There is an ad for a diet, and the young woman in it is all excited because she is wearing a size 2. She looks to me like about a 10 or 12. Have sizes changed? When I was skinny, which was a long time ago, I wore a 10, and my bones stuck out. I am (was?) 5'6" and weighed 115. A friend wore a 6, but she was 4'10" and weighed 85 lbs.
I am having a hard time getting my mind around this "size 2." Am I off base here?
I just posted a thing on this subject the other day... the NPR spot by the author of "Stick Girl". My daughter barely weighs 100# and there is no RTW that fits her.
Yes. RTW has, IMHO, done some major size "deflation". What was a size 10 in 1960 is now a size 2(?), the old size 12 is now a 4, etc. Makes today's teens (and I suppose matrons, too) feel so much more like buying clothes if they can wear an off-the-rack 4.
My wedding gown was made from a size 12 pattern, I was 5'6", and weighed 118 pounds, and very slender.
Not if it's a toddler size... ;-> Sheesh, my slender 11-year-old granddaughter wears a girl's size 10-12, and was able to purchase cute jacket in a teen shop in size "6". No adult woman is capable of wearing a *true* size 2, IMNSHO, that's just appealing to her vanity.
Glad I sew...
Beverly
The last time I saw a size 2 was 36 years ago and I was tying it on my son's FOOT!
*sigh" Val
I get confused as well... I know Our UK sizes are different from the US sizes, but-!
LAST time I was this size by measurements, I was wearing a size 12-14 in Marks & Spencers stuff, and a 14-16 in Vogue patterns. THIS time I'm wearing size 10 M&S T shirts, and size 12-14 Vogue.
Women's sizes in Australia have shrunk too. I have stayed the same size but am now wearing size 10, whereas 10+ years ago it was size 12. The reverse is happening to kids sizes here. My daughter is nearly 9 but to get stuff to fit her around the waist I need to buy around age 6. For trousers it means everything is too short so I have to buy something in the right length and take in the waist. Hence the need to sew! When I see how massive some kids are, I can see why clothing manufacturers are making their clothing sizes larger for kids - it's just difficult when you have a skinny one!
It just means that she has started to pay more for her clothes. Basic "available at any store" ready to wear is sized the way one would expect. Designers whose clothing is in high-end stores use much smaller numbers when designating sizes. The more you pay, the smaller the size you wear :-)
Rita L.
Pog> There is an ad for a diet, and the young woman in it is all excited
When my mum got married in 1954, her waist was about 20". She was 5'6" (she's shrunk a little in the last few years), and she looks slender but not truly skinny. At 19 I also had a 20" waist. Geep! never again! I'm quite pleased mine now hovers round the 28" mark!
I have some old 50's and 60's patterns, and you wouldn't believe how tiny a size 14 was! Yikes!
Me too! When folk ask what size I made something, I just say Me Size! ;)
My youngest DGD will celebrate her 8th birthday in December and she still wears a size 4 in patterns, except for the length, of course. A 6X in RTW, but most of them are very short on her. Emily
The numbers on RTW clothing are just for decoration, and are not related in any way to the size of the garment they are sewn to.
The last time I tried to buy RTW jeans, back in the 80s, I tried on a pair and it was a bit snug. So I tried on a bigger number in the same style -- and couldn't even put my leg into it.
Which is part of why that was my last jeans-shopping trip.
The other part is that RTW women's jeans are no longer available -- all you can buy are designer jeans, which resemble women's jeans about as much as a Grecian Revival farmhouse resembles a Greek temple.
Joy Beeson
I found some, Joy. At Sears Roebuck!! DD was visiting, with husband and family, and needed some size 5 slim pants for the little one. Having been through that with her, 20 years earlier, I took her to Sears. After we bought kid stuff, she insisted on looking in the Fat Lady Dept. To my surprise, I found that their Classic Elements jeans and t-shirts fit me adequately and are perfectly ok for housework, running errands etc. Thus, I can save my sewing time for Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
Lands' End jeans are pretty nice, too. Only trouble is that you can't try them on, and have to go through the hassle of returning them if they don't fit.
Hmmm...there's some kind of partnership between Sears and Lands' End now. Maybe some Sears stores have LE jeans, and they *can* be tried on. I'll have to investigate that.
Doreen
What you are seeing here is "vanity" sizing.. The industry has been increasing the dimensions of RTW for decades..
I have some gowns here that I made for my mother who wore a what I consider a "legitimate" size 10 (she was a fairly tall lady at 5' 7", but she weighed in at only 115 pounds). My sister in law presently wears a current RTW size "10", and is 5' 3" or 5' 4" and weighs 140 pounds.
The clothing manufacturers do this hoping to make people buy more clothes, based on the fact that the prosepctive buyers can brag about wearing only a size "x".
It is a very obvious scam, but try telling that to the people who believe the sizing.
me
Everyone here seems to have observed the same insanity. Why don't the people who make these decisions realize that numbers alone have no significance?
This has been a battle at work with the numbers crunchers, too -- numbers only have meaning if what they represent has meaning. Sizing is meaningless. I wear an American 8, and a European 38 shoe - and I'm sure that there are other numbering systems.
As for clothing, apparently, the more you pay, the lower the size number
-- but it's still just a number. Selected somewhat arbitrarily, and not based on anything except someone saying "This number will represent these many inches at these points on the body." You might as well offer clothing in Alice, Betsy, Claudia, Daphne, Elaine and Francine sizes. It makes as much sense.
That's exactly where I'm at - 5'3" and 140 lbs! Last time I wore a 'size 10' I was 115 lbs! Fitting into anything with an 'S/P' label is strange and unnatural.
Then the knicker manufacturers bring you back down with a bum(p)! I needed new undies and was into S/10 for the other stuff I got, but the knickers to match my new bra were an L to fit the 40" hips! I'm determined to get into a 38"/M next time! 'Real' sizing can be beneficial! ;)
That's why I always go by inches.
Who me? Why I wear a size 'Kathryne', thanks! ROTFLOL!
Beverly
You might as
Do you think I should patent it, or trademark it or something? ;-)
Oh, yes! I wonder, is the US Kathryne size the same size as the Catherine size here in the UK? ;)
Not a partnership. Sears bought Land's End. But Sears often has sales on clothing that excludes the land's End brand...
Jean
Liz
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.