Ya know what I love????

[Shari]

I got dressed for work today...I decided to wear a ribbed turtle neck under a jacket.
***
I've had the turtleneck for years. I pulled it out and looked at the tag. Size M, it says. Looks like it will fit fine. Great.
***
I put it on, and its loose fitting, but not baggy. Its comfy and warm. Great, good to go. Slip on my jacket, get ready for work, oh happy me.
***
Have some extra time this morning so I fold a basket of laundry. Pull out one of easy child 2's shirts. Its a little sleeveless tank thing that she wears layerd over a couple more just like it. It looks small enough to fit Wee, yet easy child 2 is larger than I am. I fold it and set it aside and notice...its an adult XL. It is (prestretched) 1/3 the size of the size M turtleneck I just put on...
***
No wonder I never know what size of anything to buy.
***
The fashion industry should be doing well. The cost of their materials has to have decreased drastically in the past few years.

 

[totoro]

I know! I hate buying clothes! I bought Gap jeans on sale and they made me feel skinny, but they run big.
I bought another pair of jeans at a consignment store same size, couldn't breathe!!!
I bought the same size Levis which are my favorite jeans! But they depend on which cut you buy, Boyfriend or regular or 515... Boyfriend run bigger.
I found Boyfriend and 515 at a consignment and the sizes were different! But they both fit only a 2 inch difference.
I play it safe and buy large in shirts! LOL

 

[DammitJanet]

I hate hearing sizes anymore!

I swear I think have changed the way they size clothing now...especially womens clothes but even infants.

Back when I was a teen I weighed 125, was 5'8" and wore between a 9 and a 11/12

Now, I hear about people who weigh 180 to 200 who wear size 12. No way. Cant be. And there are people who weigh 125 who wear a size 3. HUH? Or folks who weigh 115 who wear a size 0! I dont think we had a size 0 back in my day...lol. I know my BFF back then weighed 115 and she wore a size 7.

I was one of those who mostly wore male levi's and tee shirts so I wore student jeans in size 28 or 30. and we wore them long so it was 28 x 34 or 30 x34. And I wore like medium shirts because I have always had boobs.

Obviously, today I would wear something smaller...lol.

 

[Shari]

I'm sure sizes have changed, actually. The fact that Marilyn Monroe was a 10 is supposed to make people feel good today, that you don't have to be a skinny minnie to look good, etc. Great. Except that a 10 back in her day was half the size it is today! lol

Sewing pattern sizes haven't changed, that I'm aware of, and I'm like a 14 or 16 there, where I wear an 8 (give or take) in clothes off the shelf (pants - I've always had really big shoulders so shirts always have to be L unless they're like my turtleneck today and loose fitting to begin with). I tried on a pair od jeans that actually admitted to being "Vanity Sized". I wore 5's in those. Oh yeah...made me feel SO MUCH BETTER ABOUT MYSELF. (not)

Its just really, really strange. And sort of pathetic. Are we really that driven by the number in our pants???

 

[AnnieO]

When I was in high school I wore a 6 or an 8. Weight 115-120.

In mid-20s, I wore a 14 or 16. Weight 145-150.

Now - and I weigh 135 this morning - I wear a 4 or 6 (if I want baggy). Or a size 9 in juniors.

Don't remember them having junior sizes before... It was kids, then adults...

So, gain weight, drop sizes. Like gauges. LOL!

 

[Star*]

Okay ------some help with this.....

Marilyn Monroe was a size 14.

However if you thrift store shop and find a size 9/10 from the 1980's and compare it to a size 9/10 from the 2000s....it would floor you. They industry must have met and said "If we don't increase the size we're never going to make women feel good enough about themselves to buy clothes."

A size 9/10 from the 80's is about a size 5/6 now. I know this because I was a size 9/10 then and had some of my stuff and my niece was digging around in the attic and put it on....she was a 5/6 by todays standards.

So when I see Abercrombie size 3/4......I'm thinking it would have been about what a 4th grader in our era would have worn. I'm not intimidated it's just times change, fashions change and I figured out about 10 years ago (thanks to thrift store shopping and Kmart tags that were from the 80's left on donated clothes) that I must have been ONE SLAMMIN SEXY BEAST in my misspent youth.

Then the other thing that hit me was.....how often did you see clothes then that were size 5X? Not too often. So tell me again that the govt didn't sell us down the river with growth hormones in our food.

Yeah ------right. Look around you the next time you're out and count how many people you see that you would NOT consider overweight at all. I'm 5'9" and 190 and STILL considered morbidly obese and I LOST 100 lbs. and now in size 10 clothes....go figure. But I know I can't get into the size 9/10 pants I wore in HS. NO WAY......

 

[Shari]

I stand corrected. Marilyn was bigger than I recalled. Still, she was not a 14 by today's standards.

I remember junior sizes, Step. You went from girls size 16 to a junior 3. And Junior 3 was larger than girls 16.

easy child 2's "girls 16" jeans (which she has since outgrown) are bigger than my women's 8's.

