Vintage Clothing Reality Check

LivviLosing
LivviLosing Posts: 34 Member
in Motivation and Support
So, I've been feeling good about myself, watching my pants get too big, etc etc. :bigsmile:

I go to goodwill shopping for new summer clothes, and find any amazing vintage (you can tell, from the made in the USA by unions label, haha) Evan Picone paisley skirt.

29447ww.jpg

I see the tag, a 24W, and think, "gosh no way this will fit!"

Reality check, it's actually snug! :noway: So much for those size 18 pants I have at home!

Seriously America, what are we doing with the vanity sizes? :huh:

Replies

  • Alassonde
    Alassonde Posts: 228 Member
    Clothing patterns are the same way. I sew costumes, and I usually have to use the size 12 pattern even though I normally wear a size 4-6.
  • LivviLosing
    LivviLosing Posts: 34 Member
    Clothing patterns are the same way. I sew costumes, and I usually have to use the size 12 pattern even though I normally wear a size 4-6.

    Good grief, that's definitely a stretch. :flowerforyou:
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,225 Member
    I've always hated the way the fashion industry labels women's clothes. I hate that all my male friends can order clothes online and not worry about it not fitting since it's all based on exact measurements. Label my damn clothes with exact measurements. No one is going to come up to me and pull my clothing tag out to read the numbers. They aren't printed on the outside either. Who cares what they are as long as they are based on something solid and not some arbitrary fashion designers whim. Hell, maybe even seeing real measurements instead of a made-up number will help keep me in line... I just want to have some consistency and be able to buy most things without always having to trying it on. I pulled out some jeans the other day that had been put away when I couldn't wear them any more. After trying them all on I found a number of pairs I could wear again. Three different sizes worth. Hell, two pair fit me exactly the same. Exactly. They were *two* sizes apart from each other. Really?? Ugh.
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
    Shopping for clothes overseas (I'm in the US) is a reality check. We have vanity sizes in the US, so when you think you're a medium, you'll find you're really a large or god forbid in some Asian countries, an X-Large and they may not even have a shirt "big" enough to fit you.
  • orangeskiesinlove
    orangeskiesinlove Posts: 49 Member
    I hate this! I'm anywhere between a 14 and 10! That is just ridiculous. It really makes me hate shopping. Especially during weight loss when In one store I'm finaly fitting into a size 10 jeans and yet in another store god forbid a 14 might (big might) fit over my *kitten*.
  • Val_from_OH
    Val_from_OH Posts: 447 Member
    I was shopping on Zulily today, and they had some dresses from a British designer. I checked the size chart, and it said that a 12-14 US would be a 3X! Ouch!
  • dunnodunno
    dunnodunno Posts: 2,290 Member
    When did the vanity sizing start to become so rampant?
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    There's also the matter of US vs UK sizing, complicating matters further. And the vintage misses/ladies/etc differences too. Eesh.

    Bridal is always a bit of a reality check too! If you've ever been fitted for a wedding or bridesmaid dress, the sizes are often pretty drastically different from what you'd wear in a shop, and not in the flattering way.

    Even size charts, which should make it easier, don't always help. I sew and I know how to be properly measured, yet when I order a size according to my measurements, I invariably swim in the clothing. Apparently "25 inches" or whatever is not as standard as it should be, either.
  • kmbweber2014
    kmbweber2014 Posts: 680 Member
    I wish they just gave measurements. Like for shirts should say fits up to X" or whatever. No point int sugar coating it in some ridiculous "size". Just make it simple.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    I was shopping on Zulily today, and they had some dresses from a British designer. I checked the size chart, and it said that a 12-14 US would be a 3X! Ouch!

    I noticed at Target a while back that all the womens sizes were 1,2,3...they just dropped the X.
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
    Oi! I know right? Infuriating.

    I take a size 8 in most vintage clothes, which is a far cry from the ridiculous sizes I buy at some stores. Is it really necessary for a size 000 to exist? This just tells me the other clothes are 3 sizes bigger than labeled.

    I just did same labeling for sales in Asia, which made way more sense. They used CM and MM.
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,512 Member
    I've gained 40 pounds since high school. And dropped a dress size. :huh:
  • Madame_Goldbricker
    Madame_Goldbricker Posts: 1,625 Member
    If its 'vintage' one of the reasons could be that the shape of women's bodies have changed a lot from say 40yrs ago. Overall women are often taller, wider hipped, and have larger chests. So clothing has changed to reflect this. Although different manufacturers & vanity sizing does play a part too.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    If its 'vintage' one of the reasons could be that the shape of women's bodies have changed a lot from say 40yrs ago. Overall women are often taller, wider hipped, and have larger chests. So clothing has changed to reflect this. Although different manufacturers & vanity sizing does play a part too.
    This is probably quite true but I'm noticing it in clothes that are perhaps 10 years old. I have size 6 pants from that long ago that I can't even squeeze into and I have size 4s I bought a short time ago that are loose.

    Even worse are the two pairs of shorts I bought from the same exact store a few weeks apart in two different colors. I liked them so much I went back for a pair in a different color. One is a 6 and the other is an 8 and the size 6 shorts are LARGER. WTF?
  • domansell
    domansell Posts: 5 Member
    I've a friend that was in the fshion industry it's sizes are really just imaginary ideas used as a guide to assist you to know what is the next biggest item or next smallest. I am sure at one point there was a standard, but these day it's of no help to you at all.

    I've just reached the point that I am in between stores types, 'Upholstered Lady' and 'Wide Derrier' stores clothing is falling off me, and sizes 16's are to big, but I got to 'average woman' stores and I am squeezing into size 16. It's really depressing, I can't find any clothes that fit because no one decided it would be sensible to make both size 16's match.

    Super depressing as I have a wedding to go to an I can't find a dress anywhere, all my previous worn dresses just swim on me.

    (sizes are aussie ones)
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
    I make nerdy costumes and often order specialty pieces from China on eBay. I wear a size 8 pretty consistently, somewhere between a US size small or medium. China's size charts indicate that this is a 2X. Kind of demoralizing. lol.
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,225 Member
    I've just reached the point that I am in between stores types, 'Upholstered Lady' and 'Wide Derrier' stores clothing is falling off me, and sizes 16's are to big, but I got to 'average woman' stores and I am squeezing into size 16. It's really depressing, I can't find any clothes that fit because no one decided it would be sensible to make both size 16's match.

    I remember being around that size. It is very frustrating. The 'larger woman' stores don't consider you large and the 'average woman' stores consider you too fat. It's clothing purgatory.
  • OnceUponaTimeFairytales
    OnceUponaTimeFairytales Posts: 12
    That outfit looks lovely on you! ^_^
  • kk_140
    kk_140 Posts: 518 Member
    I make nerdy costumes and often order specialty pieces from China on eBay. I wear a size 8 pretty consistently, somewhere between a US size small or medium. China's size charts indicate that this is a 2X. Kind of demoralizing. lol.

    Asian countries sizes reflect the population just as American sizes do. A size small in America is pretty small for Americans right now. But compare a size small American woman to a size small chinese woman and you have QUITE a difference lol.

    When I visited Japan, China, Korea (all the same story) I wore a size 2XL. in America I was a medium. lol.
  • The_Aly_Wei
    The_Aly_Wei Posts: 844 Member
    I wear a size 2 if i want fitted and 4 if i want room.
    I cant fit into a vintage 10 (in anything pre 90's).

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