Yeah, I’m going there: talking about sizes. So if you aren’t able to read this post with a healthy mindset, please be mature enough to know yourself and skip this one. And if you still want to hatemail me how I have ED and an exercise disorder, please email SRdoesn’twanttohearit@yahoo.com.
Arlene asked what brand of jeans these are….
They are Paige Premium Denim jeans in the Laurel Canyon style. My mom bought them for me about 3 years ago from Nordstrom. These are the exact same style but maternity jeans.
I can mostly wear 2 sizes (26-27) in jeans depending on the cut, brand, style, designer, etc. In college I wore a size 28-29 but then again, that’s when ‘late night studying’ meant “Hey, let’s stay up ‘til 4am eating candy and ordering pizza and fall asleep watching TV using our books as pillows!”
These jeans are a size 27 and they are my indicator jeans: they have very little give or stretch so they indicate whether I’m hitting the gym or hitting the candy drawer.
Do you have an ‘indicator’ piece of clothing?
Because of vanity sizing, a lot of times a size doesn’t really mean much anymore. For example: these William Rast jeans are a size 26 and way bigger than the Paige ones.
I bought this black pair of Kenneth Cole pants for my grandma’s funeral my senior year of college. Back then they were a bit tighter…
(Today is National Make an Ugly Face Day)
But they’re a size 4. Or so they say. My Monique Lhuillier wedding dress was a size 8 and it was skintight. And you better believe I was slightly more in shape at my wedding than when I was doing all that late night “studying”.
Everyone says how Marilyn Monroe was a size 12… Well, yeah, but that was before the invention of Seven jeans and vanity sizing.
Enter vanity sizing, where designers add extra inches of fabric to clothing without changing the number on the tag. For example, if you measure a size 2 pair of pants today, they might be as wide around the waist and hips as a 4 from 10 years ago.
And (size) 00’s aren’t the result of women shrinking away (though some actresses seem to be). Designers created them because as 4s morphed into 2s and 2s became 0s, smaller-framed women were sized out of the normal range.
I know Seven For All Mankind didn’t invent vanity sizing, but in my mind, they did. I remember distinctly buying my first pair in college (when I was bigger) and buying a size I never thought I could fit!
If you think about it, it’s actually a good marketing tool: we woman attach such emotion and value to a size/a number that if you put a smaller number on there, heck yeah, we’re gonna buy it… just for that tag… that no one sees.
Really, there was no point to this post… just my random thoughts on vanity sizing while I was walking the dog this morning. And this amazingly “young and hip” (just like Oscar) dog walking outfit:
Try and vanity size that baby.
***Here’s an article from Cosmo about vanity sizing; that’s where the quote and chart came from.
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{ 89 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post! I’m actually trying to gain weight, so my “indicator clothing” works the opposite….I try to remember how my favorite jeans used to fit and when I wear them, I can see how I’ve progressed. =D
From what I’ve heard, vanity sizing is actually a myth. Sizes are getting smaller, but most companies size around their average – so it’s not to do with trying to make people feel smaller so much as it is a reflection of how people are getting bigger. (But I can’t explain how a size 26 – theoretically reflecting a waist size! – can be different from a 26 in another brand.)
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the_myth_of_vanity_sizing/
Definitely not a myth. All my mother’s size 8 and 10 jeans from the 1970s fit me… and my jeans all say size 4. Walk into any vintage clothing store and grab something off the rack from the ’60s and ’70s and then claim that vanity sizing is a myth.
A great article! I so agree about vanity sizing issues.. Got into an argument w/a friend who insisted Marilyn Monroe was heavy! I said heck no- her ” size 12″ in today’s sizing is equivalent to a size 4-6. Her measurements were well documented too which reflects this.
I had a similar experience with Sevens, so it must be true, right? I’m enjoying national make an ugly face day.
I have a love/hate relationship with vanity sizing. I love it because I enjoy seeing the size 2 in my american eagle khaki pants. I hate it because I hate seeing the size 7 on my Red Camel jeans from Belk.
