I will NOT wear a size twelve

The BBQ Pit
1

Shopping is becoming increasingly challenging because clothing manufacturers are becoming increasingly sneaky.

What is a size twelve? Check your Sears catalog, if your bust is about 36 1/2 inches, your waist is about 29 inches, and your hips are about 39 inches, you’re a size 12. Complicated? Shouldn’t be. Someone should institute a standard.

Most clothing manufacturers have their own unique way of declaring garment size. Sometimes I think they first sew the garment, then someone holds it up and says “Yep, looks like a size 8.”

Shortly after giving birth to my second child, I found myself short of pants that wouldn’t get stuck at my thighs on their way up. I stayed in the mall until I found a pair of size 10 pants that fit. If the ten didn’t fit, I tried on a different style in size 10 until I did find one that fit. I only do this because the clothing manufacturers let me get away with it.

Recently though, I had the opposite problem. I was happily trying on size 10 pants at a shop in the mall. Found one that was a little tight in the thigh, so tried on another style. They were quite baggy, so I tried on the size 8. Still too big. On to the size 6. Little too loose, but I KNOW I am not a size four, and refused to try them on on these grounds. That’s just ridiculous. Why is it that in the same store a size 10 is too small and a size 6 is too big? I bought the stupid pants in a size six, and they’ve forever bothered me for being an inch too big in the waist.

A few years ago, Levi’s made an announcement that they were changing their jeans size to now correspond to the waistband size. What the heck was that all about? I’m not a big Levi’s wearer, but why on Earth would they call a pair of jeans 28 if they did not measure 28 inches across the waist?

I’m in Europe now, and the sizes here are not much fun either. What the heck is a 40? It sounds just HUGE. I have nothing against buying size 28 jeans, or a size 36 bra, but nothing on me is 40 anything, as far as I know, so why would I buy a 40?

2

Why do you actually care what the label says as long as the clothes fit? My mom (who is a complete nutjob) used to pull that all the time when I’d go clothes shopping with her.

“Why are you buying that? It’s the wrong size!! You can’t buy that!” “Uh, mom, you just watched me try it on, it fits just fine, who cares what the tag says?” “But it can’t fit! It’s the wrong size!!!” “Riiiight…” I’d say, walking up to the counter to pay for the item.

It would definitely be much easier if there were a sizing standard for women’s clothing, especially pants (which is why I only wear men’s jeans now, never have to try em on), but there’s not, so you adapt. What the tag says is completely irrelevant, as long as it fits.

3

You know, I’ve taken to buying men’s pants (well, jeans at least) for just this reason. Seems like every time I needed a pair of jeans I’d have to try at least 3 different sizes. And the standard didn’t carry from one manufacturer to the next, or even one style of jeans to the next. I’ll never know why they don’t just sell women’s pants by the waist measurement and inseam measurement. So much more sensible and convenient than the whole 6, 8, 10 thing. But then there’s 5, 7, 9, and some are 3/4 and 5/6, and I’ve even seen pants sold in measurements like 00 and 07! Never figured that last one out.

4

What I find really annoying is that every country here in Europe seems to have a different size system and they don’t mark imported clothing according to our standard.

Well, actually, sometimes they do… (“Warning! This is a French article of clothing and French women don’t have fat asses like you so they need much smaller sizes, nyah, nyah and what YOU consider a size 40 THEY think is 42” or some such).

But then you go into a Benetton store and try to squeeze into THEIR idea of a size 40 until you realize that’s about an American size 2. And I’m just refusing to wear anything that has size 48.

5

How about the same style of jeans? Old Navy dropwaist stretch jeans. Same size. Same style. Same everything.

Supposedly.

I found a pair I liked in my size, and went back two days later to buy another pair, b/c this happens so rarely that I might as well seize the day.

So I don’t try them on; they’re the exact same style and size as the ones I bought off the same shelf two days before!

I go home. Try 'em on the next day, thinking I’ll wear them.

Ha! The damn things were at least a half-size, if not a whole size, smaller than the first pair! And now I don’t know which size is the real size. Like, the normal size. Which pair is the deviant? WILL THE REAL OLD NAVY STRETCH JEANS PLEASE STAND UP?

The funny thing is, I’ve lost about five/ten pounds since I bought them, and now the original “perfect fit” pair is loose, and the second pair fits great.

Go figure! :confused:

6

I tried on jeans in a 30 and a 32 a little while ago, unsure of which size I’d be. The 30 were larger than the 32. Same brand, same style. Always try everything on.

7

Clothing manufacturers occasionally revamp their sizing standards, basically as a ploy to get people who’ve gained a few pounds over the years to exclaim “Hey, I’m still a size 10 after all!” and buy the jeans anyway. This is done by just relabeling everything down one size…i.e. taking what used to be that manufacturer’s size 12 and now calling it a 10, but doing that all the way up and down their sizing range.

This is one of the reasons that they old “Hey, I’m not fat, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14!” chestnut is inherently false. In the 50’s, a size 12 was equivalent to what is today called about a 6 or an 8.

