So are sizes actually getting smaller?

[Newmeagain]

Looking at the M&S size guide, it looks like I may have gone up a size! So I started checking out some other size guides and the same thing applies. I have always been a size 8, with a waist of 68 cm. But now it look like I am a size 10, except that my hips are nowhere near a size 10.

Have sizes actually changed or do the size guides not actually reflect the clothes in reality?

I have seen a lot of criticism (on here and elsewhere) of M&S sizing as "vanity" sizing and being larger than comparable sizes from other brands. It could be they are trying to size match elsewhere?

From personal experience, I had a terrible time buying jeans from M&S this year - same size as the ones I was wearing were actually a size smaller (and not just because I had stretched my own pair!) But then inconsistency across colours of jeans (same style, different colour - the black jeans were smaller than the light blue) and then absolute madness going on with crotch length so that regular leg length had a v short crotch that affected where the waist band was but long leg had a normal crotch length but resulted in wider waist.

So... I think they are altering sizes and it is resulting in inconsistency and frustration.

Not sure that helps... 🤔

im not noticing sizing being smaller but things being shorter is driving me mad. T-shirts are cropped without even being a crop T-shirt. Skirts are all mini skirts being intended to be. Shorts barely covering my aree unless they’re Bermuda shorts. Arms short like they’re petit size. Shoes either falling off my feet or cutting my feet up due to tightness

its really pissing me off

There is no standard for clothes sizing. A 10 in one brand can be very different from another. Even within the same brand or the same garments in a rail there can be differences because of modern mass production methods. Sizes are a guide at best.
And as you have observed, we are all different shapes and proportions so your hips might match one size, but your waist might not. I can often find that a particular brand cuts well for my proportions, or I get things altered.

I think M&S sizes are certainly getting smaller, but it's an isolated case. If I buy something from Fatface or White Stuff I buy a 10 and it's still big on me. I have always been a 12 so I don't know how actually thin people find anything to wear in these places.

M&S sizing is all over the place, and the jeans are definitely smaller this year - I've seen it talked about online quite a lot.

Personally I don't take any notice of size charts, because clothes come from all over the place and there's no standardisation between factories. I tried on a few clothes in M&S last week - and as a size 18/20 apple with big boobs, I found the size 18 top too big and the size 22 jeans too small 🤦 It makes no sense at all.

According to m&s im now a 12 trouser, however everywhere else im a 10. Im 5"1, size 8 top and not nearly as out of proportion as m&s seem to think i am 🙄

M&S sizing is weirdly quite small, especially for trousers. I'm a 10 in there and an 8 in every other shop in the world, sometimes even smaller.

M&S sizing is massive! I’m a 6-8 elsewhere, e.g. Next, M&S size 8 is huge on me, even a six is too big (if you can find them)!

Their sizing isn’t very consistent. I tried on 3 styles of jeans the other day, I fit a 10 best in one style, a 12 in another and a 14 in the third. It is very frustrating but perhaps good news for the high street as they’d have been a nightmare to get to fit if I’d been online shopping.

I think in the last month or so m and s sizing has definitely got smaller - especially around the waist.

I am normally a 6 and my weight hasn't changed but the waists of things I have tried on have been a little snug but hips too big.

For context I am a 6 in reiss which I think is pretty true to size.

@stillavid sounds like you have a similar problem to me. I have some M&S jeans that fit well in a size 8, but their tailored trousers are a bit tight on my waist but also baggy around the hips. Next size up make me look like I am wearing clown trousers.

I thought it was vanity sizing (my size 14 clothes from 20 years fit the same as the size 10 clothes I buy today) but I’ve recently found sizing is just really inconsistent. I tried a 10 and a 12 in one shop and the 10 was too big and the 12 was too tight 🤔

and across shops I do vary between a 10 and a 12. So it’s quite tricky to buy on Vinted I find and I’ve started to actually go to the shops more rather than ordering online.

I can't really comment on M&S, as the only thing I buy there is their knickers. Haven't noticed them getting smaller.

With regards to clothes in general, I think sizes are getting bigger not smaller although some places seem worse than others.

If I buy any new clothes I am pretty much always a 10. Sometimes a 12 if the garment isn't cut for larger breasts.

I have quite a few items of clothing from 10-15 years ago, if not more. These are pretty much all 12s, and I don't think I would have got in a size 10 from that era now