Its insanity.

And I'm with you, Star. Something siginificant has changed.

But can you imagine what the sizes would be up to, tho, if they didn't change up the numbers?

 

[muttmeister]

That's one reason I hate buying clothes. I am 5'2" and weigh 125 give or take a few pounds depending on how I've been behaving. I have things in my closet from size 6 to size XL and they all fit. How is that possible? I think they are just messing with us.

 

[KTMom91]

Back in the '70's, my dad had a revolutionary idea...a clothing store for women who were plus-sized that carried nice clothes, no mu mu's, no revolting polyester tents, but clothing that you could wear comfortably and look good in. He took his idea to the malls of America, where it totally took off, and when he sold one company, he started another, then another. You've heard of military brats? I'm a retail brat.

Sizes have never been standardized. Cheaper clothes usually run smaller, designer clothes larger, along the lines of those vanity jeans. What ticks me off lately is the new sizing used by Lane Bryant and Target, just the single number, that doesn't seem to correspond to any other sizing numbers. I already know I have at least fifty pounds to lose. You can't hide that fact behind a cute little 2.

Rant over...I'm done now.

 

[Mattsmom277]

This is the bane of my existence actually and a reason I have once again come to LOATHE clothes shopping!

I don't care what "size" my tags say. I really don't care as long as I feel I look good in the fit and style. I'm glad I'm not hung up on that, since so many women get stuck in that mind set and the emotions associated and I relate. As a person overweight most of my life until gastric bypass, I hated the tags, the emotions were brutal. Now, I don't care. Because of my MS I have gained about 20lbs back in the past 2 years. However prior to that I was at my goal weight, then suddenly dropped 30lbs and my family were worried about my health, it sure didn't suit me as I looked like death on feet. So gaining more? Pfft. I know why it happened, inability to be mobile for a long time with the MS out of control. Would I lose some if I could? You betcha, working on it, but not a slave to it so long as that scale is DONE creeping up (seems to be). But I did "let go" of the tag size mentality, grateful for that!

But I again loathe shopping. I hate walking into several stores to try things on. Finally figure out I'm size 12 and then move on and get a 12 elsewhere. Have to go back out for a 14? Then I can head to the next store, and after much stress and a pile of castoffs, I'm a size 10. I have some size 6 in my closet that fit as well. How can I have a pair of size 6 pants and a pair of size 14 pants, and they BOTH fit the same? Its absurd.

I don't ENJOY the shopping experience when I each store sizes differently so I waste valuable time trying on tons of pairs to get my size in that particular shop. Only to pick a different style, in the same shop, and the size is off yet AGAIN.

I wish they'd go back to the system of sizing by inches. I know what my waist and hip and leg measurements are. Perfect. Uniform sizing would be instant and universal.

It is a marketing gimmick pure and through. When high priced clothes get you a smaller size, what clothes do many women want? The ones with the smaller size, despite the over inflated cost associated.

I don't care about labels, the size or the brand. I like what I like based on look, texture, material, fit, quality and color. I'll pay what I have to spend, some times not much, sometimes substantially more. But nobody is getting my clothing budget dollars anymore. Wait, actually the book shop is! What I normally spend on clothing has been spent on books for about 2 years now. I get too frustrated to go through all the trying on process when it takes so darn line. I want to walk in, see something I like, pick my size, try it and decide yay or nay. Know what I mean?? When it becomes a chore, I just avoid it (like the dust bunnies around here or the laundry I have no energy to do). Instead, I indulge my love of books and come home satisfied.

Ironically bought the first clothing tonight in ages. A gorgeous sweater. Pricey sweater. But when I saw it, I looked at the sizing and was able to judge easily which to try, got it right on first try in the change room, paid for it and left. I was out in 5 minutes. If shopping was like that all over? I'd have a darn good wardrobe. Retailers may rope some in with these tactics, but I do believe they are losing a bunch too.

 

[GoingNorth]

I tend to wear clothing loose at the best of times. Always have, even as a teen. First of all, I was "grunge" before Kurt Cobain was born. Second of all, I'm Sensory Integration Disorder (SID). I can't stand tight clothing, bras, that sort of thing.

Shopping for clothes is easier as I mostly wear mens' clothing due to the way I carry my weight (I'm very overweight, but have no rear-end to speak of), and I find men's clothing to be more comfortable and quite often much more well-made. I like the fact that trousers are measured in inches and inseam lengths are a nice thing to have.

My big beef is shoes. I wear a European standard size 41. That translates to a size 9 in US sizing. Why is is that I can wind up wearing anything from a seven and a half, up to a ten in shoes?

At the same time, in men's shoes I wear a seven and a half, period.

 

[Shari]

I wish men's pants fit me, GN, for the same reason you describe. Its static!

And MM, I don't buy clothes for the same reason. HATE it. Hate shopping, hate trying on, hate it all.

 

[GoingNorth]

Shari, what I do shopping is to buy several of an item in different colors once i find something I like.

