s vintage so I found things there that did fit.

I went onto steroids for AI disease and went to a size 12. Could buy clothes anywhere.

Got a bit better, back to 6.5 stone and unless I bought carefully from ebay for older clothes, designer or Italian/Spanish nothing fitted

I bought some XS things like tshirts and joggers, which now (again steroids) at 2 stone heavier still fit, and arguably look better- and im now in the more mid range of BMI

I was shopping with my DM and DS, both size 16 and the size small were fitting them. I had a few things to try on and didnt bother as they are both 4 stone heavier, and a bit shorter than me.

So it is an issue when clothing saying it is for thinner people - EXTRA small isn't at all suitable

It makes it really hard when you were a 6 but size 6 clothes are bigger.

I just don’t tend to buy new.

Posted too soon
My husband is overweight.
He is an XL - he knows he can buy XL and it fits.

Likewise my skinny nephew buys XS

From primark to Hugo Boss

Ive got a much bigger waist than 28 inches and lots of my trousers are 10s, the others are 12s and I might have a few 14s which are a bit baggy but the 12s were too small

Totally random. I have to buy several sizes at once and send the others back. Complete faff.

so the point being it only applies to women's clothing?
Is that what you mean?

Its not about being upset

Its about it being inconvenient

This doesnt happen with mens clothes as another poster has already states. Same for my OH, he goes into a shop, gets xl, xl fits. Any shop. Any time. Any where.

He hasnt changed

The clothing hasnt changed.

Consistency and convenience

OP I think your tone is unkind. I was merely offering a different perspective.
'That mum' was my mum and as she was a well known society beauty I think she would have known what she was talking about.
Fwiw we were both models.
You have all sizes of posters here and not everyone is confident and tiny.

I think it depends where you shop. I find sizing quite inconsistent and that annoys me because I never know what size to take into the changing rooms. Some shops are tight waists, some overly generous. I have always found this though. H&M is the worst for this, I general shop by eye in there but often wonder if I am wearing something in a fitted way that is meant to look like a sack or vice versa.

but OP is right.

This isn’t about being in denial over your size, it’s about the irritation and inconvenience of their being zero consistency.

i can go into any retailer and buy pretty much any shoe in a size 5 and it will fit (except you puma speedcat ballerina!). Sizing is consistent.

In trousers I can take a 6/8/10/12 depending on where I shop. It’s annoying.

although I’m interested in the comment that M&S have reverted to more accurate sizing. I bought some jeans there about a year ago in one size, lost 9lb and now need the size up.

The average woman’s height was 5’2” in the auk in the 1950s. Average shoe size 3-4. Average hat size 21.5 inches. Women were overall significantly smaller. Better nutrition and healthcare has led to a growth in the size of men and women since then. It’s no surprise our inches have grown. How strange would a 5’10” woman look with a 24 inch waist! They’re usually models (who are chosen for being different than the norm). A size 10 in the 1950s would proportionally look similar to today, the waist to bust to hip ratio, but with smaller inches. 1950s size 10 is much smaller than a modern size 10, typically measuring roughly 32.5–33 inches in the bust and 24.5–25 inches in the waist. A standard UK size 10 generally corresponds to a 34–36 inch bust and a 27–28 inch waist. As you can see both have roughly 9 inch difference between bust and waist. So it’s not that old size 10 were “skinnier” but overall smaller. Today a size 10 would look just as slim but on a larger scale if that makes sense.

My daughter is a 4. And even some 4s are too big. She really struggles to find clothes.

Wow, that’s so rude!

’That’ Mum’ was that posters mum.

Why are you getting so wound up at people offering a different opinion?

For what it’s worth I agree having to order multiple sizes in order to be able to see what will fit is annoying but I think you owe that poster an apology!

The inconsistency between brands isn’t new though- as a teen in the 90s I knew a top shop size 8 was dramatically different to a M&S size 8, which was different again to a C&A size 8.

Then within that, it wasn’t even a case of just buying a bigger or smaller size - the waist to hip to bust variations were different from shop to shop, so a top shop size 8 might fit your waist but be too tight on the hips/bust, M&S size 6 might be the same waist size as the top shop size 8 but it had more material in the hips and bust.

Shops will never agree to consistently on sizing as it would mean standardising not just wait measurements but hip and bust and leg length- different customer bases have different proportions.

I have kept some Laura Ashley stuff from the early 1990s just because it's so beautiful. There's a size 10 skirt where the waist can't be much more than 20"

I don't particularly. I have loads of clothes from 15 years ago and the ones that fit me are still mostly a 10, which is the same size I buy now. I do have some clothes from 30 years ago which are way too small and labelled 12.

People would still consider me very thin. But I have less of a waist than before so I do think my shape has changed.

The brands I buy are different than they used to be. Maybe that's masked the vanity sizing effect.

I have starred finding that size 7 shoes seem too small nowadays though! Maybe my feet have grown or I'm less tolerant to squeezed toes, but are shoes suffering from the opposite of vanity sizing?!

Can’t say I’ve noticed but I remember my very slim cousin struggling to get clothes to fit in the past.

if you’re a size 8 your bra size is not a 32 band. Look at Boob or bust.

In what way are they not being honest about it? If you wear size 10 clothes you’re a size 10. “I’m a size 10 but it makes some people on the internet happier if I pretend I’m not and that I must be delusional.” Clothes sizes aren’t determined by anything other than clothes manufacturers sticking labels into things.

Many websites give the measurements of the garment as well as the measurements of the body it was designed for. I buy all my stuff online and much prefer this, and rarely send stuff back (usually just if colour is more/less intense than on the photo). It also really helps you keep track of what size you really are.

I think when they are clearly very overweight ( think a few stone) they are not a size 10 or when the clothes are skin tight when they shouldn't be going up a size would certainly look better. I have no idea what your size is but if an influencer puts themselves online asking for opinions on clothes etc and sizing whilst wearing a clothws size that's obviously to small for them then they cannot except people to say it fits well.

I have tried on a small cardigan in Primark recently and it absolutely hung off me. I am not a size 6 or 8 which is generally small sizes. The cardigan was more like a 16 or 18 but stated small on the label. I have also tried on size 10s in other shops and again they have been huge on me. Vanity sizing is not helpful. Industry sizing thats consistent would be helpful.

Agree. It's vanishingly rare for me to send things back.

Thank you.
I was trying to offer a cheery quote
Fwiw I've been everything from an 8 (1980s- a 24)
My mother was a very blunt woman. No gentle thoughts from her.

The struggle is real no matter what size u are these days the sizes do not seem standardised. I've taught my 13 Yr old dd that we don't worry bout sizes we try things and find the right for for ur shape. She's lost weight recently but grown very much taller. It can be really deflating finding clothes these days and I don't want her feeling sad that and 8 is too small in one shop but a 6 is too big in another

Yes. I was a 6-8 all my life and now I’m and 8 (sometimes even an 6)… I’m definitely it though after three kids. I know this because I’ve had to get rid of a lot of my old clothes (kept some for DDs and gave some to DN). I look at my old size six clothes and think god they were tiny.

I dont know, I've been a consistent 14 for years and if anything I'm slimmer than I was.