Are Clothes Sizes STOOPID or what?

Is anyone else finding that clothing sizes are just plain crazy these days?!? My Avenue 14-Long pants were starting to swim on me so I ventured to the Gap yesterday (only my third venture into Non-Plus-Ville )... I was going to try on a size 14-Long pair of jeans because I figured they would probably be less baggy than Avenue sizes. Well, guess what? Gap does not make size 14-Long. They only have 14-Regular. I am 5'10" - that just won't do! So I grabbed a couple pairs of 12-L in the various styles they have (Long and Lean Flare; Curvy Flare; Boot Cut, etc). Most of their jeans are SERIOUSLY low-waisted. That style is not the best for me because then it buttons right around my hips...which is my fattest area. So I could not even button the first two pair. I tried on the third pair and had to suck it in but they buttoned (Long and Lean Flare - go figure). They were tight but I was thinking...I will buy them and hope that they will fit better once I am done with the B2B). So I take them off to look at the price and I gasped! I saw that I had grabbed a size **10-Long!** So what is up with THAT?! The 12's would not button but the 10's would. Now I was freaking out. I have never, ever worn a size 10...not in any memory I have growing up! Again, they are TIGHT...but WHO CARES! Then I wandered around and found the skirt that I had seen two months earlier. I wanted to buy it then but my husband said that $50.00 for a skirt is crazy. He is right. Well, the skirt was on sale for $19.99! They did not have a 14...or a 12...or even a 10. For sh*ts and giggles I grabbed the 8 and brought it into the dressing room. People...IT ZIPPED AND BUTTONED! Again...it is snug but TOTALLY wearable! I almost bawled my eyes in the dressing room! But what is UP with these sizes? I STILL have no idea what size I really am! Ah well... Does anyone else have this problem?? Hugs, Jersey

I find this too. Only I am still in plusville! I can wear anywhere from a 16 to a 20 depending. Even in the same store the sizes vary. That is just crazy. I can't imagine a size 10 and then an 8. I don't think I even wore those when I was 12! You go girl! Leeanne

Leeanne: Same here...I NEVER imagined this would happen...but the amazingly wonderful thing is...it DOES happen! The sizes ARE crazy but you can be damn sure that I was nearly bawling my eyes out when the 8 zipped and buttoned...even if that is nowhere near my genuine size! Here's to single-digit sizing for all of us! Love and hugs, Jersey

Congrats..........And let me tell ya, I feel your pain! Im 5 foot 11 and finding a pair of pants in "tall" or "long" is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. As for sizing.....I find that if they are 100% cotton I can wear and 8 to a 9/10. If they have some stretch I can get into a 5. The sizing is insane. I dont remember being able to get into these sizes before. kristi

Wow...yanno...even though I am 5'10", I would LOVE to be 5'11". My license says 5'11"...not sure why! But I bet if *I* have a hard time finding Long pants...you must have a nightmare of a time! I think a lot of stores use vanity sizing...which annoys me more than helps my ego! I would rather know my true size! But the 8 in the skirt is SO NOT my size! I have seen your pictures...you LOOK like a size 6. I soooo do not! I hope to get there but who knows! And, you are right...I think clothes were smaller years ago (again...vanity sizing). I remember being a size 14 back when I weighed 160 so things have definitely changed. Ah well! Regardless...you look fantastic (I know I have said this 1000 times...but, well...I will keep saying it!!) Hugs, Jersey

You are just the sweetest person ever! kristi

Whoooo hoooo Jersey!!!!!!!! I find the craziness in sizes too!!! It varies from material to cut to amount of stretch. I have jeans in 16 that are too big, 18s in my city shorts that fit ok, a bit baggy in the bum, and I still have some 20s that fit ok. I do have some 20s that are horribly huge and I sometimes wear them just to say ha! I need new clothes he he. I think I'm finally edging into the serious 16s at LB since my 18s are kinda baggy and no longer look like they're smooshing my belly he he. CRAZINESS keeps us Sane ha! Jaci

Good point! Crazy DOES keep us sane! If I did not have such things to stress about, I do not know what I would do with myself! Hee hee! Hugs, Jersey

I've stopped looking at skzes. They are not uniform. Every store, designer, etc. makes their own stuff with their own set of standards. So a size 14 at the Gap will not be the same as a size 14 at Macy's, etc. In pants I wear anhwhere from a 14 to an 18 depending on who made them And the same goes for tops. They range from 18 - 22 So I just stoped looking at the number and just look at the fit and how I feel in it. To me that's what really matters anyway

You know, Ronna...I SHOULD be that way...but I am so bad...I just can't! Case in point...I just went to Burlington coat factory to buy a coat. Have you ever been to one? I never have been but, MAN, do they have coats! I walked directly to the size 12's. I tried on about 40 coats. Some fit fine...many were snug (oddly enough...most of the snug ones were labeled 12/Medium. I thought 12 was a large?!). But NO WAY was I going to look in the 14's...I just wouldn't do it! So stupid, I know! I ended up debating between 2 coats and some nice older man who worked there was trying to help me. One coat was shorter, black with a hood (LOVE hoods). The other was longer and red...elegant. The red fit me perfectly. The black was snug. I mean...I could never wear more than a thin shirt with the black. The man said, "You know...you COULD look for this in a 14." I said, "No way...I can't explain why...but no." So I ended up getting the red even though I liked the black WAY better...LOL!! I am such a dork! Love ya! Jersey