Okay – size zero was absurd enough. Now, apparently, they’re about to start making sizes in negative numbers. (Scroll down to the last paragraph here.)
What. The. Fuck.
Seriously. I can’t even come up with a reaction to this bullshit.
There’s a need for tiny clothes for adult women.
I have a friend who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and has to take in size zero clothes, or wear kids’ clothes, in order to have things that fit. I know she’d enjoy finding things to wear that fit off the rack. (Unfortunately she can’t afford Banana Republic or Nicole Miller, but maybe it’ll carry over to Old Navy eventually.)
Didn’t the 88-lb model wear these?
“Sub-zero wins: fatality.”
And she is a normal woman of a healthy weight? :dubious:
I’m not sure that there *is * a significant need. Sure, there are women who are that small. And I’m happy for them that they won’t have to pay for tailoring anymore. But I can’t help but notice that every time there’s a clearance sale at Gap, or Banana Republic, or Ann Taylor, or J. Crew, or any of the other myriad places I hit for sales, that there are approximately 837 size 0s, 2s and 4s on the rack, and no size 10s, 12s, or 14s.
It seems to me that if, when it comes time for the clearance, they’ve run out of the larger sizes, and have loads of the smaller sizes, then they should probably reconsider demand for each size, and the quantities in which they manufacture or order them.
It sounds ridiculous but the real problem is that many companies are “vanity sizing”. Now their size 0’s now fit a normal 3-4. I can’t wear 0’s or 00’s from any of the major mall brands (Banana Republic, Gap, J Crew, Express, A&F, etc.) They are just too big.
I’ve always struggled to find pants to fit me. I’ve noticed over the years is that certain brands start making their clothing larger and larger but keep the same size tag on it. I’ve compared a pair of jeans I bought 2 years ago to a brand new pair (same brand, style and size) - the size difference in the waist was about an inch and a half.
I eat healthy and I’m active but I’ve always been tiny. I have muscles as well as curves and I look healthy. I’m just too damn little to fit “their” clothes. I always joked about needing negative sizes… looks like now I might get 'em.
Well, Banana Republic sizes up anyway - meaning their 2 is actually a 4 and their 4 is actually a 6 - I’m not surprised they need smaller sizes.
My SIL is Japanese and a Banana size 0 is too big on her (she’s very slim hipped) - I know she would be pleased to shop there as she likes the clothes. And yes, she is a normal, healthy weight - she’s just small.
Oh - I wanted to mention - I’m obviously Canadian - I totally thought this thread was going to be about winter clothing. 
Me too! Not about the Canadian thing, but I was thinking the OP was looking for good clothing to get for winter camping or something.
I also agree that a lot of it is because of vanity sizing. At this very moment, I’m wearing a size extra-small sweater. But I’m not an extra-small person, I’m a medium-sized person (5’4" or so, 139.5 lbs - yeah, I’m proud of that half pound since I just lost it this week). Plenty of people are smaller than me, but xs is the smallest this store (Old Navy) sells.
No. She’s neither normal nor of a healthy weight. But she does want clothes that A) fit her, and B) are made for adult women.
This is really the problem. They’re not making smaller clothes, they’re taking clothes that used to be a regular adult size and renaming them. I used to be a 6 or an 8 and now I’m a 2. I’m a normally sized person (5’5", 129, I’d say I was average but weights have crept up a lot, I’m probably average for a 1970s woman) and if I can wear a 2 comfortably, I can only imagine the problems really small women have.
Exactly. And it’s SUCH bullshit. I think we need to have a massive protest and have women’s clothes resized to actual measurements, just like men’s clothes. I have everything from a size 4 to a 10 in my closet, and they all fit.
Designers, BTW, have been vanity-sizing for years. Just about every suit Chanel makes, regardless of the real size, is/was labeled a 6.
The other option is to make the smaller clothes a size 0 and raise the size numbers on all other clothing. Anybody care to guess how well that would go over?
Well, personally I wouldn’t care, as long as they are consistent. Like romanperson, I have sizes 4-10 in my closet that all fit well. I see your point though, people do like to think that a small size means that they are small, even if they’re not.
I think women’s clothing should be sized in the same way men’s clothing is, by measurements. Numbered sizes are totally arbitrary, and it’s really annoying to shop that way when you don’t feel like trying on 15 pairs of jeans in five different sizes.
Okay, get this. I was a size 0 for most of my adult life. Then I gained THIRTY POUNDS and I went up to a 2. How can that be? I would have thought maybe a size for every 10 lbs. It doesn’t work that way.
I noticed this trend too. I’m only 5’6", but if I were in proportion with my legs, I’d be six feet tall. I wear a size 7 pants. There is no way a real size 7 would be long enough for my legs.
It depends on how tall you are and how you gain weight, too. Taller people distribute weight over a larger area, and if you gain weight more readily in the upper body, then the size doesn’t change that much. Gain weight in the stomach or butt, though, and I’d say a new size every ten pounds would be about right. Though of course, that’s part of my complaint about sizing. If we had real sizing like men did, then we could just measure ourselves, go into any store or order from any Internet retailer and expect whatever we pick out to frickin’ fit!! I’m tired of bowing to this misplaced sense of vanity that clothing manufacturers seem to believe most women have. I can’t be the only one.
I was about to say that. Guys clothing uses a smarter method: 30/32 or whatever size. Women’s sizing makes no sense. I don’t care what the number says as long as the clothing fits properly. It should be about how it looks on you, not what the tag says.
Exactly! If you’re wearing a size 2… that would make me a negative size. I’m 5’1" and about 98 pounds. Shopping is frustrating.
I hate this! I wear a 4/6 in Banana Republic sizes and that is such bullshit, no way am I a 4/6. And then I go into that other store…oh fuck, what is it called? That one store where everything is sized really small? Help me out people. There’s one on W. North in Lincoln Park in Chicago. I’m losing my mind, but the point is, then you go into another store and pull a 6 or an 8 off the rack, and it’s too small! Argh!
We’re not that vain, clothing people! I’d prefer to wear a size 8 or 10 everywhere than a 4 at the Banana Republic, a 6 at Ann Taylor, a 10 at that store I can’t remember the name of, oh, Express! That’s what it’s called.
Anyway, it’s annoying.
I gotta admit I am almost that vain. 
The first time I tried on a size 2 skirt and it fit perfectly, I was silently going “I"m a 2! I’m skinny!” even though it was just a label. :rolleyes: Kinda pathetic but there it is…