Is size 12 seen as "big" generally?

[piperoo1095]

Hi all,

Not trying to cause controversy here as I am genuinely interested. But do most people consider a UK size 12 to be "big"? I only ask because I see a lot of posts online at people "horrified" that they reached a size 12 and to me it's never seemed bad at all. Perhaps I've been living under my nice little rock of ignorance. Of course I'm sure height and build plays a massive role too!

Why do you think you would look ridiculous at a 12?

I did wonder. Surely even if you were over 6ft you'd be fine as a size 12. I think some people just get used to being a certain size and can't imagine themselves being smaller (or larger).

A 12 is never big in my opinion but how small you are as a 12 differs. I'm fine at a 12 and start to look too thin when a 10 (rare) would look awful at an 8

I would look underweight and gaunt. I have a big frame, broad shoulders and wide hips. I have no fat on my shoulders and hips at size 16. It’s all bone.

Marilyn Monroe was your size and pretty gorgeous 🍓
If you feel good then that is everything!
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If you're very tall possibly I suppose. I can't imagine any size 12 looking underweight gaunt though personally, even a tall woman would be well within a healthy bmi.

Same here. Also 6 foot, and at a 12 I am slim, at a 10 you can see my ribs and my face looks wrong, sunken cheeks, gaunt. It's not nice.

I’m a 12 and 5’8. I can remember a much shorter woman , maybe 5 ft bemoaning she was a size 12. We aren’t all the same.

I’m 5’ 4” and used to be a size 10. I am now a size 12 and definitely have fat around my middle I don’t want.

No?

Even at my lowest BMI of 20 I was a size 12.

This is Mumsnet, so no doubt posters will be falling over themselves to inform us that "we've lost sight of what normal weight is" and that everything over a size 8 is ginormous.

I guess to someone that has been a size 6-8 most of there life… a size 12 would be big for them. I have been 10-12-14-16-18 and pregnant 3 times and I would consider….NO size 12 is not big to the avg person at all. It’s small. It’s a Medium sometimes a S depending what shop

Hi op,

it depends on so many things and where you coming from is defo one of them? There are loads of body types around the world that wouldn’t fit in a 12. There are also quite a big number of types that would swim in there!

why does it matter? Wherever you come from…you should look like a woman. End of.

🌺

I have gone from a 20 to a 14 and look and feel great. I think I would look thin as a size 12, not average. I feel average now. I was a size 10 when I took drugs at Uni 30 years ago and looked ill.

I consider 12 to be slim! Definitely.

I thought that too with marks but then a few weeks ago I tried on some of my old (2005) top shop size 6 & 8 (uk) pieces and they still fit so can’t be that much in it

I haven't read the whole thread so this may have been mentioned before. Clothing sizes are very different to what they were in the 70's. I am 5' 6" tall and in the 70's weighed between 9st and 9st 7lb. I was a UK size 16. Today I'm 10st 10lb and very comfortable in a size 14 but can squeeze into a 12. Just for reference my BMI is just within the "normal" boundaries according to the NHS. I don't think a 12 is particularly big but it's certainly bigger than it was.

I haven't read the whole thread so this may have been mentioned before. Clothing sizes are very different to what they were in the 70's.

If there was anything I would bet my life on it would be that this is brought up within the first page of responses on a thread about sizes....

Unless you are over 5.5ft then it’s likely your BMI at a size 12, would classify you as over weight and therefore bigger than optimal health. If most people are size 12 that makes it normal but not clinically healthy.

I think it depends on your height, build and body composition. At 5 foot 10 and a hourglass build my pelvis alone is never going to measure under a size 12 no matter what my body fat is. If you've got big boobs it can easily make you a 12 or above on the top half while still looking very slim too.

I don’t understand why? Can anyone shine a light on it? I see it a lot on here. Why is it relevant people were smaller 50 or 60 years ago, and 50 or 60 years before that and so on,

yes as humans we got bigger, everyone knows it. And 50 or 60 years before the 70s, the 1910’s and 20’s people were smaller again. And 50 or 60 years before that, smaller still.

Christ the average height of Jack the Ripper victims was 4 foot 11/5 foot. All average height women in the late 1800.s

i genuinely don’t understand the fascination with historical clothes sizes ?

I don’t understand why? Can anyone shine a light on it? I see it a lot on here. Why is it relevant people were smaller 50 or 60 years ago, and 50 or 60 years before that and so on

It's a passive aggressive dig, what they want to say is "you'd have been perceived as SO fat 40 years ago"!

I bloody hope not!

It depends, size 12 on a tall person looks very different from someone under 5ft4. A size 12 20 years ago was normal but In these days sizes - yes as a 12 is more like a 16.

I’ve been a 12 and I was fat. Overweight and fat. I am 4 foot 10 though. I lost weight and am now a size 8.

My friend is 5 foot 7 and is a size 12 and has the most amazing figure and is not remotely fat or chubby in the slightest.

Height does make a huge difference.

I’m tall and very happy at size 12