I have a hug problem with a lot of women’s sizing, as, well, I rarely fit the standard that the size model was looking for as far as shape goes. It’s tough to find stuff that fits in the shoulders and also in the boobs, and doesn’t have the sleeve starting halfway past my shoulder sometimes. This is exacerbated by the fact that I’ve now been shunned by the junior’s department for being both too big and having hips that are now too wide to take into consideration. However, I tend towards going with one or two stores that have reliable sizing for me in my price range (Target and Old Navy are easier to decipher, but I stay away from Isaac Mizrahi stuff, as they’re sized about 1.5 to 2 sizes smaller than the regular Target stuff. It’s infuriating.)
How is it that in some stores, I’m a 20, whereas in others, I can go as low as a 14? (I generally stick by the stores that size me at my current size as 16. They also tend to have a slightly more flattering fit. However, that doesn’t stop me from trying to get down into their size 12 or 14 range.) I’d be okay if it were an issue of me going between two dress sizes, but four? WTF?
That’s my inseam too. I’ve found, in general, that the inseam is about 30", and in tall or long it is 32". Except where regular is about 33" and tall is about 34". Or tall girl stores where the inseam starts at 36" (which I don’t really mind since I can sew them up).
Don’t get me started on tall sizing. I’ve been lucky enough lately to find women’s jeans that fit reasonably well (surprisingly, they’re labeled as regular) but most places that carry a long/tall length stop at about a 14/16 (looking at you Reitman’s and Gap). It seems the model they use for tall girls is always skinny, hardly any thighs and calves to speak of and slim shoulders with little breasts.
The long shirt fad? A boon I tell you. I find shirts that actually fall to my hips now (some even further, which makes me wonder if they were intended as dresses for shorter women…).
I want to know why there’s no such thing as a Big And Tall shop for women. I guess that those of us that are overweight aren’t allowed to be taller than 5’4". :rolleyes:
Tell me about it. The “S” inseam is only 30’’ and I’m pretty sure that’s still going to be too long (I’m 5’2’’ tall.)
Despite my shortness, I’m rocking DDD breasts and appropriately proportioned hips, as well as broad shoulders. I bitch about my jeans being too long, but the real nightmare is finding shirts to fit me. I can’t wear any kind of shirt that’s tailored because the freakin’ thing won’t fasten in the front. Yet XL stretchy shirts are really too big in the shoulders and everywhere else. And bathing suits, forget about it.!
I totally agree that skirts are significantly less hassle-free… I wear skirts all the time in the summer and LOVE it–both look and feel great! But Michigan in February is NOT prime skirt wearing time, if you get my drift. I must find some rockin’ jeans so my kneecaps don’t freeze.
I would mostly like shirts and jackets with longer sleeves and a touch more width across the back. I have a long torso, broad shoulders, and “average” length legs (i.e., the medium length pants are always long enough). My arms, however, being a component of my torso, are long. Not only does this look weird, it makes top shopping ridiculous. Oh, for women’s blouses to be sized like men’s dress shirts. All those available sleeve lengths!
When I look for jeans, they’re inevitably all low-rise, and my long torso means that those are not for me. I’ve tried a few brands of that style on, and it’s not pretty. Add that to the fact that my hips are relatively narrow (apparently all chicks who must wear plus sizes are supposed to be hourglass-shaped) and they slide down even further than they should be. I did dig up some cheap jeans at Wal-Mart of all places about three years ago that fit perfectly. That meant, naturally, that they promptly quit making that style. (surprisingly they have worn really well for jeans that cost less than $20 a pair) Ah, well. For now, JCPenney’s St. John’s Bay jeans and pants do nearly as well.
Until they find out that they actually fit people. Then they’ll change them.
Second: How did you do it? I’m dieting away and making decent progress, but I’m worried about ‘plateau’ stages. What did you do to get past them? And what exercise can I do, at my current Morbidly Obese stage, that will not make me want to die and might actually be worth the effort?
Sorry for the derail. I’ll start a new thread if y’all think it’d be better.