Especially with shoes. I wear Naturalizer brand shoes when I can because they run very narrow and I have narrow feet.

Last time I went shoe shopping, I went to a shoe warehouse sort of place and found three pairs of shoes all made on the exact same last. Got one in brown leather and two in black leather.

I still tried them on, of course, but once I had my shoes picked out, I was out of there in twenty minutes total.

If you have one nearby, Discount Shoe Warehouse, or DSW, is a great place to find quality, name brand shoes in a good selection of styles and sizes. They also run about thirty percent less than full retail pricing.

I live up in the boonies, so I visit DSW and a couple of "big ladies" stores when I go down to visit my mother in Chicagoland.

The plus-size stores have a nice selection of "real clothes" including nightwear and lingerie, and they are reasonably priced.

 

[Shari]

I do the same! I have the most boring wardrobe ever.

And I shop a lot at the second hand store near where I work. The ladies who run it have similar taste and I don't have to fight crowds of people or park 3 acres from the door...

husband made easy child 2 give up a pair of jeans today that were looking too snug. They were size 14.5 GIRLS jeans. She took them off and put on a pair of womens size 14 that fit fine...and I thought of this post...when did GIRL and WOMAN become interchangable!

 

[timer lady]

That was a rhetorical question, Shari?

 

[TerryJ2]

Yes, the sizes are being resized. Deliberately, to promote sales to um, larger women, to present them as being smaller. It's all about marketing. You can Google it.
Meanwhile, we have to try everything on. Sigh.

 

[Shari]

that was a rhetorical question, shari?

lol

 

[AnnieO]

A couple of years back, Onyxx needed a pair of jeans in the summertime. We were camping, but she and husband were going to go through a cave, which was pretty chilly even in 90-degree weather. So we stopped at Wal Mart. We were looking for reasonably well-fitting but loose instead of painted-on-skin-tight...

She wore (normally) girls' size 10.

We ended up having to get her a 14+ at Wal Mart. And she never wore them again ... "I am NOT a plus size!!!!!"

She now swears she wears a 3 or 5 juniors.

I wear a 9 or 11 in juniors and (sorry kid) her rear and thighs are larger than mine. I have form-fitting skinny jeans - but my inseams don't rip when I put them on. So... Deluding herself, methinks.

on the other hand, I wear a 4, or 6, or 8, or 10 depending on the brand. Tops are almost always a medium or an 8.

 

[DaisyFace]

"I am NOT a plus size!!!!!"

She now swears she wears a 3 or 5 juniors.

LOL! Boy does this sound familiar!

My difficult child swears that she is a ZERO. And she is pretty much the same size as me (not a zero)...

Last time we went shopping for clothes, she started in on her "I'm a zero" speech...and I just told her that if she could find a 0 on the rack, she was more than welcome to try it on.

She ended up buying a 5--which seemed to upset her no end.

So it seems that this re-sizing strategy may be having the wrong effect on today's teenage girls. Can you imagine having a fit over wearing a size 5???

 

[Shari]

Thankfully (or maybe not), easy child doesn't seem to be aware of sizes yet. She has no idea what size clothing she wears. If it is skin tight, exposes the belly, and split to reveal all possible cleavage, in her mind, its sexy and she should wear it.

And something odd happened Saturday with her. She had on those girls' 14 jeans, and I mean to say they were painted-on, 14 stories tight jeans. She has at least an 8" layer of sub-q fat on her belly only - the rest of her is very "normal". Her waist is at least 16 inches larger than her hips, and her weight and how she carries it has concerned me for some time (but again, not much I can do, so I have backed away - she won't help herself here, either).

So anyway, she has crammed herself into these girls' 14 jeans, and she has muffin tops that are sticking out 4 or 5 inches from the top of her jeans, and a skin tight t shirt that is hugging every curve. It looked awful, but I'm leaving that to husband to deal with. But Wee, in his non-tactful way of being, said something about easy child's shirt being stuck in one of her rolls. I immediately got onto him and told him we don't talk about people like that, he needed to apologize, etc, and he said "but she is fat mom" and easy child jumped right in and exclaimed that she is not at all fat, and said it in such a way that it now makes me wonder if she truly isn't aware of how big she is...

I worry about this girl on so many fronts, she has diabetes and heart disease in her family (3 of 4 grandparents have both) and eats nothing but carbs and sugar to the tune of 2 or 3 thousand calories a day (I have both in my family, also, so I watch what is available to eat in our home, for my own sake - and if there's no white bread, she'd rather just not eat...), has back problems and she never stands or sits straight, is insanely unfit,...I'm no health nut, but I do try to eat healthy and teach the kids the same, you know, like, 3 candy bars a day is too many...but there's just not a blessed thing I can do about it but sit and watch...

Sorry, I digress. The clothing sizes are still absolutely nuts.

Hey, whatever happened to that lady that was trying to make a universal sizing system? She was in the WSJ a few times...