Vanity Sizing -- Shopping -- Thinking of Jody

I thought of Jody this weekend!  I'm so jealous of her shopping and I'm a big shopping coward! 

My sister LOVES to shop!  We we get together she drags me to the stores.  I have to say it was a much more pleasant experience than it has been in a long time!  The clothes actually fit.  I even had to go down sizes.  I'm used to having to look for a bigger size, which the stores usually didn't have. 

I discovered what everyone means about vanity sizing.  I'm a 16-18 on the bottom and a 14-16 on the top.  I bought 2 size medium camisoles and 2 dresses size 10 and 12!  I know I'm not really a 10 or a 12, but it was an ego stroke.  The dresses are wrap dresses.  I bought them a little small.  I can wear them now without being embarrassed (with a good foundation garment) and will be able to wear them as I lose too.  The camisoles are knit.  They are snug now, but stretch just fine.  I'll be able to wear them through several sizes as well.

I don't want to spend a ton of money on clothes until I hit maintenance, but shopping was fun.  I have an old friend who is retiring from the Air Force next week.  I really wanted to have a "hip" outfit to wear to the retirement ceremony.  I don't want to be the frumpy retiree.  I want people to look at me and say, "wow, retirement agrees with you!"  My new dress and black boots should do the trick. 

My WLS may have created a shopping monster.  I'm not sure DH is going to like this.  I'll try to post pics of my new finds this evening.  Did I mention everything was on SALE!  Bonus!

Kay

It is a lot more fun to shop now isn't it Kay!  I was a size 18 (tight) when I started but had some 16's, 14's and 12's from previous weight losses.  When I got down to a 10 I went to thrift stores because I didn't want to buy a lot while still losing.  I am a size 6 now and am going shopping today.  The closet is empty and I am pretty much at goal.  Have fun at your retirement ceremony, I bet you get a ton of compliments!
Sandi

Yea!  Sales!!  Glad I could influence you... LOL 

Thrift stores are still my favorite!  Hit my local favorite one last week and scored a very nice sweater that retains for $40 for $3.50 and 2 very nice shirts for my BF for $3.50 each...

You'll look great!  We want pictures of course...

I was thinking last week I need to resurrect the fashion thread...

Regarding vanity sizing.... I was thinking of that yesterday.  I was 1 lb lower than my weight in high school.  In high school I wore a 12 comfortably, I couldn't get into a 10 with my hips.  Today I'm in a 4... go figure.... body hasn't really changed....

I've come to the conclusion that I need to consider only ONE manufacturer/garment for sizing. So I wear a size 6 (considering only GAP jeans).

However, I wear a size 10 in some luxury brands, and a size 4 in Dockers. Too confusing, so I'm sticking with my size 6.

i totally agree!  when i got married i weighed 145 pounds and wore size 12 - 14.....now i weigh 153 pounds and my dress pants i'm wearing today are size 6 and the jacket is a small!  i've never worn a "small" anything!  oh my gosh! 

also....this is a good time to hit the clearance racks!!!  i hit the racks at belk on friday because i'm at goal and i had a blast!!!  now's the dreaded maintenance!  oh my gosh.....maybe tomorrow?

i'm sure you'll look great!  be sure to post some pix!!

When I started this journey one of my unspoken goals was to wear a size 14.  When I got married I weighed 165 pounds and wore a comfortable size 14.  I'll be in a size 14 next month in the 190's.

Let's put it this way, I am a size 16 in jeans from Kohl's right now, PRE-OP....I weigh 202.

In high school (1968) I wore a 14 at 145. Something is wrong with this picture. Almost 60 pounds is not ONE size difference.

Vanity Sizing: The Insanity of Size 0 By Molly Triffin

Over time, the numbers displayed on clothing tags have gotten out of whack with reality. Cosmo investigates what incredible shrinking dress sizes are doing to our minds...and our bodies.

The national obsession with skinniness has always been a numbers game — think of those complicated body mass index (BMI) calculations or standing on the scale at the gym, fixating on that last quarter pound. But the desire to downsize has taken a ridiculous turn: We now live in a world of clothing sizes that dip below 0 to subzeros (also known as 00).

Negative sizes — and the dwindling celebs who wear them — put more pressure than ever on females. You can’t help but think there must be a ton of übertiny women out there if they have to invent less-than-0 sizes. “Size is the latest way to evaluate self-worth," says Susan Head, PhD, a body-image specialist and clinical psychologist in Durham, North Carolina.

“Women want to measure up to the 0 ideal." Complicating this crazy situation is that unlike weight, which is a quantifiable figure you can count on, size tags have become infuriatingly inconsistent. Not only is a 6 today probably roomier than a 6 from just a few years ago, but different stores have varying definitions of a size 6. You probably have a range of sizes in your closet, and lots of them may be labeled with a smaller size than you ever thought you’d wear.