I am not loyal to one jean company. I buy whatever is on sale, and fits decently. Therefore I always have trouble finding jeans. I never know what size I’m actually going to wear, or how they will fit.
Odd and even sizes don’t exactly correspond. A seven in jeans doesn’t fall between a 6 and 8; it’s more the equivalent of a 4 or even a 2. Typically odd sizes are used in junior’s clothing, which tends to run smaller, so I’m guessing that’s the reason for the discrepancy.
Really? Wow. I never knew that. Good to know. I’ve been educated.
I hate vanity sizing because it means I actually have to try stuff on, which means I have to go to the store and I can’t buy online. I especially hate it when stores can’t decided to vanity size things in a uniform manner.
Ann Taylor Loft is the perfect example. I fit in three different sizes there, from an 8 to a 12 depending on the fabric and cut of the clothing. And don’t get me started on the ever-expanding pants that fit perfectly in store, but expand two sizes and fall down around my ankles in the middle of the day. Not cool.
Sizes are so frustrating. I want to be able to order stuff online, but, hey, I have no idea if I’ll be an 8 or a 4.
I used to think that jeans with waist measurement were better, but yeah, those lie, too.
I have the easiest time with workout pants. I know I’m an S. I can fit into XS, but usually my butt crack will show. Ms are fine for weight lifting, but if I try to run in an M it will start to fall down.
Workout tops are the WORST, though. Maybe it’s due to having shoulders, but some S will fit perfectly, and some Ms will be so tight I’m pouring out everywhere.
It makes shopping so exhausting.
Wedding dresses, BTW, are notoriously different size-wise from everything else. I think it’s because they want brides to sob as much as possible.
agree about the wedding dress comment! I wear a size 3 so when I went to try mine on thats what I told the consultant. 2 sizes later I was at an 8
I felt like crying my eyes out. I just had to convince myself its not about the number, its about how it fits and looks…. still working on that lol…
I love your email address up there! Haha. I hope someone does actually fall for it, and tries to hate mail you.
It made me giggle.
Yeah, I wish they’d be more consistent with sizing. I mean, I’m a grown woman; I can deal with seeing a bigger number.
Naturally, you post about vanity sizing as I’m stuffing my face with a giant brownie…
Anyway, I agree, vanity sizing is all too real. I have a pair of dress pants from Express from my freshman year of college that is a size 4. They still fit the same as todays 0′s and a few years ago’s 2′s.
Express is ridiculous with the vanity sizing! Probably the worst offender I’ve seen.
Ditto!
love this post girl! Your blog is so great :-p
Totally true…I’ve noticed several stores where the labeled size I’m wearing goes down over the years, yet I’m still the exact same size.
I also have a pair of indicator jeans…they’re so worn that there is a hole in the knee and crotch (so I don’t wear them in public), but I keep them just to keep myself in check every now and then.
I have a hole in the crotch of my indicator jeans too!!
I have so many different sizes of clothes in my closet based on brand/sizing inconsistencies. Just like a number of the scale (that fluctuates daily), the size in a piece of clothing can be such a negative for some. I’m thankful that’s not where my head is, but I love that you wrote this post to bring some light to the subject.
Maybe people are just getting bigger too. If an 8 from the 1950′s is a double zero now, what happened to the sizes 6,4,2, and 0 from the 1950′s??
I’ve also heard that women’s bodies today generally are shaped differently than they were back then, too. Because girls are more likely to be brought up playing sports and getting more exercise, we’re often a little less curvy than our predecessors (read: thicker waist and smaller hips, proportionally). Definitely an interesting topic!
Hm, I think Tracy (#2) may be onto something with the bigger (yet smaller) sizes reflecting our population’s growing waistbands. But vanity sizing definitely occurs. The result is that I literally can’t order anything online! Jeans are by far the most unreliable in terms of sizing.
I love national ugly face day!! haha!! The post is so accurate and I was nodding the whole time. Your wedding dress is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!
