Deep down inside, we all know that the clothing sizes we buy in stores are a load of filthy, fucking lies. These lies can't all be laid at the door step of the clothing companies. Our combined vanity as a public have also pushed this on them. It is to our detriment, because these bogus sizes fuel the whole "US public is getting FATTY FAT FAT" lie.
Size 00, 0, 2, and 4 are really fantasy. They don't exist on the standard chart for US clothing sizes. The same chart that companies used to use to label their clothes properly and have largely abandoned since the 70s/80s. The only people who really know the truth about what size we all wear are the clothing manufacturers and people who sew/knit their own clothing.
So where can a curious and no nonsense shopper get truthful information about her size? I discovered that Vogue, Butterick, and McCalls still use the standard chart for their patterns. There was a slight difference of one size on the McCalls chart against Vogue and Butterick. But one size was a small potato compared to the outright discrepancies foisted on us by major clothing stores.
So I will let you know, with no shame and perfect truth, that I am a standard size 16. I am a size 16 according to Vogue and Butterick. According to McCalls (ETA Womens size), I am a size 18. Technically I could fit into a size 14 on all these sewing pattern charts. But to be level headed and err on the side of comfort, I rounded up on my measurements according to the size charts.
What size am I in Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle, and Abercrombie & Fitch?
Give or take a size, on the average, I fit into a size 8 in all stores.
A size 8 in all stores. And the standard chart which is used everywhere else except the US, a size 16. Is that not ridiculous?
I have a pair of my Mom's old pants from the 70's which are labeled a size 13. This seems to be a half size between the standard 12 and 14. They are skin tight on me. And strangely high waisted. The pants dig at my waist but they are a better fit around my hips and backside. I noticed that the hip size on these vintage jeans match the hip size on a current size 8 jean. Which just goes to show how much sizes have been flummoxed.
All the standard charts begin at size 6. Which today we call size 0. Or according to other stores a size 00.
Contemporary size 2 was once considered the gold standard of measurement for all women's clothing...a true size 8.
The size 4 of today was considered a standard 10.
The main argument of why our clothing sizes are so fucking ridiculous is because we are all getting fluffy. But since there is no standard, how can we be sure that everyone is reaching for the heffalump stars? We can't.
I don't think we have ballooned as much as the diet industry wants us to believe. If anything, we all may have gone up one size on average.
The basis of the clothing size change was started by some company long ago, because they discovered that it made a diet crazed public feel better about themselves. And then everyone threw the standard chart to the winds. This in turn has made buying clothing more of a hassle then it needs to be.
I personally wish the standard chart be resurrected. I would really like to be sure that a piece of clothing will fit me right, the way it was meant to fit in all stores. I'm long past the point of vanity now. But it isn't likely to happen unless people as a whole rebel against the coming of negative sizing.
Right now, the only way to get a proper fit and a true size is if I sew my own clothing.
Here is a link to the Vogue Size Chart.Labels: culture, design, fashion, fat acceptance, feminism, personal, shopping
