So according to both recent articles that I’ve read, and real-life experience, vanity sizing is alive and well. This annoys me for several reasons…
How the heck can I buy anything online if the size doesn’t really correspond to anything in real life? And those size or measurements charts you (the e-tailers) offer are a load of crap. And even if I am 1 size in one of your pair of pants/skirts/sweaters/dresses, I might not be in another style. Who the hell does this and why?? Not good business!!
Look – if I’m a size 2 or 0 or 18 based on actual real-life measurements that I can take and that will apply across all brands, or at least all items within 1 brand for cryin’ out loud, fine. But no…that would be too easy.
And premium denim (you know who you are Rock & Republic, True Religion and Seven) don’t even get me started on your washes and material contents. I can wear 4 different sizes – IN THE SAME BRAND?!?!
Today’s 0 is not a 0 from several years ago. The designers and brands have fattened them up pretty well. I guess this is because you want someone to feel good about themselves and buy from you when they can magically fit into your size 6 but everyone else’s size 8 (or 10)?? Think I’m off? Marilyn Monroe was a size 10 or 12 back in her day. According to her measurements, she would be a size 4 today. That’s insane.
Oh, and, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kim Kardashian publicly swearing they are a size 2. No dears – you are not. Not to say you don’t look good whatever size you actually are – but it’s not a size 2. And *maybe* you can fit into a size 25 or 26 jeans – IF they have a heck of a lot of stretch in them. And really – BIG IF here. No way rigid 100% cotton. Again – I don’t care what size you actually are but just say what it is (or don’t talk about it all..but don’t lie.) Big damn deal – you are both gorgeous girls.
I’m sick of not being able to know if I’m a 0 or 2 or an XS or S in J Crew, Banana Republic, whatever. And forget designer clothes. I tried on some dresses in Vegas and the size SOOO varied by designer. Not a single dress that I tried on had the same number on it’s size tag. Yet when you looked at the dresses – they were all the same. ANNOYING! Girls do NOT like this! At least no girl I know – and I know some gooood shoppers (myself excluded of course!)
But I think I am most irritated by the fact that I work out all the time (every single day), I watch what I eat for the part and make sure I do not get to a size that I am unhappy with. So do not just F with the sizes to make people who don’t work as hard feel better about themselves. Make them realize, yes I am a size 4, 8, 10, whatever. If they are OK with that and like how they look – great! If not – then they need to deal with it with diet and exercise. But stop EFFING with the size of the clothes for their vanity (and my insanity!) Please keep it uniform. I do not think it is too much to ask that a single brand has the same sizing WITHIN it’s own brand?!?!?! (J Crew I am talking directly to you…)
3:42 pm on January 2nd, 2017
Very valid, pithy, suntcicc, and on point. WD.
9:20 am on February 8th, 2017
It is a tired (and not always true) cliché that every story has at least two sides and it was fascinating to read an insider’s view of what may have been going on inside the same operation which I was dealing with from just outside the gates. While I am mindful that Bailey is not to be taken as a 100% credible source, there are several stories he tells which have forced me to do quite a bit of rethinking and soul-searching as I try to reconcile all the conflicting data I have accumulated over two and a half years of being associated, to varying degrees, with Sarah Palin.