False Alarm

Not quite a 12



Yesterday, as I was rummaging through some clothes my teenage daughter bagged up to donate to charity I found a couple skirts, sized 12 that I liked. So, out of curiosity I  decided to try the skirts on. To my surprise, I was able to fit the zippered waist band skirts. Yay me! Since I was overjoyed to tears I immediately shared my excitement with folks on Facebook (my typical venue for breaking good news). But, shortly after I posted the news I started to wonder if the sizing was wrong. I mean, when I look at myself I just don’t see a size 12. Sure, I guess, I’m my own worst critic. Aren’t we all?

Hmm…the more I thought about it, it occurred to me that just as Americans have super-sized beverages, food items, and cars maybe we’ve also skewed clothing sizes to compensate. Sure enough, after some research I found out the US standard clothing sizes were developed in the 1940s-1950s. However, today, as a result of various cultural pressures, US clothing sizes have drifted substantially away from this standard over time. It’s important to add that the average size 12 women’s waist is 30” though my waist is somewhat larger. So  that immediately made it clear that I couldn’t possibly really wear a size 12. I also read that the Gap sizes their clothing down to make the customer feel better. It’s referred to as vanity sizing. For example, while a shirt says it’s a size medium, it may actually be the same size as an “L” from a decade early – basically the shirt is getting bigger, but the size label remains the same and the customer (theoretically) isn’t devastated about wearing a bigger size.

 

I guess, I should’ve just gleefully zipped the skirts up and strutted around wearing them in pride. Self doubt, however, and the good old Jesuit education I received from Seattle University just would not allow me to do that.  So as it stands I guess I really don’t quite wear a size 12… yet. Reminder to self, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

You may want to check these related articles out:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/14802436

http://www.catalogs.com/info/clothing/clothing-size-for-women.html