Women's clothes sizes

Kynthia

OP I've recently found Wallis to be a good place to get size 16/18 clothes that look good without being too expensive. However I need to get some smart new work clothes and I'm not sure where to go.

Fireflyaway

Wow! I had never heard of vanity sizing till now. That's pretty interesting.

What I meant in my original post was not that sizes are getting comparatively bigger ( a size 10 today is bigger than a size 10 30 years ago). But that I don't ever remember seeing size 8 or 6 in the shops. I'm glad I was misunderstood because now I know about this vanity stuff and I'm probably a size 22 in old money!

I have to say though, its wrong to expect clothes to just get bigger and bigger. That's not healthy and I should use this experience as a measure of my own unhealthiness.

Pollycat

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

The only time vanity sizing irritated me is when we switched over to the new bra sizing measurement method, i.e. rib cage only not +4 or +5 as before, thus yielding more ego flattering results.

Not every company adopted it straight away and for a while it was really confusing.
Also a lot of women got suckered into buying new bras while the underwear companies laughed all the way to the bank.

It's probably me but I don't understand this - and that's speaking as a woman who's always been big busted and always understood how bra sizing worked.

Fireflyaway

Measuring myself seems more logical. Today I wore a size 14 m+s top. It was a bit fitting but not that tight. I have size 16 dresses from new look that I can't even do up. There is a size 16 white stuff top that's a bit snug but my size 16 matalan t shirts are baggy.... As for my wedding dress... I was told I needed a size 18 even though I was wearing high street size 14 at the time.

maman

Hermia wrote: »

I sometimes go on a fitness forum where there are a lot of Americans. A lot of the guys say that vanity sizing is rampant over there. Several guys have talked about being able to buy trousers that have a waist measurement that is several inches smaller than them. One guy has a 40 inch waist and was easily fitting into 36 inch waist trousers. What is the point of having inches on clothing if you are going to use vanity sizing?!

I think it can depend on how they choose to wear the trousers. My DH and his brother wear the same size. DH wears his on his waist but his brother has the waistband under his belly!:rotfl:

Gloomendoom

Pollycat wrote: »

It's probably me but I don't understand this - and that's speaking as a woman who's always been big busted and always understood how bra sizing worked.

Don't get me started on bra sizing. As a bloke, I find it completely illogical.

I briefly ventured into the dark realms of lingerie a couple of years ago when attempting to surprise my wife with an untypical Christmas present. On the face of it a simple task, just check the labels in her underwear drawer and buy something the same size, except that my wife cuts the labels out so they don't show. I ended up venturing to the local branch of Bravisimo where I knew she had had a fitting. There I discovered that cup sizes are not set volumes but vary depending on the back size and, despite not looking particularly buxom, my wife's cup size would probably give Jessica Rabbit an inferiority complex.

I got the bra but I think I'll stick to cookery books in future.

Marvel1

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Vanity sizing has spread to some men's clothes too. I have two pairs of shorts labelled 36" waist and they are. The most comfortable pair of shorts I own are labelled 34". They measure 37"

It's true, I have 2 pairs of jeans, same size, one fits and needs a belt, the other is too tight - now if I can fit back into those I'm dong well.

LavenderBee

I'm only in my 30s myself so I don't have clothes in the wardrobe from that many decades ago, but I enjoy some dressmaking and I understand that the sizes on paper patterns are more like the measurement:size ratio of the 50s and 60s. In paper patterns I am typically a 12, maybe pushing a 14. On the high street I am an 8 or a 10 (shop dependent).

Going back to the OP's point, when I was having a few issues around eating, shall we say, about 6 years ago, I was a size 6. I'm also under 5'3", and few shops stocked a size 6, so I did a lot of my shopping in the kid's department (cheaper!). I definitely see more 4s and 6s in the shop now though; but yes they are probably equivalent to an "old" 8.

On the subject of bra sizes, I'm going to say something really controversial - I struggle to find bras small enough that fit properly! I don't own a single, good fitting bra.

LavenderBee

I've just tried the size guide on darkgreener that was kindly posted. I would agree it's accurate, everything for me came up as "8 - or maybe 10" or "10 - or maybe 8":rotfl:

It's like my one attempt at a professional bra fitting: "you're either x or y". I knew I was "x" or "y", what I was really hoping for was her to tell me which one I should be buying!

Gloomendoom

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I used to buy clothes in Japan and back then (and still in some places today) things tended to only come in one size.

I used to work at a place where the provided work-wear came in two sizes... too big and too small.