See I have the opposite problem. Anything low rise looks better on me because I don’t have a long torso, and my natural waist is fairly high up. This is different than sizing though, styles is a whole other rant.
Totally agree with the longer sleeves and wider across the shoulders though. I went suit shopping and had a lady try to convince me that the jacket really should be that snug across my shoulders. As long as I could basically do the full range of motions, there was no need for all this hugging of yourself that I was trying to do (I can’t be the only one who does that when trying on shirts and jackets right?). Because obviously in an office setting I’m not going to be doing that, or stretching up to grab things (like supplies stored in cupboards that even I have to stretch for) or anything that requires a fuller range of motion that might possibly stress the seams (like picking up a case of paper to bring to the printer).
I found a nicer one elsewhere, that fit well, was in my price range, with much more helpful ladies.
olives, it sounds like we’re about the same size – I range anywhere between a misses’ 10 and a 16, depending. I’m absolutely in love with jeans from N.Y. & Company. The ones I have are size 14, but after wearing them for a while, I think I’d probably be better off in a 12. The flares and bootcuts aren’t too ridiculously sized for us short people (I’m 5’2"-ish), and there’s just enough stretch to them.
I’d love to be able to shop at Old Navy, but I’m at a size where something just goes wrong with their pattern drafting. It’s like they take the smaller sizes and just stretch them out without grading them. Oh, and they seem to have this belief that once you hit a size 12, your thighs project dramatically on the sides below the hip yoke. Sorry, guys, I’m not carrying bowling balls on femur. I tried on a pair of pants there once, and it was like I had thigh wings – something even Tyson chicken has not seen.
Blokes’ clothes come in daft sizes, too. I am not the biggest geezer in the world and have terrible difficulty finding stuff to fit. Occasionally I can find the elusive 36S jacket that will fit but I don’t think I have bought a pair of off-the-peg trousers that didn’t need to be turned up since I was 12 - my inside leg measurement is a whopping 27 inches but the shortest available in the majority of shops is 30.
Many clothes marked “small” are far too small even for me but I have come across some that are actually still too big. “Medium” in the UK can sometimes denote “small”; for clothes made in the US, it often means “enormous”.
And why do they only have specialist shops for Big and Tall men? What about us midgets?? (I suppose a shop called “Mr Short & Weedy” wouldn’t exactly look good.)
It’s disgusting. And we women marvel that men in the US can walk into a store, grab a pair of pants of the shelf and buy them without trying them on. Why? Because their standards are set. They go by waist measurement and length. Got a 36 hip? Grab size 36 pants.
No so with us women. We get whatever the manufacturer decides is a size and they manipulate them in order to make people feel better because they’re in a size 14 instead of 22. As if the number on a tag means you are any larger or smaller than you actually are. Does it really fool anyone?
I, too, have been losing weight (208 to 156). I went from size 22W (w means Women’s [read - plus size]) to a 14. I have not had the courage to brave the stores again to try on new stuff. My closet contains all my old 14s, so I’ve been wearing them until I drop to 12’s (when I’ll have to buy all new) When I drop to 12s, I have no idea where I’ll need to shop. I’ve been shopping “womens” stores for so long.
How about something like this? First size, waist. Second size, Hip. Third size, length of leg. Simple. Maybe too simple!
I agree. And if you’re wondering why they don’t change to some commonsense actual measurement system, it’s because women react poorly to them. They don’t want to wear or buy something that lists their actual size in a quantifiable reference point we can all understand. I also read that even within clothing lines, sizes are getting “super-sized,” so that a 14 now is bigger than a 14 was 15 years ago. I’m not making a judgment about this, just sharing that at least one source (I can’t recall which it was) cited the cause of this mess. The bottom line: the actual number they use can drive whether a given women will purchase the clothing.
Old Navy stuff just fits weird - for a long time, even as I began to lose weight, I could go in and not fit into anything they had - from their biggest jeans to their XXL shirts. Now I’ve lost some weight, and the XXL shirts finally fit (though the XL gaps at the boobs if it’s a button down, does ok if a pullover). But the pants! I was in there last weekend and I tried on an 18 in the pants I liked. Too long and a little too big, so I tried a 16 - fit great through the hips and waist, but they were about 5 inches too long. Grrrr.