I really don’t care what the size on the tag say, I care how skinny the pants make me look. Of course, I was plus sized in high school, a 14 almost the entire time in college, and now I’m at my healthiest (both in mindset and fitness). So maybe that has something to do with it.
BTW I wish my hair looked like yours in the second picture when I air dry. I always look like pre-rehab Courtney Love when I don’t blow dry.
HATE vanity sizing. HATE IT! Old Navy is big into doing that too. I have shirts from them that are XS and S and they are STILL loose on my waist. Have you seen my pictures? I’m far from a S, much less an XS. How can one even properly buy clothes if you don’t know what size will fit?
(Oh, and I adore that picture of you and Jayjay on your wedding day. Love it!)
Oh vanity sizing…I’m 5’8, 137-138 pounds and I wear a size 0 at my favorite store (Express), which is absolutely ridiculous. If someone my size can wear a zero, then that means that anyone smaller than me essentially can’t shop at that store. I feel ridiculous saying that I wear a size zero anywhere, because I don’t look like anyone’s idea of a size zero and I’m afraid people will think I am lying or that my clothes fit like sausage casing, but if that’s what they want to call my size then I guess that’s what I’ll have to buy. What’s especially frustrating about vanity sizing is it’s almost impossible to find long enough pants–I’ll buy the “long” sizes but even those don’t fit as long as I’d like and I’ve pretty much resigned myself to having to wear a <2 inch heel with my dress pants. And yes, I'll admit that there is some initial satisfaction in seeing that smaller number on the tag, but the out-of-control size inflation ultimately makes it kind of meaningless. There's no fun in being a "perfect size 6" when 6 is the new 14, ya know?
Exactly!! I absolutely HATE vanity sizing because there are so many stores that I cannot shop at because there are no clothes small enough. I’m a healthy weight for my height and I swim in most stores size 0s…
You are so totally right! I’ve lost a lot of weight in the past year (145 lbs so far and would like to drop another 5 but I’ve lost my motivation and I’m happy to just hang out where I am for awhile) but in January, I bought 2 pairs of Lucky Brand jeans in a size 4. Went back 2 weeks ago (mid-April) because the 4′s were big. I figured I’d be in a 2 (which is where I am with Citizens of Humanity jeans) but I’m a 0 there. I am like you – I am not anyone’s idea of a 0, but if that’s what fits, that’s what I buy. But, you’re right – if a 0 fits me, the only smaller number is a 00 (and frankly, with the looseness of these jeans right now, I’m thinking a 00 might actually fit in Lucky Brand and I’ve not lost anymore….they’ve just stretched despite being air-dryed rather than tossed in the dryer) and I can’t imagine what some of the smaller women are going to do. and I don’t mean “skinny, scrawny women,” I mean healthy, slim women. I’m 5’4 and fluctuate between 132 and 135 lbs. Not your typical size 0.
Seven jeans are the beginning! I had the same thing in college, totally tricked me!! Great post and fantastic point! I totally have skinny indicator jeans (aka when I gain weight at my ideal weight), but those don’t fit anymore. So now now I have my fatty boom ba latty indicator jeans which let me know I’ve gained even more. Fantastical.
I wish women’s clothes were more like men’s clothes…not a 2 or a 4 or a 6, but actual waste circumferences and leg length. I know some jean companies do this, but I wish all companies who make pants would adopt this as their measurement as well.
I agree!! And I’m short so a “short” length is usually too long. I’d LOVE to have choices of waist AND length!
Hahaha! Love the hater disclaimer and email!
I have to admit, it feels good to buy a size 2 dress at White House Black Market when I’m a 6 at other stores. I wonder what the actual size 2 girls do? Shop at Bebe I guess.
I agree with this 100%!! I think its silly to base anything on sizes. In one brand you could be a 4, and in another brand a 8! I try not to worry about the size and just buy what fits and looks good on me!
Ugh. This so hit home. I am plus size and this is actually a watershed issue for us fat-girl advocates.
