vanity sizing

I am a guy, but I suspect that some bra manufacturers are making vanity cup sizes so a B cup can think she is a D cup.
Do any women agree or am I crazy?

You are absolutely right, and I'm glad I shop at a place where the owner knows all the brands and how they fit so I don't have to do the guesswork.

Vanity sizing has been known for years. Sizes have been getting smaller in general but also some stores will size their clothes so you feel better in them than in others. No longer competing in price but how small a jean you can get into!!
Example: I am a size 8-10 in H&M but more like 12-14 in Topshop!

The same with bras (sorry I do have a boob obsession, it always comes back to boobs..), which is ridiculous when you think that an ill fitting bra can effect your health!
Example: In Bravissimo I am a 28FF, but for my shock absorber sports bra I am a 32E and in Ann Summers I am a 30H!

WHAT?!

Vanity Sizing has been going on for a long time in women's clothing. In fact, there have been a few threads on it already. One thing that really irks me about the whole thing is that I do not want false motivation (which only leads to let downs). On the other hand, there really is no governing rule about sizing, as each brand seems to have their own take on "sizes".

Best thing to do, use a soft tape measure to track progress (and a full length mirror) vs clothing or scales.

/rant

Yes...I try not to look at the numbers, I go with what fits well and looks good.

Heard the NPR story this morning, too. What really makes me mad is that even within a brand that you've worn for a long time you just can't trust their sizing. Not even from their body measurement suggestions on a sizing chart. What do I care if my pants say size 2 if it took three purchases to get it right since I thought I was a 6? How flattering is that 2 when you had to add size 000 to your clothing line? Ridiculous. Where it gets silly is in historical references when people say things like "Marilyn Monroe was a size 10!". Not a 2012 size 10, morons. She had a 22 inch waist.

THIS. I want to smack people when they say that about Marilyn Monroe. Idiots.

In the 1930s, I would have been a size 18. Size 4 now. So that makes sense. I get obsessed with sizes like everyone else, but when it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter.

Due to vanity sizing, I can no longer buy retail clothes, or even shoes. Everything has to be ordered online. I am a smaller woman. At 5 feet tall with a small-medium bone frame and good muscle tone, my healthy weight is at about 107-115 and it's only that high because I am so muscle dense and fairly large chested. Vanity sizing has be at a 00-0, or even lower. This is the same size I wore 13 years ago, when I was 16, 92 lbs, had hips and a waist that measured 4-5 inches smaller than they do now and had not yet developed breasts (I was a gymnast and a late bloomer). My true size is about a 4-6 now, not that you would now, but the 4-6 they stock in most stores are really about a size 8-10.

I am so sick of people complaining about "fatitude" or discrimination against the overweight when everything is increasingly geared towards this. Yes, the average in this country is overweight, but that doesn't make it normal, healthy or something to be encouraged, which is what vanity sizing does. I walk into a store and get attitude from people who tell me "maybe I should shop in the kids department" or that "I look like a stick". I have D cup boobs and a 7 inch hip to waist ratio. I am hardly a stick, nor do I resemble a child. I am a professional woman who deserves to be able to walk into a store and be a valued customer. I am not though and will not be unless I become an unhealthy weight.

This is all part of the Marilyn Monroe syndrome. Women like to claim current standards are "unrealistic", call her the "ideal" and then claim that she was anywhere from a size 12-16. First, a 12 + inch hip to waist ratio is far more unrealistic than being a healthy weight. Second, Jezebel had a great article http://jezebel.com/5299793/for-the-last-time-what-size-was-marilyn-monroe, where they talk to her costume designers. Marilyn Monroe was at her TOP weight 5 ft 5 and a half inches and 140 lbs. At tops, that was an American 8 in her era. An American 4 is about what an American 8 was then, so if Marilyn Monroe lived in modern times, she'd be about a size 4.

How are we supposed to be healthy as a society if we keep lying to ourselves or passing the blame to outside sources?

The way I feel about vanity sizing right now:

Would you lie to me, baby?
Would you lie to me?
Would you tell me I'm a size 10,
When I'm really a 12?
Would you lie-aye-aye-aye- to me!


It's a pain in the butt when it comes to shopping online or in a Goodwill that doesn't have a dressing room, though.

Just last night I was trying on pant sizes I haven't worn since high school...20+ years ago...and I was happy...but thanks for this.

Wow, just found a great example of this - I joined Rent the Runway when they first started offering delivery in my area, because they don't let you see what they offer unless you join. (It's free, but they spam you constantly afterwards.) Anyway, their dresses don't go above a 12, so I checked them out once and never looked again, until last night when I was thinking, hey, I might be able to squeeze into one of their 12s now, and I need a dress for NYE.

And they've added this feature where women who rent the dresses can upload pics of themselves in them, plus their body stats so you can see how they fit on different body types, which is genius. But I'm looking and going, "she's a 6? Her arms are the same size as mine!" And yeah, a lot of them are "5'4", 145 lbs, 34B, usually wears a size 6" - I'm 5'4", 153 lbs, 34B (ish, I need to go get fitted), and I wear a size 12. I think. Apparently the more you pay for your dress, the smaller the number gets - who knew all you had to do to drop 4 dress sizes was to pay an extra $2k? (If I spent $10k, would I take a size 0?)

So I'm going to talk to one of their stylists, because I do actually want to wear a fancy designer dress, but I have no idea how to figure out what I am in rich people sizes. It all seems pretty ridiculous.

I am 5'5" and currently 133#. I can buy anywhere from a size 2 to a 6 depending on the brand. I own vintage clothes that are size 12 and equal in size to most of my 4's.

I am guilty of falling for vanity sizing...Not that I don't know the game they are playing. I'm well aware...Haha.. But I still shop at Ann Taylor Loft and Jones New York for business clothes because I can where a size 2! Wrong...I know.

When I was down to 118 lbs., I actually had a hard time finding clothes that were small enough in some stores. Definately a sign of our times.