When I graduated from high school in 1966 I was 132 pounds and size 12.  Now I am 136 pounds and size 4.  Sizing has changed a lot.

Yep.  Marilyn Monroe was allegedly a size 14, which I have no trouble believing.  

My mom still has her wedding dress from 1962 (the year I was born).  She was 19 years old, average height, and thin but not "skinny". Her dress was a size 12.  She is now 72 years old, weighs 30 pounds more, and wears either a 12 or a 14!

Lora

Wow!  Ok. Thanks for the humorous but honest answer!

Yes, sizing has changed drastically.  It is called "vanity" sizing, and it started because designers realized that some women would be more likely to buy a size 4 from them than a size 8 from another designer.  It spread from designer clothes to all of them. 

I kept a lot of my clothes from before I gained the majority of my weight, so I have "evidence", LOL. 

I can walk into almost any store today and put on size 10 pants and have them fit.  If I need the size 12s it is almost always because the 10s are too snug in the waist (but the hips fit fine).  On the other hand, I have some pants and skirts from the late 80s -- they were expensive work clothes that have very classic styling/tailoring so they are not at all "dated" -- that are size 14 and fit me now (they are just a bit loose in the butt since I now have NO butt left).  

Two people can be the same height and weight but still have to wear different sizes because they are shaped differently.  Different manufacturers also have more extreme vanity sizing.  (Although I still call BS on the woman who claimed to be my same height and weight and wearing 6s instead of 10s/12s, especially since I wear much larger tops than bottoms because of my chest size.)

Just enjoy it, LOL.  

Lora 

Designers want to make money. They realize that by tweaking with sizing, they will make us feel good and more likely to purchase their designs. Thus, vanity sizing has become more and more popular. When I lost weight from wls in 2005, I recall getting down to 160 pounds and wearing a size 6 in jeans, which made no sense to me, but I sure felt great about owning size 6 jeans and had no problem paying a hefty amount of money for those jeans lol

This has been my experience was well!  I am a six at Halston-I MUST buy this dress. I want the proof in the closet!

Though I did see size....[wait for it] 00.  Like there is less than 0?  Why dont we just start with -'s.  I am a size -2 please.

There was a minor stink in the news not too long ago because some label just introduced a size 0000.

I forget where it was, but I asked for a small soda at some chain recently. They didn't sell smalls. Or mediums. They had large, extra large, and I forget what they called the enormous one.

Stupid marketing bullcrap.

Designer clothes have always run bigger..."vanity sizing".  I think part of it is there is spandex and stretch is no much of what we wear. Day of my surgery I was wearing a 28. I remember 20 years ago being 60 pounds lighter and barely being able to squeeze into a 28. No stretch then though.

The sizes have changed, vanity sizing, I am 130lbs @5'5 and wear 4-6 depending on the style and brand.  I would guess you are not super curvy if you are wearing a size 6 at 172 or are very tall, but who cares why buy it and enjoy.  I remember my first size 2, it was awesome.

I'm at 165 (5'5") and my 8's are getting loose, I should probably get jeans in a 6 but the idea of wearing a size that small kinda freaks me out. So I'm right there with you!