But that would take all the fun out of shopping, you know. Because all women love to shop for hours. Plus, then women would actually have to know their measurements- there wouldn’t be “vanity sizing” and I think a lot of people would be shocked by their actual measurements. And then there would be protests and lawsuits (or something along those lines. :p)
Damn.
I mean, just…damn…
And proportionate hips, too…
But, you’re only 24 (almost)…that’s a 14-year age gap. Hmmm…well, if alice-in-wonderland can get away with it…
I won’t ask for a cite. How about a date, when I’m in Michigan, instead??
Smart vendors of women’s clothes on E-bay include the actual measurements in the places where it counts. As long as I pay attention to these, I’ve been able to buy garments that fit perfectly. If I see something I really like, and the vendor hasn’t included measurements, I always send a message and ask. Boggette’s suggestion is just plain common sense, especially when you can’t try it on before buying, and that now seems to be the practice at E-bay at least. When there are fitting rooms, though, honey you are on your own. Bring a friend when you shop.
There have been a couple times when I grabbed a skirt in a store without trying it on–'cause skirts are easy to fit, right?–only to find it was way huger than I could wear. I mean, it was not even in the ballpark, one labeled 16 was more like 24, one labeled M was really XXL. Frankly, I’m convinced they just sewed the wrong labels on by mistake. I gave the plus size skirts to my plus size friend and she was happy with them.
I had gastric bypass surgery in November, of 2004.
Plateaus are annoying aren’t they? I just kept on keeping on - I figured if it had worked so far, it would continue to work. And it usually did. Some of them were frustratingly long, so I recommend taking measurements. Even when I wasn’t showing any movement on the scale, the measurements kept me on track.
I started out mainly with walking. I added strength training as I felt I could handle it. I found a stability ball helped immensely - especially with squats.
Swimming aerobics are a good start too - not as hard on the joints.
It’s a definite challenge, isn’t it? I am sure you will be a great success!
Olives, according to the loons (er, fashion co-ordinators) on What Not to Wear, you should buy clothing that fits the largest part of you and then get it tailored to fit the rest of you. Yeah, I know. Like everyone who hasn’t just gotten a free $5000 shopping spree plus perks can afford to buy new clothes and get them tailored, but I thought I’d share that tip with you anyway.
Yeah. Now that I’ve lost a bunch of weight and am paying more attention to how clothes actually fit on me, I really have to watch out for those big shirts. I’m only five feet tall and most of those things will come down to my knees.
What has been a boon to my short-staturedness, though, are those cropped pants that have been popular these last few years. On me, they look exactly like full-length pants. Yay! No hemming! I found a great pair of cropped jeans at the thrift store the other day which are perfect on me. Now, if only manufactures would come out with summer-weight cropped pants that had normal colors and prints instead of the putrid ones they usually choose. Oh well, one step at a time, I guess.
Speaking of thrift stores, they’re great places to shop when you are losing a lot of weight and going through a bunch of different size changes. I don’t plan to go into a full-priced store until I lose another 50 pounds. My favorite thrift store (Value Village) is only few blocks away. They organize their clothes by type (long sleeve or short sleeve, for instance), size and color group. They’re a little more expensive because of this but it saves me a lot of hassle going through stuff I don’t want to look at. Plus, they even have a seven day return policy, as long as the tag is still on the clothing when you return it.
When I wasn’t sure of what size pants I wore, I measured my waist and cut a string to half that length. Then I would take the string to the thrift store with me and could tell quickly if a pair I liked would fit me or not. The same could be done, I imagine, for you bodacious bust. (Not that I’m imagining your bust or anything. )
You guys know this happens all over the world, right?
The Spanish government recently signed an agreement with the biggest brands in the country (Zara, Mango, Vittorio e Luchino, etc.) to standardize sizes. If they need to put 3 numbers, then three numbers, but finding the right size shouldn’t take 10x as long as figuring out if you like it…
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