I remember when I got married (WAY back in 1992) I was wearing a size 14 dress (or if I was having a really good day, it would be a 12). My wedding dress was a size 24. WTF? Here I am taking 2 aerobics classes A DAY and going to weight watchers meetings every friggin week, and my wedding dress was a 24???!!!!!!!!! Boooo.
HATE vanity sizing.
Vanity sizing stinks for people that are petite! I am 5 foot 2 and around 107-110 pounds. I wear everything from a 0-4 depending on the store. I too have 4s from years ago that are still snug or fit perfect. I don’t know about you but I never want to be a zero in any shape or form.
I received my shirt today and your Small fits fine : ) An extra small would be nice but I am use to running in bigger clothes. I love the cupcake!!!
Interesting post on shrinking clothing sizes. Honestly, I only ever look at clothing size tag as a reference for which item to take with me into the fitting room. I like buying stuff that fits, I don’t really care what the number says. I find that clothes at the GAP seems to run large. I can’t wear anything from that store without looking like I am a little kid wearing my mom’s clothes.
I never knew this phenomenon had a name! Only recently have I been able to detach myself from clothing sizes after realizing that it doesn’t tell me much. My jeans cover a range of four sizes depending on what brand they are, so I’ve tried just to learn what size I take in what brand.
Great blog post!
I was on top of the world because I was able to wear two of my indicator jeans(with me since ’04) this weekend! After 6 months of trying to loose the baby weight, they finally fit – woo-hoo!
I still have some more weight to loose, but I find indicator jeans to be more reliable than a scale alone. I do wish the sizing were more consistent, though!
You are so right with this vanity sizing thing. I worked @ White House/Black Market last summer and their sizes are definitely “vanity”. Women would come in and say “Oh my gosh!! I’m a size 2!! I’m usually a size 8!!! I’ve got to buy these!”
The whole sizing issue frustrates me to no end!
I leave Gap with my OO jeans feeling all good about life only to go into JC Penny and try on a size 8. It’s very confusing!
This is kinda funny & so true…I love shopping at Old Navy, Victoria Secret, NY & CO, and Express b/c they’re women sizing & I’m allllways smaller….typically I’m a sixe 6/8 but at Old Navy I’m a 4 fo sho…& at NY & CO My black slacks are size 2′s long (5’8 here) but like an above comment from Shannon said, I too am no size 2 at sight. lol It’s kinda funny how we’re like that, you’re right NO ONE see’s the tag … focus should be “healthy”
I enjoyed it!
Good post
Interesting post and I love your wedding dress!
you’re a riot man!
It’s so hard to order clothes online when everyone’s size 6 fits differently. There should be some kind of standard measurements that everyone sticks to. It’s so hard!
I’ve been stalking your blog for a while, and had to comment here. I TOTALLY agree with you.
My big vanity sizing moment came about two years ago when I thought I was going to wear my mom’s size 8 wedding dress as my own. She swore it was going to swallow me, but the dang thing wouldn’t remotely button or zip. It would definitely be a 00 in today’s standards.
Months later, I bought my own wedding dress, and whatdoyaknow… it was a size 8. Proof that sizes has drastically changed.
Great post!
The fleeting moments of happiness that I get when I fit into a “smaller” size are so not worth the crazy variance in women’s clothes sizes. This is just one more area where it’s so much easier to be a guy!
I loved this post, confirmed what I’ve thought about sizing for a while now, and thanks so much for answering my question. I’m going track these babies down and shoehorn my ass into them
vanity sizing or no….i still hate the number on my current tags.
if it didn’t go against all my knowledge and good morals i would consider that stupid hcg diet.
Most wedding dresses are a bigger size — especially if it’s a european designer.
And vanity sizing is true. The old 8 is the new 4.
I think i have a size in every number depending on the brand. No one ever gets it right. Thats why I live in my yoga pants for target.
Much more comfy too!
My indicator clothing is a dress that I love and fits great when I am at the size I try to stay at.
Vanity sizing doesn’t bother me. When I try clothes on, I just grab a couple of sizes and see what works. As a curvy short girl, I have learned that not all things are going to fit the same way in the same size. Just like with brands, some styles fit me better in different sizes. As long as I can wear the clothes in my closet I’m good!
