Vanity sizing?

I really think there is a conspiracy with clothing makers to make us women feel we aren't as big as we really are.  Last time I saw 156 pounds I was wearing a size 14.  Now I wear a 10 and I even bought a pair of jeans from Target that are a size 8.  The last time I wore an 8 I weighed about 125.  What's the deal?  Anyone else notice this?

It's not just you!  It really is happening.  I was talking about it one day with one of my average size friends and she got really mad that I implied that the size 10 she is today (after having a baby) is not the same as the size 10 she wore in high school.  Come on!!  She totally bought into it and thinks I'm crazy... so I guess it must work the way the stores want it to.  I even have an old size 14 skirt that is the exact same size as my current size 10 skirt (from the same store).

Sizing/Vanity sizing doesn't matter much to me as long as I don't have to purchase my clothes at plus size stores, Omar the tentmaker and, most important, that I'm HEALTHY.

I find it bizarre when friends become fixated on a certain size...gotta get into that size 6 jean skirt!  I think clothing sizes can become like numbers on a scale and that it's easy to become fixated on numbers instead of better health, normal BMI etc.

Except BMI is a wonky indicator of health also - if you have a lot of muscle mass on you, then you can edge on into categorically overweight - and still have less than 20% fat on ya - ya know?  Heavyweights have a different density to their bones than lightweights do and can be overweight on the scale but not if you look at body composition.

Aside from body composition, its hard to find some "ruler" that is not skewed, somehow. 

True...but it's still a lot healthier than being Obese, Morbidly Obese, etc.   I did read about "The BodPod" on another blog the other day as a means of hydrostatic weighing. I would think that's one of the better ways of deciphering %'s of just what is what. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding one in Dallas. Grrr....

Don't know if it's a gimic. It doesn't sound like it but I think it would go a long way toward tell one exactly how far they can push their body in terms of losing fat, building muscle, etc.

I got hydrostatically weighed a week or two ago, it was really helpful because it helps a person to see what the real chances are of weighing X much.

*chuckle*  Course, it could not tell me the difference between what weight was fat and what weight was extra skin!  

Definitely. My wedding dress was a 14. I now wear a 6 to 8 bottom (depending on the cut) and a M to L shirt (depending) but can fit well into my 14 dress. 

Not that I can remember how much I weighed when I wore it. *snort*  I cannot remember what today is.

Bridal sizes are even worse... they are 2 sizes bigger than normal sizes to make you feel bad about yourself when you're supposed to be excited shopping for a wedding dress.  I watch a lot of "Say Yes to The Dress" a normal size 10 is a bridal size14.

i am taking a course in public speaking....  and my "informative speech" was about vanity sizing....

here's the deal:  the department of commerce set forth sizing standards back in 1927 when people started buying ready-made clothing as opposed to homemade clothing...  those standards held until the mid 60's, when the high-end clothing stores saw that their more well-heeled customers were becoming more concerned about their weight....  they thought if they lowered the size numbers, women would be more inclined to buy from them if they wore a smaller size.. and it WORKED..   it was nothing more than a marketing tool to sell more clothes...

in 1984, the department of commerce withdrew the size standards altogether..   so we really have no standards at all..

when i gave my speech, i invoked marilyn monroe..  she was 5'5 1/2", and weighed between 115-120 lbs...  according to her dressmaker, her measurements were 37-23-35....  and using the standards in place in the late 1950's, she wore a size 16...  well, guess what?  i wear a size 16.. and i can guaran-dam-tee you that i don't weigh 115-120 lbs, and there is no way that my measurements are anywhere close to 37-23-35...  

several years ago, i bought a simplicity dress pattern from 1952 in an antique store... i went to the simplicity.com site and pulled up their current size chart...  gee.. the size 12 pattern from 1952, if you look at the body measurements, would now be a size 6....

don't put so much importance on clothing size -- we are being LIED to, and size is pretty much irrelevant now...  in my world, the number on the tag has absolutely no correlation with my waist size...as long as my clothes FIT -- i know i look GOOD!


don't let them make you crazy!!!


jeris

TOTALLY... last time I weighed 170, I wore a 14, maybe a 12 if they were cut just so.  Yesterday I just got three pairs of size 10s, which fit like my old size 12s do. 

When anyone (who has the nerve, usually family lol) asks what size I'm down to now, I feel like a big fat liar saying "10", and always feel like I have to qualify that with "but sizes today run so much bigger now...."    Know what I mean?  Does anyone else feel kinda like a fraud in that way?