How to get size 8 clothes (1970s size 8 that is)

moneyistooshorttomention

An older lady I know well has been experiencing great difficulty in buying size 8 clothes for some time now - due to the upsizing of clothes that has occurred in recent years.

She has been size 8 all her life and the manufacturers don't seem to be making size 8 clothes any longer. The clothes that have size 8 labels on are now in actual fact size 12. I told her that she will need to buy clothes that are labelled as being size 6 or, more likely, size 4 now in order to get clothes that are "really" size 8. I explained that this is because clothes sizes have been changed - because many people have got fatter and they don't want to see size labels indicating what size they really are and hence the clothes re-sizing manufacturers have all done.

But - that leaves Little Old Lady (who genuinely IS size 8) hanging on and hanging on to her existing clothes that she has had for years and past the time they really need replacing. Little Old Lady is an elegant little old lady and wants to dress smartly.

She has been used to using Marks & Spencers as her first "port of call" for clothes and branching out occasionally to other shops (eg Dingles and Jaegar) if there is a sale on - as she cant really afford their prices. However, she complains M & S clothes marked as size 8 are now much too big for her and she can no longer buy their popsocks (as they are now being made in that modern-day bigger size and so they fall down around her ankles)

I've suggested she might be able to find some suitable clothing in the childrens' ranges - but I don't know how well teenager clothing would cater for an elegant Little Old Lady in the styles they do.

Any suggestions please as to how she is to clothe herself in this Super-Size Era?...and...yep...I know she won't try making her own clothes - so that's out.

VfM4meplse

I wish I hadn't read this post and your signature.

Waking up to find I'm actually a size 16-18 sucks.

N9eav

Seems most stores don't bother with sizes that small. Asda and TK Maxx only go down to size 6, when they used to do a 4.


Top Shop do a petite range.


Or maybe online shopping?

moneyistooshorttomention

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I wish I hadn't read this post and your signature.

Waking up to find I'm actually a size 16-18 sucks.

I'm not charmed myself - at being that size at present.

But I'm en route from "size 14" just to "really size 14". Realistically - I know very well that there's no way I could weigh 2 stones more than I used to and "squeeze into" size 14, whereas I used to comfortably wear size 14.

I've figured out that I need to be able to wear clothes labelled size 12 for my top half and size 10 for my bottom half (as I'm more "straight up and down" than pear-shaped - but I have big boobs:rotfl:).

The weight is going down - gradually....:)

moneyistooshorttomention

N9eav wrote: »

Seems most stores don't bother with sizes that small. Asda and TK Maxx only go down to size 6, when they used to do a 4.


Top Shop do a petite range.


Or maybe online shopping?

Thank you. She cant do online shopping/wouldn't fancy it anyway I do know.

She does have a TK Maxx in the area and could get to an Asda further afield and maybe some of their size 6 might do her (as she likes her tops to be a bit on the loose side - rather than figure-hugging).

That is the thing - I started by thinking "Oh...no problem...they will still have size 8 clothes - its just that they will now have a size 4 label on them instead". Then I realised that I don't recall seeing any size 4 clothes on the racks - as I'm scanning through the sizes 10-14.

She does have access to quite a wide range of clothes shops - so I'm wondering if there's any foreign chain clothes shops in Britain that cater for smaller sizes (as I think its only the British and American manufacturers that have super-sized??). Does anyone know about ones like Zara and that Swedish one (whatever its called)?

dandy-candy

I find a lot of weenie sizes in charity shops, if you find any clothes with only Japanese or Chinese writing on then their sizes are very small. Also she could alway wear UK size 6 dresses and belt the waist in. I'd probably stick with the 70s stuff though, retro is so in!

On the older pattern sizing thing, remember a lot of people back then were still wearing girdles, especially older people set in there ways. My granny wore hers until she died in the 1990s!

moneyistooshorttomention

She told me she used to wear girdles for years I know, but I don't recall her ever doing so - so think she must have gratefully given them up at around the time she was also glad to be able to swop nylons for tights.

I don't recall her having any access to Chinese or Japanese clothes - but I know what you mean. The area she lives in is changing at breakneck pace and shops changing hands like jack-in-the-boxes, so its not beyond the bounds of possibility that may become available to her. They are weeny indeed. At my smallest (ie 7 stones 12 lbs) I recall having some clothes passed onto me by Chinese students before they went back to their own country and they JUST fitted me. I'm afraid she wouldnt go into charity shops - except to donate stuff (which I know she does) - so I cant see her looking for clothes for herself in them. Hmmm....she "might" go into an upmarket secondhand dress agency shop though.....worth a thought...

Gloomendoom

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've suggested she might be able to find some suitable clothing in the childrens' ranges - but I don't know how well teenager clothing would cater for an elegant Little Old Lady in the styles they do.

Mrs G sometimes shops in the childrens' ranges but what she can actually wear is quite restricted because, generally speaking, the head holes are smaller and the sleeves are too short. Also, the cut tends to suit a straight up and down figure, as you would expect, with no allowances made for hips and bust. I'm certain that childrens' clothes have been affected by size inflation too as some of the tee shirts she has are size 9-10 yrs and she isn't that small.

Still, there are bargains to be had, especially if you don't mind wandering around with a glittery picture of Barbie or Hello Kitty on the front of your top.

moneyistooshorttomention

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Mrs G sometimes shops in the childrens' ranges but what she can actually wear is quite restricted because, generally speaking, the head holes are smaller and the sleeves are too short. Also, the cut tends to suit a straight up and down figure, as you would expect, with no allowances made for hips and bust. I'm certain that childrens' clothes have been affected by size inflation too as some of the tee shirts she has are size 9-10 yrs and she isn't that small.

Still, there are bargains to be had, especially if you don't mind wandering around with a glittery picture of Barbie or Hello Kitty on the front of your top.

Can't quite see her in a Barbie or Hello Kitty top somehow:rotfl:. I know just what she'd have to say about that:rotfl:. Little Old Lady has quite long arms - so the sleeve length might be an issue. I guess it all depends on the style - she's okay with 3/4 length sleeves as a style thing (and I have to wear that length in order not to have the sleeves coming well down over my hands). So I can imagine childrens clothes have also been supersized - but it might be worth her while looking amongst age range 9-10 years. Guess some children in that age group are looking to look "older" and some of their clothes might be suitable styles for her for more informal clothing.

Her figure is a "straight up and down" one - without the big boobs - so thankfully she's not a pear shape at least from that pov.

GwylimT

My wife has the same problem, she finds miss selfridge are good for jeans and trousers as they do a wide range of cuts, topshop is also a good one. She gets most of her clothes from biba, coast ans karen millan which are more true to size. House of fraser has sales in these around four times a year as well.

thriftwizard

Are you anywhere near anywhere with "vintage" shops/emporia? Asking because I myself am a "vintage" trader, and I often have to move quite lovely, well-made, elegant clothes on very cheaply because they are simply too small for people nowadays; sadly, every now & then, some of them will be wrecked by people trying them on & forcing zips/seams. But I always keep a few on the stall, because they look the part, and because those of my customers who actually "live" the 40s/50s lifestyle & diet (and there are a surprising number of them) tend to stay quite tiny.

The other option is to find someone local who does dressmaking & have some clothes made up; it's not necessarily going to work out much more expensive than buying good clothes from a department store, and probably cheaper than buying them and then having them altered to fit, as my mother does, being of the not-terribly-tall persuasion.