Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Are My Clothes Really This Old...

I told y'all about my habit of keeping clothes for a long time.  Decades even.  Most of my pants [blue jeans, dress pants] were bought when Wallene was born or before [1997].

After Wallene was born I was able to purchase size 8 and size 10 pants, skirts, suits - the same sizes I had worn most of my life as being 5'8 [or 5'7 depending on who is measuring me] and mid 130's.  From high school, through college and into the 90's [except when I was pregnant] I fit into either a size 8 or a 10.

Now that I have managed to up my weight from my post hospital size of 118 lbs to a respectable 130.6 lbs my old clothes fit again. Go me. [Told you I would do it!] And my clothes are still 8's and 10's because I am still wearing my old clothes.

So why do I read blogs where people weigh 160 lbs and are buying and wearing size 6's?  Today a friend  showed me a cute dress she had bought that was a size 4 and she weighs 30 lbs more than I do.  She looks adorable in it and I saw the tag, but...

Size tags on my clothing don't matter to me - never have - but has it been so long since I bought clothing that I have to ask if manufacturers are skewing their sizes to make everyone feel better about themselves?  Is this a marketing tool of some sort I don't know about?

Don't get me wrong - I want everyone to have a good self body image and feel good about themselves but when I told my girlfriend I was an 8 she said it wasn't possible since she was a 4.  I had to peel my blue jeans down to show her the tag.  She scoffed and claimed they were mislabeled.  I said no, they were just 13 years old. [Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut?]

I couldn't have worn her dress, it would've been too big. [I didn't say that. It was just obvious]  I don't want to suck the wind out of any one's sails but doesn't this just speak to the obesity in America?  I am not saying 160 lbs is obese, or even fat on my friends [I am taller than both] - but if they are remarking the sizes to make woman feel better about their size, as in "Oh, look I am X size when I am XXX lbs" don't you have to question what the true answer is?

I think I need to go shopping.
I may be a size 2 at this point.

[I am NOT going shopping. I am just kidding.  You know I hate it.]

Can anyone explain this phenomenon?

19 comments:

not displayed said...

It amazes me when I read about celebrities being a size "0". How can anybody be a zero unless ou are a new born
Our sizing tends to be larger than yours, used to be an American 10 was an Australian 12 but I wouldnt have any idea these days.
Wouldnt be suprised if they have changd the sizes to ater to egos

Southhamsdarling said...

Hi SkippyMom - excellent post, and I totally agree with you about the sizes. They have certainly altered things over here in England, and it has to be to make people feel better about themselves. I was always in a 10, but I am now in a 8 (English size), which is ridiculous, because, although I'm still fairly small, I still haven't dropped a whole dress size. As with most people getting older, I have put it on a bit in places. I also find that the sizes can alter with each shop you go in!

Lyndylou said...

no two shops sizes are the same and I think it can be quite depressing if you are one size in one shop and a bigger size in another. I think it's worse for teenagers where being so skinny is thought to = beauty and they can get real hung up on clothes size. Good post :)

Sally said...

I think that they have changed the sizing! When I was in high school, I was almost always a 12. Now, I have gained something like 70 lbs... Anyway, a couple years ago, I lost about 20 lbs and could fit into a 14. Granted, I was also exercising a LOT and had toned up a lot...but that still doesn't explain the fact that I was 50 lbs. heavier than high school and only one size bigger!

I am sure it is done to soothe buyers' egos! Plus, I have noticed that the more "expensive" of a store that you shop in, the smaller of their size that you can wear.

noexcuses said...

I wholeheartedly agree about the sizing. It is very deceiving. I am up in the "X" sizes, and sometimes I feel like the trend is to go the other way so as to punish those of us who will never see 6s or 8s!!

Good post!

Jeannie said...

You are not imagining anything. When I was a teen, I was a size 10 - 35-25-37. Occasionally I could squeeze into an 8 dress if it was generous in the hips. I was a solid Medium in the S-M-L sizing.