Before you get too excited about that, read on to learn how the clothing industry manipulates sizes, why a simple number seems to matter so much, and how it all messes with us.

The Secret of Sizes

Some time in the past several decades, designers tapped into a bankable truth: Women tend to feel better and buy more when we fit into a smaller size. “I put on 10 pounds in college and dreaded shopping because buying bigger sizes forced me to admit I’d gained weight," says Naomi,* 25, from Montreal, Canada. “It was like a slap in the face."

Enter vanity sizing, where designers add extra inches of fabric to clothing without changing the number on the tag. For example, if you measure a size 2 pair of pants today, they might be as wide around the waist and hips as a 4 from 10 years ago. And 00s aren’t the result of women shrinking away (though some actresses seem to be). Designers created them because as 4s morphed into 2s and 2s became 0s, smaller-framed women were sized out of the normal range.

“Standardized size charts exist, but designers often take liberties to create their own smaller scale, regardless of how illogical the numbers are," says Tammy Kinley, PhD, associate professor of merchandising at the University of North Texas, who has studied the vanity-sizing phenomenon.

In one of Kinley’s studies, researchers measured 1,000 pairs of women’s pants and found as much as an 8½-inch variation in the size-4 waist. “Designers know that if customers feel happy when they try the clothes on, they are likely to buy that brand again," says Jim Lovejoy, industry director of the apparel research company TC2’s SizeUSA National Sizing Survey. Take it from Jenn, 23, of New Haven, Connecticut, who is usually a 6: “I have two pairs of size-4 jeans, and when I wear them, I get a surge of validation seeing that label."

Like it or loathe it, vanity sizing isn’t going away any time soon. According to Lovejoy, an increasing number of designers are “deflating" sizes more than ever for one reason: the smaller the size, the larger the profits.

*Names have been changed

shrinking size graph

When Thin Became In

Being (or at least feeling) minuscule wasn’t always so hot. But as you’ve noticed, most of our recent beauty icons — models and celebs — are supersvelte. “Skinny is in vogue now, but the ideal body shape swings back and forth between a slimmer and curvier silhouette," says Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

The ’80s were ruled by shapely models like Cindy Crawford, and then in 1992, Kate Moss brought back the Twiggy-style waif look with her hanger-thin physique. As models’ bodies shrank, celebrities soon whittled down also. According to celebrity stylist Rob Zangardi, stars can more easily borrow designer clothes to wear to red-carpet events if they fit into the models’ sample sizes. But says Zangardi, “Many celebs have gotten so small that even the samples are too big for them."

There are stars who break the skinny mold — think Beyoncé and Scarlett Johansson. But they’re more the exception than the rule. And when designers create misleading size tags, the average-size woman can feel like she’s closer to the unrealistic paradigm that dominates the catwalk and the big screen.

Mad About Measuring

Meanwhile, it seems like size anxiety in general is reaching critical mass. Sure, weight has always been an issue, but now it’s truly an obsession. Tabloids and celeb blogs keep constant tabs on stars’ bodies, with headlines broadcasting “news" like “Hollywood Dress Size Countdown!"

At the other extreme, America’s expanding waistline is a staple of media coverage (Google “obesity epidemic" and you’ll get nearly 800,000 responses). About 200 diet books are published each year alone, more than double the number put out in 1996. We gobble it all up, eagerly devouring updates on shrinking celebs, watching weight-loss reality shows, and dishing about our own size and body with friends.

Stuffing your brain with all this info has a powerful effect. “When thinness is discussed so regularly and with such emphasis, it leads us to attribute enormous importance to it," says body-image specialist Adrienne Ressler, national training director for the Renfrew Center, an eating-disorder treatment center. “Size seeps into your subconscious and you can’t help but ruminate about it on a consistent basis."

“I used to think about size constantly," says Laura, 29, who lives in Denver. “I even hung a pair of size-2 jeans on the wall for inspiration, hoping one day I’d fit into them." The problem is, how can you rely on size as a way to measure up when sizes themselves have become so inconsistent?

gap pants sizes

A Heavy Psychological Burden

The other big question, of course, is why it’s still satisfying to slip into clothes with a smaller size when we rationally know we haven’t lost weight. “Since size is something we care about deeply, our emotional response overpowers logic," explains Head. “We want so badly to be assured that we’re thin and beautiful." Yes, it’s a ploy, but we’re willing to throw reality out the window because downsizing feels delicious.