I would really love to know what stores/brands you would consider as your reference to be ‘real’ non-vanity sizes?
I’m 5’7″, weigh 135 and can wear anywhere from a size 2-10 in pants at the normal range of mall stores. Which is totally ridiculous.
I would love to find the most ‘true’ brand and know once and for all what my size really is. I tried googling to find any brands that say they don’t vanity size but couldn’t find anything. So I’m asking here, what brands would you consider to be ‘real’ to sizing?
I have a pair of indicator skinny jeans – if they don’t fit or if it takes me over 2 minutes to jump into them – then i’ll get a bit depressed! Then i’ll blame them on just having been washed.
I don’t like vanity sizing (unless I am feeling bloated from stuffing my face from way too much chocolate then I’ll pull out my vanity sized zero jeans) but seriously it makes it hard to shop online cause nothing ever fits right on my body type. I try not to focus on sizing but realisticly I could never ignore it. I do try to use a pair of clothing to judge if I’ve been stuffing my face too much.
Oh and I got my running shirt today! I’m glad I ordered the XS. I was a little worried it would be too small but I tried it on and it fits great. Can’t wait to wear it running this week!
Your so pretty!
This has nothing to do with vanity, but I got my SR shirt today! I love it! Thanks for the speedy service.
Vanity sizing for marketing tools is very clever. My situation: I am very petite, at Loft I can fit the petite 00 perfectly, but if I go to Old Navy to try on their jeans in the same size, they are huge! So I never order my pants online anymore, unless I have tried their jeans on before.
I’m loving your body image posts! I think you’re showing people to be proud of their size and showing what “real” people look like (even though you’re totally a celebrity
. Happy Monday!
I love this post! It’s so true and they definitely DO NOT do this with mens clothes! I have everything in my closet from a 2 to a 6. It’s so annoying. I would rather just know my size. Gap is really bad about this and so is Ann Taylor. I swear, every time I buy a pair of pants at ATL, I shrink a size and it sure isn’t because I am actually shrinking a size…
All that sizing makes me angry. Why do all industries have to lie so much? Grr.
I guess I can’t complain too much though. Unless something drastric happens (I can no longer run/exercise) I will probably the size of a 13 year old girl for my entire life. Well, for awhile anyways. I order online a lot – I just buy the smallest size, pretty much always.
Do people actually send you emails like that!!????
haha, yes. but usually its done in the comments.
you freakin’ rock. Seriously. You make mediocre runners like myself want to throw on my sneakers and run like the wind. But then I get sidetracked by Kim Kardashian slowly turning into Bruce Jenner, and I decide living vicariously through you is good enough.
Size is irrelevant, wear what looks good on you. And confidence looks good at any size.
So true about confidence!!
I do have my certain items of clothing that can make or break me for a day. This morning when I weighed (on MOndays) I was ruined. I pulled out 3 pairs of my littlest shorts to put them on to size myself up and they fit and were loose in all the right places. i also have a pair of jeans that if i cant pull them off without unzipping them, then i know to cut back. :/ they have to be THAT baggy or else. yes, i’m cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
Thanks for this post, I completely agree. Sizes are so out of whack! I think Gap/banana Republic etc are the worst at this – I buy Banana Republic pants and I had to go down a size when actually I’m bigger now that I was in high school/college. Same style, totally different sizes. My mom saved old clothes from college and she wore size 8′s: I fit right in them, but if I bought an 8 in today’s sizes I’d be swimming in it. I honestly consider myself an average build and I’ll never be “skinny” because I have huge muscles in my thighs, so being teeny is not an option. Yet I wear a size 2, which in my mom’s youth was reserved for the smallest of the small. Think waif. I actually have some friends of tiny proportions, and they have difficulty finding clothes SMALL enough because 0′s are just too large now.
All I know is that my size medium “Team Skinny Runner” Tech shirt fits perfectly and I am a happy camper!
