Tired of the small sizing....arrrrrg!

[Irulan]

??? I have always thought just the opposite. I wear a size 2P at Ann Taylor or Talbot's, but 4P if I order from LL Bean, and take me to a Wal-Mart and I'd need at least two sizes larger! I thought it was vanity sizing so that wealthier women would feel better about themselves.

from my favorite fashion industry blogger, Kathleen Fasanella of The Fashion Incubator

The Myth of Vanity Sizing

The Evolution of Sizing

These two articles have links to even more stuff: the history of women's clothing sizing, more on so called vanity sizing, why the fit of jeans sucks so much etc.

[OakLeaf]

I don't know, but I totally disagree with this line: "garments that managed to survive the era were not representative of the population then anymore than the too-small keepsake garments are representative of women today."

My '80s work clothes came from the same department stores I shop at now, were of the same general quality and (inflation-adjusted) price range. They're not "keepsakes," they're clothes that for the most part aren't very fashionable now but that I haven't yet gotten around to giving to Goodwill. One of my suits I was very flattered to see on a character on the show "Designing Women," if you remember that. Totally representative of what a middle-class woman might wear to an office job. That one too is a little tight around the waist now - that's a size 8. Most of what is hanging in my closet from that era, as I said, is 10s or 12s. And most of it still fits this body that now wears a 2 or a 4.

And then there are the T-shirts that I referenced in the other thread. Plain old event T-shirts. Keepsakes, it's true, but for what's printed on them, not for any other reason. They're the same T-shirts you'd buy in 3-packs at Wally World, just with the event information printed on them. Fifteen years ago I could squeeze into a youth XL, and sometimes preferred those for the shorter length and different designs. Other than that, I'd wear an adult Medium. Nowadays, a youth Medium T-shirt is baggy on me, and so is an adult Small.

I'm obviously not involved in the fashion industry at all, but I think the experience of people like me, Crankin and Muirenn IS representative.


ETA: And I dispute the concept that no one would buy a size 40. I wear a 42 in Italian sizes. I don't hesitate a minute to buy something nice in Italy because of the number on the label. (I also wear a 43 European shoe, but my feet actually *are* huge. )

[shootingstar]

But it's an eye-opener to remember that 1 generation younger than us or more, meaning born within the last 15 years or less, would have not experienced much the big /noticeable differences between previous sizes 30 years go and vanity sizing of today that we are discussing in this thread.

Or just bigger clothing in the same size now, in a range of manufacturers who have created the same garment for the past 30 years.

Unless they start buying or wearing alot of older secondhand clothing from consignment stores, family attic, etc.

It's like saying I remember what the world was like without the Internet.... For alot of people in certain generation, that's all they've known.

[OakLeaf]

Huh? No one notices until they become an adult and have bought several rounds of clothes over the years. I wasn't personally aware of how sizing changed in the 1950s through 1970s. No one who was born in 90s or later has personally experienced what us 50-something has. We can all still read about it happening in the past, and experience it when it does happen to us, can't we?

[SadieKate]

I have a huge pile of business clothes from the last 20 years ready for donation but that still fit me. Almost everything is marked one to two sizes larger than what I wear today.