Another way vanity sizing preys on our insecurities: If you’re not pleased with your body, it prevents you from recognizing your true shape. “I remember putting on a size-4 skirt and thinking, There’s no way this will fit, then feeling triumphant when it did," says Sarah, 29, of Brooklyn. “Even though I had clothes two sizes larger from the same store at home, I rationalized it by telling myself I’d washed those a bunch of times, so they must have shrunk."

On the flip side, once you’ve shimmied into a tinier outfit, you might convince yourself that you’re a 2, and wearing brands where you measure a 4 or 6 can get you down. That’s how Janet, 33, from Topeka, Kansas, felt when shopping for her wedding dress (wedding gowns generally run true to size). “The gown in my usual size was minuscule! I had to go up two sizes. In stead of feeling excited that I’d found my dress, I was depressed."

All that uncertainty ends up doing a number on you. “The fact that there’s not one standard to compare ourselves to creates anxiety because we have no control," says Head. “We are in the dark and detached from our bodies." Stressing about something so arbitrary turns out to be a losing game.

And when you actually think about it, you have to wonder: What’s that great about being a 0 anyway? “The idea of a size 0 is disturbing," says Head. “It suggests that to be pretty and feminine, women need to disappear." Do we really want to strive to take up less space in the world? Maybe, after all, there are better ways to measure up.

There is an article on vanity sizing on my blog that I found on one of the forums here:
This one is on men's sizing:

While vanity sizing is not a new concept in women clothing, men thought they were safe. NOT true.

Are Your Pants Lying to You? An Investigation
September 7, 2010 at 8:30AM by Abram Sauer

“I said, ‘I do not fear those pants / With nobody inside them.’
I said, and said, and said those words. / I said them. But I lied them."
—Dr. Seuss

The devastating realization came in H&M. Specifically, in a pair of size 36 dress pants. I’d never bought pants at H&M before, and suddenly asked myself: how could a 36-inch waist suddenly be so damn tight?
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I’ve never been slim — I played offensive line in high school — but I’m no cow either. (I’m happily a “Russell Crowe" body type.) So I immediately went across the street, bought a tailor’s measuring tape, and trudged from shop to shop, trying on various brands’ casual dress pants. It took just two hours to tear my self-esteem to smithereens and raise some serious questions about what I later learned is called “vanity sizing."

Your pants have been deceiving you for years. And the lies are compounding:

The pants manufacturers are trying to flatter us. And this flattery works: Alfani’s 36-inch “Garrett" pant was 38.5 inches, just like the Calvin Klein “Dylan" pants — which I loved and purchased. A 39-inch pair from Haggar (a brand name that out-testosterones even “Garrett") was incredibly comfortable. Dockers, meanwhile, teased “Leave yourself some wiggle room" with its “Individual Fit Waistline," and they weren’t kidding: despite having a clear size listed, the 36-inchers were 39.5 inches. And part of the reason they were so comfy is that I felt good about myself, no matter whether I deserved it.

However, the temple for waisted male self-esteem is Old Navy, where I easily slid into a size 34 pair of the brand’s Dress Pant. Where no other 34s had been hospitable, Old Navy’s fit snugly. The final measurement? Five inches larger than the label. You can eat all the slow-churn ice cream and brats you want, and still consider yourself slender in these.

I enjoyed many of these pants, as I mentioned, but I’m still perturbed. This isn’t the subjective business of mediums, larges and extra-larges — nor is it the murky business of women’s sizes, what with its black-hole size zero. This is science, damnit. Numbers! Should inches be different than miles per hour? Do highway signs make us feel better by informing us that Chicago is but 45 miles away when it’s really 72? Multiplication tables don’t yield to make us feel better about badness at math; why should pants make us feel better about badness at health? Are we all so many emperors with no clothes?

The mind-screw of broken pride aside — like Humpty Dumpty, it cannot be put back together, now that you know the truth — down-waisting is genuine cause for concern. A recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that men with larger waists were twice at risk of death compared with their smaller-waist peers. Men whose waists measured 47 inches or larger were twice as likely to die. Yet, most men only know their waist size by their pants — so if those pants are up to five inches smaller than the reality, some men may be wrongly dismissing health dangers.

But vanity waist sizing is so entrenched, it couldn’t possibly be changed overnight, at least not without a government mandate. The only solution seems to be a gradual, year-by-year shaving of quarter-inch by quarter-inch until, in 2021, men’s pants finally correspond with the label numbers — conveniently just in time for the New World Order’s switch to mandatory full jumpsuits.

I love to shop now - if I only had all the money I needed for my shopping!!

I can't wait to see pictures.

Linda

Shopping has always been one of my favorite things but now it has turned into a part time job LOL!

My dh is happy that 75% of my goodies comes from the thrift store...but I still spend too much on shoes and accessories!