Got a question about clothing sizes

TiffTZell · November 23, 2001, 10:30pm

I am doing this paper for school about body image. I have been trying to get what the measurements for a classic size 8 are, but I am getting nowhere I have seen from a 26 inch to a 33 inch waist on sizing charts for size 8’s and I know they all can’t be right…or can they? Is there a set waist to size chart or am I just going to have to wonder around confused asking people what size they are LOL

KneadToKnow · November 23, 2001, 10:44pm

I wish you luck, TiffTZell. From what little I understand of this, though, you’re still one step away from being able to ascribe measurements to these sizes. AFAIK, a size 8 “junior,” for example, is a completely different size from a size 8 “woman.”

FWIW, I think this is an excellent field of study. I have long suspected the entire thing is simply a mind-numbing exercise intended to insulate those women who would be wounded by such info from what their actual measurements are. You will notice that men’s fashions are almost entirely handled in actual measurements.

doreen · November 23, 2001, 10:57pm

They are all right, because the sizes aren’t really standardized. It’s not just that a junior 8 isn’t the same as a misses 8 (“womens” sizes are the larger sizes), but one company’s size 8 may be another company’s size ten, and I’ve even seen the sizes differ in different styles by the same company.

TiffTZell · November 23, 2001, 11:02pm

Well if that is the case…was there ever a set of classic measurements? I rmember my dad telling stories about some actress when he was a kid and rattle off some numbers…38/21/39 thats just an example- I don’t remember what they were…If there is a set of old classic measurements- what would the new ones be?

doreen · November 24, 2001, 3:44am

I remeber hearing actresses and models being described as 36-24-36 (bust,waist,hips)and I think that was supposed to be sort of a classic measurement for an hourglass figure, but I never heard those measurements associated with a clothing size.If you want to look at the changes between then and now, it probably makes more sense not to look at what the waist measurement is for a size 8 then and now (especially since the sizes aren’t standard now and probably weren’t then), but at what the ideal proportions (which determine body shape)are. Two women might both have 24 inch waists, but if one has 28 inch hips, and the other has 36 inch hips, they won’t have the same body shape and most likely won’t be able to wear the same clothes in the same size.

ShibbOleth · November 24, 2001, 4:28am

This is of some interest on this topic:

from Auburn University Department of Consumer Affairs Research
Currently, sizing standards in women’s wear are based on the Voluntary Product Standard, PS-42-70, which uses data from a 1941 study of women in the military. Data from both the U.S. and U.K. (Gray, 1997) indicate that the body shape for women has changed to a pear-shape rather than an hour-glass shape over the past four decades. Yet dated standards remain the basis for launching pattern development. To compensate, manufacturers of women’s wear develop standards for their target consumers resulting in inconsistency of sizing in the marketplace. In addition to all of these external influences on consumer satisfaction with fit, personal influences ranging from the positive and negative feelings that women hold about their personal image to women’s preferences for closely or loosely fitted apparel impact on purchase decisions. Much of the work in consumer behavior is based on a model by Engel, Blackwell, and Kollat (1978) which included a process in the evaluation of alternatives in consumer choice that consisted of beliefs, attitudes, intentions and ultimately, consumer choice. Using this model as a framework, this research will focus on probing consumer beliefs, attitudes and intentions related to the ultimate choices made in the fit of women’s apparel. Body cathexis, the positive and negative feelings toward one’s body, has been used to successfully study consumer satisfaction with the fit of apparel Hwang, 1996). Factors including social ideals, apparel industry ideals, perceptions of what constitutes a good fit at specific body sites, and personal attitudes toward body shape and size will be explored.

Note: highlighting is mine. Let you know more if I find it.

TiffTZell · November 24, 2001, 4:40am

found it , thank you
Thanks for all the info
Now all i need to do is go make sense of all of it, I am more like a size 18 right now so even though i wear girls clothes it is stil forign lol

Lynn_Bodoni · November 24, 2001, 4:41am

You might want to go down to your local fabric store and look at pattern books. They have size measurements listed in each book. Or they did a few years ago, which is the last time I checked on such things.

Now, these sizes probably won’t be the same from one company to the next, but at least you’ll have some data points.

I used to work in a women’s clothing shop, and I can tell you that everyone here is right, there IS no one consistent set of sizes. Even in the same style from the same manufacturer, one pair of pants might be a tad longer than the next. When the clothes are cut out, the material is in layers, and if the cutter slants the cutting device at all, the garment piece on the bottom might be quite a different size from the one on the top.