Let’s talk khakis. I have to wear these to work every day as part of my uniform. In five years the only ones I have found that fit, don’t wrinkle badly and wear well are Levis Dockers. That’s fine, I’ll spend the extra money, but could someone explain why as you get into the larger sizes, the variety of lengths decreases? I’d be happier in a “long” length but I’m in a “medium” because someone has decreed long legged women couldn’t possibly be full figured. WTF! I have to baby every pair through the laundry so we don’t have too much shrinkage.
To make matters worse, the past couple pairs I’ve bought don’t fit the same despite being the same style. I have a feeling I’ll be looking for a different brand soon.
I wonder that, too. I have a leather jacket from H&M marked as a UK 18 which is smaller than most UK 16s that you’ll find, and fits perfectly now I’m a UK 14. Dorothy Perkins, on the other hand, sizes big. A skirt from there marked UK 14 is the same size as most UK 16 marked clothes from other stores, and fits a 31 inch waist.
To expect consistency in sizing across brands, and to expect no vanity sizing at all - well it’s all very well and noble, but if you refuse to by clothes with the “wrong” size label, then you’re going to run short of clothes.
I can never find anything that fits either. It’s the waistband that’s the worst; I can often find trousers that fit in the hips and legs but stick out three centimetres in the waist. Actually just finding clothes at all is difficult, as the smallest size we have in the UK, an 8, is often too small for me. A lot of ranges don’t even go down to eight, they start at ten or twelve. I try petite ranges but then the legs and sleeves are too short. Kids’ clothes are ok for t-shirts, but the shape is wrong for everything else.
Yes, I am thin, but not abnormally so, it’s strange that there are no clothes in my size. Bras are another problem. The few that are in my size are always padded, which I hate.
(And no, just because I’m not overweight doesn’t mean I don’t get to complain about clothing sizes, I need to wear stuff too!)
And I just love the stores where I can find things labelled “large” that are too small and things labelled “small” that are too large. All in the same store.
I’d like to find some socks that stay on my foot, instead of crunching up under the ball of my foot, and requiring constant adjustment. I wear a size 10 shoe and this causes a great deal of discomfort at the end of the work day.
I have big thighs and hips… A jean that goes only by the waist won’t fit me, because my waist is much smaller than the rest of my legs and the jeans won’t be able to go higher than mid thigh. That’s a reason I like low rise jeans, I only have to battle with fitting the hips and thighs.
I have a similar problem with shirts, especially the buttoned ones. I’ve spent around 5 years trying to find a nice, white buttoned shirt I can wear during the summer… I still haven’t found one that fits both in my chest and in my waist. The ones that accomodate nicely to my waist are too tight above (bursting), and the ones that fit above are too loose in the waist (making me look larger than what I am).
Ahh the wonder of clothes shopping. I’m especially bitter about all of this right now because I am pregnant again. And last time I got pregnant in August and had the baby in May … now I am due in October… so my maternity stuff is of limited use. sigh I need to buy a new stretchy wardrobe to last me the next 6 months!! Yay me
However when I’m not pregnant I do still have breasts. They grew with the last baby and did not shrink all the way back to their original semi-upright positions. I’ve already gained 2 cup sizes with this baby and figure I’m doomed in the finding a decent bra department as 38D was hard enough to come by in anything that is not white, off white, or black and ugly as sin or more money than the GDP of some small third world countries.
Oh and I have hips too… this means I cannot wear mens jeans as there is never a decent fit of both waist and crotch… I can opt for ultra loose waist or super wedgie! I spend forever trying on jeans with an array of styles and 3 sizes in each style to try and emerge from the dressing room with something that fits!
Then I have shorter legs but a longer torso. I will never be cute in a belly shirt yet that seems to be what anything that is not a tent becomes after a single washing.
Victoria’s secret has some pretty stuff but even when I am flipping skinny… I’m never smaller than a large. Size 2… one thigh is far larger than a size 2. What I want to know is where you ladies keep all your internal organs to be a size 0.
Or, at least that’s what they say about my breasts.
The rest of me is apparently a deformed size 12. (not deformed because it’s a size 12, but because my breasts are just ‘too small’ for the rest of me in their cold, calculating eyes.)
I don’t know if I should blame my body, which I had thought had fine proportions, or the evil bridal dress people.
I think I’ll blame them. (They also sneered at my comfy and beloved Hanes Her Way sport bikini’s.)