As for Audrey Levins’s case where the same exact item from the same store in the same size didn’t fit the same, as I understand it, mass produced clothing is cut by stacking up layers and layers of fabric and then stamped out. Because of the compression of the layers of fabric, the item all the way on the bottom can actually wind up to be a half size or full size smaller than the item on the top. They still call them all the same size, though. It’s a PITA to always have to try on rather than being able to trust and just grab and buy off the shelf, but at least I can understand the reason it happens.

8

It’s not that much different when trying to buy mens clothing in my experience. The number size that fits in one shop is so big it falls off in the one down the road.

9

Hear, hear, Sisters. I tried on some Supah-Sale jeans at Armani Exchange, and the eight was tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, so I tried on the same jeans in a size 10, and they practically fell off.

Because they were on such a good sale (70% off), I was lucky to find ANY pairs larger than a 2 and smaller than a 14, so I couldn’t find any others in either of those sizes. Nonetheless, I really liked them . . .

. . . so I bought the 8s and lost weight (no, not just for the jeans, though they do make my ass look fabulous).

10

My experience says the more expensive the clothes, the smaller size I need. I thought this was just designed (ha) to make rich people feel good. I wear size 12 pants but size 8 undies. I think that’s the primary reason I’m so confused.

11

Ladies! You’ll want to start shopping at Victoria’s Secret. The fit is unsurpassed, and…get this…I gained ten pounds and went from a 2 to a “0”. That’s right…I don’t even wear a size anymore. And, like our Auntie Em, they make my ass look like a million bucks (and I don’t mean all green and wrinkled).

12

EXACTLY! Is it really all about vanity? Are consumers more concerned about the number on that scratchy tag than about how the garment looks when worn?

Although it is frustrating, because all you really have to go by is the size tag. I just went through this with my daughter as we shopped for a prom dress. There were 2 that were labeled the same size. One was a bit on the large size, the other couldn’t even be zipped up - the top ends of the bodice were easily 6" apart!!! As it happened, she really liked the slightly larger one, so I’ll do a minor alteration and she’ll be all set.

For the record, I’m a size 9 [sub]shoe[/sub]

13

I really don’t know how you ladies buy clothes. I buy 34x30 pants (someday I’ll be a 32 again, I swear!), 17" x 34-35 dress shirts, XL tshirts, easy peasy. They always fit, some are a bit snug, some a bit loose, but nothing outrageously wrong. You poor girls can’t even look at the label because they’re totally meaningless.

Considering that women seem to shop and buy more clothes than men, you’d think that the manufacturers would be more accomodating.

14

Does this account for that size “0” thing? I don’t remember seeing that size up until 5 years or so ago.

I care because then I can go to a store without having to try a pair of pants on, know they fit, and not have to come back and exchange them later. I’m somewhere between an 8 and a 12; in the same store I could be a M, L or XL; according to Chadwick’s catalog they put me at an 18! :eek: Now does that make sense?

If I called my man from the store and asked what size jeans he wore and he said “Well, I’m somewhere between a 28 and a 34 waist, with a 30-34 inseam,” I’d call him insane!

grumble It’s a conspiracy to keep us in the store longer trying stuff on, so we’ll buy more.

15

I sympathize – buying my wife clothes (which Barb loves to get as presents) was a chore every Christmas; buyers at most stores seem to have the idea that no woman over the age of 19 ever buys clothes.

Likewise, men’s shirts – I’m not abnormally small, but until three years ago I wore “small” shirts – size 14 1/2. Perhaps 25% of the men I saw on the street had approximately my build and would probably wear the same size. Yet the stores were well stocked in medium, large, extra large, XXL, and if-it-doesn’t-look-good-you-can-always-use-it-as-a-tent-when-camping, and had two shirts in small, one designed by a man on a bad acid trip in red/green splotches and one in yellow, usually with a minor flaw. If I complained about the limited stock, the clerk would say, “But we don’t sell many of them!” – not with those choices, you won’t!!

16

[Jack Palance]

I crap bigger than you [/JP}

17

And what’s with the ever changing shoe size scam.

For each maker, I end up having to buy different size shoes or sneakers. I can understand clothes at least, but shoes should be relatively simple, you would think. Basically its a crap shoot between 10 1/2 to 12 1/2 depending on the maker, model and production run of the shoe. Pants at least, I am a 34-32 every single time.

18

Shirley Ujest is funny. Craps bigger than me. Heh. :slight_smile:

19

Try shopping with my mom who, in addition to giving me chubby genes, has a really loud voice. “SO ARE YOU STILL A SIZE 12? WHAT ABOUT THESE 14s?” She can be heard all the way to housewares.

20

I loooove Victoria’s Secret, but I’ve been working out lately and losing weight, and have shrunk smaller than their size 0… which is I think, 32" hips. I’ve also ordered a couple of XS shirts from them that were too baggy in the chest because, well, I’m tiny.

I took notice the discrepency in pants sizes. I don’t let it bug me… in general I wear a 2-4, but depending on the fit will need as small as a 0 sometimes. I bought some pants at Foley’s the other day and had to get up to a size 7 before they fit, and they’re still an eensy bit tight but the 9s were falling off of me. I have noticed that the more I’ve shrunk, the harder it is to find clothes that fit right, especially shirts. Being rather short doesn’t help much. :frowning: