Supersizing of America & a rant

[Owlie]

While it's hard to tell because I've gained and lost weight and the spread of clothing I own reflects that...Right now, I'm fairly similar to my weight in high school, maybe a little less. 140ish at 5'6.5" I have a pair of Old Navy size 10 jeans from high school (so, 5+ years old). They fit pretty well, maybe a little loose. I have jeans that are the same brand, same numerical size that I bought two years ago. They are falling off. I have size 8 Gap jeans that are also falling off.
I'm probably somewhere between a 6 and an 8. Huh?

[esmorin]

As far as style, there seems to be no -- or very little -- middle ground between trashy and mammaw.

I agree with this so much!! I am only 26, but I have H cup boobs, and I have a really hard time finding anything that is business casual without looking super frump-tastic. All these girls at work have adorable tops and I am really limited to what fits right. Also, things that look conservative on small-boobed girls look trashy on me....by virtue of my boobs stretching the fabric so much. Ugh!!!

[zoom-zoom]

I am 5'3.5", medium build and was just telling someone a week ago that my goal was to get back down to a 2-4 (I was there a few years back, then regained 20+#s). She was appalled and said "oh, no, that is too small." I said...not so much. Today's 2-4 is like the 6s I wore when I graduated from HS in '91. When I fit into 2s and 4s I am generally still 10-15#s heavier than what is considered the low-end of healthy weight for my frame.

Think of the old thing about Marilyn Monroe wearing a size 14. Women like to kid themselves and say that they are the same size as Marilyn when they are obese (what...are we really so blind?). When I was a size 14 I looked NOTHING like Marilyn. But I knew it. I wasn't in denial.

A while back someone had taken some of her dresses and measured them...they were actually the equivalent of today's 4s and 6s.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When I was in my 20's in the 1970's I was a size 8-10, a normal sized young woman. I had never heard of a size 1 or 0 until the past 15 years or so..... Women in the 1950's and 60's used to brag about being a size 8 like that was very slender and the ideal size. Fashion magazines used to refer to it: "she's a perfect size 8". I still think of size 8 as very slender and youthful. (I'm certainly no size 8 now! )
Size ZERO???? That means you don't even exist, right? lol!

[Veronica]

GLC, I don't know how tall you are, but Athleta offers almost all of their pants in petite sizes. They are usually a 28.5 or 29 length... as opposed to a 30 inch length in most of the "regular" clothes I see. .

I wish Athleta did a 30 inch inseam! No, their regular sized stuff has a 32 inch inseam.

In fact most companies seem to have moved to a 32 inch inseam as their regular inseam and tall is a 34.


Average height of a female in the US is slightly under 5'4". I am not sure whom clothing companies are manufacturing for. I guess the assumption is you can always get them tailored.

Veronica

[channlluv]

You petite girls aren't alone in the challenge of finding pretty, stylish clothes that fit. Try being a size 20/2X and finding something that doesn't look like a tablecloth.

Roxy

[Veronica]

Wikipedia has an interesting height table showing statistics from around the world and it tells how their data was acquired and when.

Data from 2003 - 2006, white and black American females, ages 20 - 39 average height is 5'4'1/2. Mexican American women are two inches shorter. This data was collected through measuring.

Self reported average height in The Netherlands is 5'7".


Veronica - who would make myself taller if I could.

[GLC1968]

Average height of a female in the US is slightly under 5'4". I am not sure whom clothing companies are manufacturing for. I guess the assumption is you can always get them tailored.

I used to complain when I worked for Ralph Lauren about how LONG everything was.... The theory was that all clothing LOOKS better when long, so that's how it's made. At least - for high fashion...and everything else is just a trickledown effect.

I also have heard it repeated often that you can always shorten things, you can't make them longer...which is true, but still a PITA.


Oh, and for the record, at 5'4" I don't really consider myself short at all. I just happen to have short arms and legs which makes buying clothing difficult.

[Veronica]

I read that just after I posted. Interesting that the self-reported countries are the tallest!

Yeah, I thought that was interesting. I wonder how many Americans have the correct height and weight on their drivers' licenses.

My trainer went to the State Fair yesterday and was kind of appalled by the number of obese people there. That and the number of people who just randomly asked her how to look like her. Try several years of extremely hard work and eating almost no sugar - ever! I think the only sugar she eats comes from the 1/2 banana she puts on her oatmeal/egg white pancake.

I'd like to be that disciplined - but I like my ice cream.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Every now and then Garnett Hill will have petite things with a 30 inch inseam. I know that doesn't help the truly petite, but it is nice for us truly average chicks.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Ha ha. Discipline is remembering what you want

Shut up!!!!!

Veronica

Clearly, I want my ice cream.

[Zen]

GLC, I don't know how tall you are, but Athleta offers almost all of their pants in petite sizes.

I actually sent them an email regarding petite sizes in skirts and dress. I was told that they do offer petite sized dresses.

Yeah, all two of them.

[Possegal]

Self reported average height in The Netherlands is 5'7".

Although what we noticed in Rotterdam was that folks there really were tall. My friend, who is 4'10" I think, and is married to a man from the Netherlands, commented to us that had we noticed how much taller people were there, and we actually had already commented. So there may be a 'self-reporting' effect happening there, but honestly, there were some tall folks over there.

[SaNdEe]

Okay - so I'm 5'8" and all leg and a** (but nothing up top, thanks a lot there) - IF I am liucky enough to find something that fits, it is usually a price that makes me hyperventialate. Thank Goodness for consignment and thrift shops

[GLC1968]

I actually sent them an email regarding petite sizes in skirts and dress. I was told that they do offer petite sized dresses.

Yeah - when they start making petite skirts, I'll be impressed. Petite dresses do me no good. The waists fall at my chest.

What I really need is to find a good tailor. I've had good ones in other places I've lived and they are worth their weight in gold to us non-average body types!