In 1981 I got pregnant and afterward, when I went shopping, I was wearing 8's - I was the same size except my waist was 1 inch larger. I still have some of my clothes from the 70's and patterns that I made clothes from with the tag in them. (My daughter who is a 6 now has too large a waist to wear my old 10's) I didn't buy a lot of clothes in the kiddie years but still wore Mediums whatever the number was.

Got used to being an 8.

Got fat and what I found was that I was a large and a 10 - 12. Then I got really fat and now I'm an XL and wearing a 14. This is ridiculous. 14's used to fit my chubby friend when we were kids - today, she would probably not even count as chubby. (she was legitimately large boned - the girls in her family took after the Dad while the boys took after the small boned Mom. Life is not fair)

Rebecca said...

i never look at tags except price tags because i am a plus size and seeing those tags are depressing and i know it is hard for me to lose weight with the regular use of steriod meds i take

life in the mom lane said...

You see this is why I love Chicos... in that store i am a 3 ;)

BB said...

If it fits right, wear it. No matter the size. There's nothing worse than seeing a size 12 squeeze into a 8 just to say she wears an 8. I believe sizes have changed and if everybody would just stick with wearing what looks best on them it would deliver a bigger message back to the manufacturers. Great post Skippy!

ellen abbott said...

Oh, they have definitely changed the sizing. everybody wants to wear single digit clothes. I wore 5s pre-kids when I weighed barely over 100 lbs at 5'4". now I see women much bigger than I was at that time claiming to wear 5s. after I had my kids, still only weighed about 100 lbs but my hips weren't so narrow so I moved up to a 7. Now, 20 pounds heavier I wear a 6. really?

swiggett said...

I've found sizes to be inconsistent from store to store, and brand to brand. I've even bought two skirts at one store at the same time (one pencil skirt, and one A-line). They were both the same size, but only one of them fit me.

For pants, at least, the way men's slacks sizing goes makes sense. Waist circumference and inseam... allow for a slight margin of error, but still - 30 inches is 30 inches is 30 inches...

Drew's Mom said...

I will never get the whole size thing. If it fits, I wear it. I don't need a number (on a tag or a scale) to make me feel good about myself, or tell me what I can and can not wear. I'm a big fan of food, and as long as they keep making clothes that will cover my butt, I'll happily keep eating my oreos =)

Anonymous said...

I can't answer that but I know that there is no way that I can fit into anything smaller than a 16 anything. 14 is pushing it...I mean really pushing it. I'm a very big girl and I am not going to tell you how much I weigh, but I've been the same size basically since 9th grade. Cause that's when I got my hips.

I have a few things from 6th grade that I still wear that fits! That's nearly 7 years ago.

http://theadorkableditzmissteps.blogspot.com/

Teresa said...

I agree. sizing charts have changed - and they change from store-to-store. I weighed about 160 pounds before I got pregnant with Keith (he as born in 1986) and wore a solid size 16. Some 16s were too snug. After he was born, I didn't lose much weight and wore an 18. Now, I'm heavier than then and wear a 14. Makes no sense to me.

My sister is heavier than I am and she wears size 12 in some things. I prefer my clothing to be loose so I may be able to squeeze into a 12 but I'd rather not. I'd love to legitimately wear a 10-12 but that won't happen until I lose about 30 pounds.

LBB said...

The clothing size thing has always drived me crazy! I never trust a lable. It such a pain how one brand can differ so much from the next. Why can't they all just agree & stick to a size chart. This is one reason I have to try everything on before buying!!

that guy said...

i am no help in this discussion, but i do know this.

guys clothing is based on (in USA)waist sizes and inseam lenght...


if you can still wear clothes from 1997 and beyond, that is coolio.

Bruce
Bruce Johnson JADIP
Evil Twin
stupid stuff I see and hear
The Dreamodeling Guy
dreamodeling!
The Guy Book
The Guy Book

Unknown said...

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!!

AiringMyLaundry said...

I keep clothes for a long time too.

And I hate clothing size. I am a different size in different brands so I have no clue what size I really am.

Errign said...

I think it's called "vanity sizing", but I'm not totally sure. I could care less what size my clothes are, as long as they fit, but it's a silly thing to start doing just to justify people being obese, if that's why it's happening...