Thanks for the fast shipping, SR! You rock!
Sizing is such a lie!
I found (and photographed) two skirts from two different brands in two different sizes. The Old Navy skirt was size 1. The Fashion Bug skirt was size 10. I could put both on but they were too tight to be comfortable…I usually fit into a 5 or so.
Please explain to me how my size 5 self fit into what is supposed to be a 1 and/or a 10. Seriously!? Sizes lie!
It’s really sad that there are people who thrive on trying to hurt others. Bringing someone down or trying to insult them behind from an anonymous name is super lame. It’s ok to not agree, but there is something wrong with people who blatenly leave messages with the intentions to hurt and emberass someone else.
I personally love reading your blog and that’s why I come back day after day and month after month just to see HOW MANY miles you have run today in hopes of getting a little inspiration and to read about someone who truly loves to run. Clearly, I am not the only one!
Interesting…I never knew an old-timey size 8 was a size 00! Nuts!
I think the worst participator in this trend is Old Navy. I go in there, and a size Small swims off me. Their Smalls are seriously Larges. I think they are catering to the part of the country that lives on McDonalds and Frappacinos.
I’m gonna go make ugly faces in the mirror now to celebrate the national holiday. I learn so much from this blog!!!
Oh I forgot to add that if you want to know your REAL size – like from before vanity sizing struck – check out the sizing on clothing patterns. These sizes are generally unchanged since the 40′s or 50′s. I sew, and I follow sizing for an 8 or 10 – usually a 6 or 8 is as small as the pattern goes! Remember how people used to say “perfect 10″? It was a lot smaller then.
I love this post and I love your blog – I hope you’re doing running Tuesday tomorrow because for the first time since reading (stalking) your blog, I’m joining in!
Great post!! I actually do have a pair of indicator jeans. They are Abercrombie from like early high school or something. They are bootcut, and I think a size 0 or 2. I go through seasons where I try to stay away from the scale, but I will try these on every once in awhile to see where I am. When they fit me perfectly I am usually at a fit weight for my body. When I was trying to gain weight last year I used them instead of weighing myself weekly, then I would weigh maybe every few weeks. It worked for me!!
P.S. do you really get emails about how you have an eating disorder or are an over-exercisizer?? Sorry, but sounds like people like to reflect their own issues on others. Bummer you have to start a post like that. Anyway, your blog rocks!!
yes i do but its ok. i just sign them up for a bunch of spam and viagra newsletters.
That wedding pic of you and J is so so precious.
Q: My jeans always get tighter in the thigh region when I’m training. Do you encounter this ‘problem’? Maybe not since you train 24/7? I hate it =/
UGH this totally happens to me too!
It’s true though: people buy the number, particularly women and particularly during trips of “retail therapy.” I know I’ve been known to NOT buy something because the size seemed to big…and there was no way!
I have a love/hate relationship with vanity sizing. Anthropologie vanity sizes everything, which is AWESOME, because I can fit into a size 0 there, but, let’s be clear, I am NOT a size 0–not even a little bit. So, it’s nice, but, if I’m going to be a 0, I want to be a true 0 or whatever. OK, that made me sound super lame and stupid. ANYWAYS. I’d rather be a healthy size 4 or whatever than a fake size 0. Or something. It makes sense in my head and then I type it and sound all stupid. Ha!
I think that picture of you and J on your wedding day is just gorgeous!
I have sort of stopped caring what size I wear, but it’s hard to shop when every place/brand is so different. I buy my (good expensive ones at least) jeans to fit my thighs and get the waists taken in. I do have a pair of dress pants from Express that are my indicator pants. They overfloweth with muffin top if they get too tight.
I found that stores that I am supposed to be shopping at, like Ann Taylor Loft, vs. stores that I still shop at because I am pretending I am a trendy teen like Forever 21, are way worse. I can fit into a 4 at Ann Taylor – and I am not a 4. I was in high school 15 pounds lighter and didn’t have hips yet.
Vanity sizing is super annoying — sure, it’s great to think you’re fitting into smaller sizes, but sometimes even the smallest sizes are too big for me (and I’m really not THAT small of a gal) and I start to believe that really it is a product of Americans getting fatter and the mainstream fashion industry playing with vanity sizing — I’m looking at you, Banana Republic and Anne Taylor!
First of all love your blog! Second, did you say “maternity “jeans? Like you are expecting? If so Congratulations! If not, my bad and I apologize. I read through some comments here and didn’t see anything about it. I think all women do the indicator clothes, its one more thing that separates us from men! Great blog, love it and LOVE LOVE LOVE to run! You go girl!
hahahaha, no i am not pregnant. it was just the only pair i could find online of my exact jeans… but in maternity style.
PERFECT!!
I only wound up here beeecaaauuusssseeee…I was just telling a friend of mine how I was so stoked that I now fit into some 6s (again), and (they seemed loose) but, when I went season shopping for Spring/Summer… (to my defense, I was PMS’g too), I could NOT for the life of me fit into a pair of True Religions…the girl was looking at me like, ya right lady, 27 my a$$!! I thought, what the hell is the deal here! I DID loose some weight several years ago and wound up in a 2 from an 8/10 teeter. In a year I was back on the teeter BUT, man !! It sooo messes w/ you- cause I was dying to get down to a healthy s6. I’m 5’9″ and about 145…would like to get back down to 135.
This V-sizing crap has me buying and wearing into the STUPID and I mean STUPID idea that “we’re ALL winners”. Um, no. I WANT to know where I’m at AND I’d put on a smaller outfit and feel the LOVE all over me.
There’s no LOVE only pandering…I hate pandering.
p.s. it would rock if you’d add some sort of F’Book LIKE to this.
Bree makes a good point. Retail managers will tell you that vanity sizing has definitely occurred at mainstream chains geared toward adult women (such as Ann Taylor or Anthropologie, both of which are geared toward professional women over 30), but as younger and younger girls want to wear clothing marketed toward juniors and young adults, those brands may actually do the reverse and shrink their clothing (for example, some items at Juicy Couture, Abercrombie, Forever 21, etc. have shrunk in size over the last 10 or so years as younger girls want to buy the brand).
As a woman in her 60s, who weighs the same now as in my 20s, I can say absolutely they have made the clothes a lot BIGGER over the decades. I have clothes in my closet, including my 1974 wedding dress, which can tell the story. I am 5’2 and 100 lbs. I have gone from a size 5 in the 70s to a size 0 today, without losing one single pound.
BTW, that size 0 in in JUNIOR clothes. In Miss sizing I am a 00. Pathetic. I will be shopping in the Children’s Section with my Social Security check if this keeps up.
So true. I like Ann Taylor loft pants because the fit works well for me (as in, the actual cut) but man, are they high on vanity sizing! I’m a size 2 in this day and age, but with expensive designer brands (the really expensive ones, not 7 jeans) I’m a 4. Don’t know how junior sizing corresponds to women’s sizing but I’m a 5/7 in juniors jeans, and in general while I usually wear a small in women’s, I’m often a medium in juniors. There are a few odd pairs of size 0 jeans I fit in. But Ann Taylor loft is another story, I’m a size 00 there! And the 00 is in no way small or borderline on me, a 0 would be too big, it’s crazy. And I checked out the sizing chart and they even have the audacity to lie on that. 00 measurements are supposed to be 23.5 in the waist and 33.5 in the hips. Um, no. Mine are 25.5 and 35.5 which is a 2 according to their size chart, which makes sense because that’s my size. Except at loft, it isn’t. Nice try Ann Taylor, you can put all the small numbers you want on your size chart and try to convince me I have 33 inch hips, but my tape measure here begs to differ. My cousin, who is actually really thin, went shopping there with me and couldn’t fit into anything. Sure, it’s nice to get to pretend to be an xs, 00, but it gets annoying when I have to try everything on because one pair of pants is a 00 and the other is a 7, and they both look exactly the same to me.