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Shopping and Vanity Sizing
June 18th, 2008 by asithi · 5 Comments
Tagged Body Image, Body Image, shopping, Weight Issues
Lisa over at Workout Mommy wrote a post about vanity sizing that resonates with my complaint about women’s clothing. I hate shopping for clothes because it takes too much time. I hate picking something up from the rack, trying it on, only to discover it is either too small or too larger when the size fitted a few months ago. My husband picks out this clothes, pays for it, and still have plenty of time to wander all over the mall, while I am still undressing from one store!
Vanity sizing is a common practice in women’s clothing. Manufacturers are catering to our obsession with sizing. We shop to feel better about ourselves. How many of you had a “makeover” after a breakup? It feels good to buy size 4 clothes, even though deep down inside we know that we are truly a 12. And we will continue come back for more because the label tells us that we are skinner than we actually are. Does it help us in the long run to keep up this fantasy that we are thinner than we actually are? Will vanity sizing make us healthier? I doubt it.
According to Boston.com, “what was a size 8 in the 1950s had become a 4 by the 1970s and 00 today.” So does that mean my 18 year old sister-in-law, who is a size 00, is actually a size 4? I remember being a size 4 when I was her age, but I have never been a double zero before.
Marilyn Monroe required a size 16 in the ’50s. She will actually be a 6/8 by today’s standards.
“Just over 60 percent of women admit they are unsure of their dress size, such is the variation from store to store” according to Times Online.
Wow, 60% of us have no idea what size we wear! No wonder it seems like we spend so much time shopping! Next time we go shopping, I will tell my husband to grab a magazine and a coffee while he waits for me. And I am pretty sure after 2 hours, I will come back disgusted and empty handed.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by.
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ok, that is just CRAZY that was used to be a size 8 is now a double zero!
even more frustrating is that the fashion industry recognizes the disparity in sizes yet does nothing to change it. Ugh!
(thanks for linking!)
workout mommys last blog post..Vanity sizing and the little black dress
Can you imagine the shoe industry deciding to do the same thing with shoe sizes? We would be all outraged. Thing of how much more time it will take to purchase a pair of shoes — opening all these boxes from different brands, trying to find a pair that might fit. And once we find a pair that fit, oh no, they do not give us enough arch support or its hurts after taking a few steps. Imagine the frustration. And yet, we let the clothing industry get away with this because it appeals to our vanity. We are all idiots!
[...] It saddens me when I see teen girls on Yahoo Answers asking how to lose 20-40 pounds fast or if they are fat for their age. I think most girls get their weight issues from their parents, particularly their mom. I hope that when I have a little girl of my own I will have strength to focus on health and mobility rather than their dress size. As for dress size, you might be surprise to find that it is a moving target. You can read more about it in a previous post. [...]
[...] presents Shopping and Vanity Sizing posted at Small Steps to [...]
[...] for overweight individuals, I feel that we are starting to adapt to their growing numbers with vanity sizing in clothing, life jackets, school desks, and even larger hospital scales, beds, and examination tables. And [...]