Dress size rants!

How men get a choice from waist size and women just get a random '6, 8, 10' etc

I went shopping with my SO last month and he bought shorts. Depending on the style and brand, he was anywhere from a 30-34-inch waist.

They aren't exactly uniform, either.

Honestly, I don't seem to have an issue with sizes. I'm pretty across-the-board with being somewhere between a 6 and an 8, but certain styles do not work on certain body types. Some women have broad shoulders, some have narrow shoulders.

I'm an hourglass. Regardless of sizes, I am not going to look the same (or even necessarily fit into) styles that someone who is an apple can wear and vice versa.

How men get a choice from waist size and women just get a random '6, 8, 10' etc
makes no sense to me.
women's clothing sizes are different in every single shop whereas the men can never go wrong because all they need to look out for is their waist size!

Wrong. I have in my closet 4 pairs of pants that all fit me, 31, 32, 33, and 34. My waist is 32" but pants sit at different places on my waist. Jeans at the hip, dress pants higher, and so on.

Once you are in decent shape and care about how things fit, then it's just as much as a pain in the butt to find clothes. Most men just don't give a crap and it shows.

And don't even get me started on dress shirts. Shirts have an unstated waist size. Good luck finding a dress shirt that fits my shoulders and doesn't produce a tent of fabric over my belly that makes me look fat.

I know! Men have a lot more to choose from!

I know! I can wear: pants, pants, pants, or maybe pants.
For shirts, I can wear: dress shirts, polos, maybe a T-shirt.

What a choice!

A lot of companies I think go with a generic sized pattern. I have always liked having my mom make my dresses when I was growing up. Partly, because I always got some awesome comments on the dress.

I was so excited to get back into my size 12s and medium shirts after losing all my baby weight and then some....... went shopping for my wedding dress and had to get a 14. Apparently wedding dresses are always a size bigger. Had I know that I might have waited til I was in a size 10! LOL I know it is just a number and the important thing is that it fits and looks amazing -- my body is still the same size whether I am wearing a 10, 12, 14. I just still think of 14 as extra large.

I have the most ridiculous body. I've figured out the current sizes of my body:

Size 8 - Shoulders
Size 10 - Waist
Size 14 - Bum
Size 12 - Hips and Legs

Buying a graduation dress was a nightmare! I have to go with baggy options so many times to encompass my silly pear figure!!
And I have also given up buying high waisted shorts, it's impossible to find something that fits both my waist, hips and bum!

While this is sort of true, we also have to worry about inseam length, and more importantly, whether or not said pants can fit us in the legs and butt area. I mean, I realize most guys don't like to work legs, but c'mon....why punish the ones who do? Jeans/pants shopping is very frustrating. Ladies who have an issue with a dress have an easy solution; go get it altered. How many tailors will alter jeans? Really.

I alter my own jeans. I have always had to. Perhaps you need to learn how.

While this is sort of true, we also have to worry about inseam length, and more importantly, whether or not said pants can fit us in the legs and butt area. I mean, I realize most guys don't like to work legs, but c'mon....why punish the ones who do? Jeans/pants shopping is very frustrating. Ladies who have an issue with a dress have an easy solution; go get it altered. How many tailors will alter jeans? Really.

There are aslo women who like to wear jeans. I hate them! Reason: when it fits around the hips, it's way too loose around the waist, so I hear ya!

I have always had major issues with pants of any kind because my waist is just wayyyyyyyyyyy too small for my tushie and my boobs! And because of this issue it is RARE to see me even consider a dress because if I get the correct size for my boobs, the rest is like a tent, if I get it to fit my tushie then my boobs are falling out, and I won't even talk about the waist issue! UGH!

While this is sort of true, we also have to worry about inseam length, and more importantly, whether or not said pants can fit us in the legs and butt area. I mean, I realize most guys don't like to work legs, but c'mon....why punish the ones who do? Jeans/pants shopping is very frustrating. Ladies who have an issue with a dress have an easy solution; go get it altered. How many tailors will alter jeans? Really.

I wish it was that easy... unfortunately, alterations do not really work for some of these dresses to body type issues.

BF definitely has fit issues with clothing so it really isn't easier for men. Have you ever shopped for men's dress shirts? They go by neck circumference and sleeve length so if you have a big neck and/or long arms you can end up with something that looks like a dress unless you get shirts custom-made or go to a tailor.

Trying to get a good fit can definitely suck. but you just have to keep trying things on and not get upset if you need to get a "larger" size than usual. Like, I saw someone complaining on another forum that she didn't like to shop at Lululemon because she has to get a size 6 or 8 and it makes her feel fat. Um, excuse me? Get over yourself, Cookie.

I so agree with you! I wanted to buy a nice dress, size L but my boobs didn't fit in, way too tight! Don't they get is that bigger women also got bigger boobs? It felt horrid I had to take a size larger just because of that, around my waist way too loose...

I hear ya on that one! I have two tops that look exactly the same, but they're different sizes and different colors. I didn't realize it in the store, but the smaller one looks a little odd on my chest because of my boobs. Whereas the larger one, though loose, looks better in the same area.

And don't get me started on button down blouses! I have to go two or three sizes up just to cover my boobs without having the buttons strain and possibly pop open.

How men get a choice from waist size and women just get a random '6, 8, 10' etc
makes no sense to me.
women's clothing sizes are different in every single shop whereas the men can never go wrong because all they need to look out for is their waist size!

Wrong. I have in my closet 4 pairs of pants that all fit me, 31, 32, 33, and 34. My waist is 32" but pants sit at different places on my waist. Jeans at the hip, dress pants higher, and so on.

Once you are in decent shape and care about how things fit, then it's just as much as a pain in the butt to find clothes. Most men just don't give a crap and it shows.

And don't even get me started on dress shirts. Shirts have an unstated waist size. Good luck finding a dress shirt that fits my shoulders and doesn't produce a tent of fabric over my belly that makes me look fat.

I know! Men have a lot more to choose from!

I know! I can wear: pants, pants, pants, or maybe pants.
For shirts, I can wear: dress shirts, polos, maybe a T-shirt.

What a choice!

Don't forget the ever sexy sweater vest.

vanity sizing is the worst.

also trying to use the same pattern they use to make a size 6 shirt to make a size 24 shirt. fat womens bodies are built differently. you can't just make a shirt wider and expect it to fit.

I get annoyed with where they put the waistline, sometimes it is near the belly button other times it is on the ribs just under the boobs.

I find the sizes change season to season, or even batch of clothing to next batch. Leggings are terrible, sometimes they will say they are one size but in fact are smaller, I also noticed that size 6,8 and 10 are quite close in size but on the slightly larger size then when you go from 12 upwards the sizing changes and becomes smaller, in some stores I can wear a 14 but in others I am a size 18/20, so now I have given up trying to find anything to fit perfectly...