Yet here we are and I think the last update from your Euro correspondent was way back in the mists of time...when Rachel Zoe still had representation, when Professor McGonagall still had hopes that Albus would one day see what lay beneath her stern robes, when it wasn't so flipping cold.
Mea culpa. However please accept a number of delays between now and December as I struggle to complete my magnum opus on teen television. I hope to cast aside such worthy issues as "does Dan Scott from One Tree Hill use hair straighteners?" and "isn't Canada too cold for people to frolic al fresco like I'm seeing on Falcon Beach?" every now and then to bring you various fashion tidbits from across the pond.
Penelope Cruz for Spanish fashion label Mango
Like today's subject, inspired by a piece from The Independent, all about the Spanish fashion industry and standardised sizing on clothes:
Following years of complaints from frustrated consumers, the Spanish government has acted to bring order to the chaotic disparity of clothes sizes. The socialist health ministry, which has responsibility for consumer affairs, has struck an unprecedented deal with big Spanish retailers, manufacturers and trade associations to standardise clothes sizes and end consumer confusion.
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Last month technicians from Spain's health ministry visited the first of 59 towns across the country to measure 10,415 Spanish women, aged between 12 and 70, to find out what size and shape the nation's females really are.
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The aim is to promote "a realisable image of healthy beauty – neither Rubens women nor anorexic girls", according to the health minister, Bernat Soria. "It is our commitment that beauty and health go hand in hand."
The article goes on to note that the standardised system will also include promises from retailers to size up their window mannequins to at least a UK 10 (US 6), and to incorporate size UK 18 (US 14) into all ranges rather than treating it as a 'special' size and hiding it away.
It might sound like only a tentative move towards body acceptance, but UK 18 is one size larger than Topshop and many other uber-fashionable high street brands. Short of a bloody revolution and overthrowing the ateliers, or something, I think moves like this -- one step, or size, at a time -- are the way we're going to get progress in the industry.
The thrust of the article is less about the irritants of being one size in one store and another in another (annoying though that is, you eventually get to know your Size Per Store), and more about the negative effects differing sizes can have on body image. I can't speak for every Brit, but one of the delights of shopping in the US for us is -- aside from the strong pound and everything being totally cheaper anyway -- going down two sizes. Sometimes we'll buy stuff just to waft around and be all "I'm size 8!"
It's less fun shopping in continental Europe and coming out with a size 44 or whatever (not least because I really don't understand what that is). I have to assume that it's something metric that makes no sense compared to our thoroughly simple system of sizing things in pints, guineas and shillings.
Hastily constructed and not necessarily accurate size converter.
It's just too much. Like why do France and Spain go from a 46 to 50 in one sizing step? Just to be difficult and, y'know, French? What's with Japan going for the odd numbers? If S starts that low, do plus sizes end up being called XXXXXXXXL? Because that will look silly on the label and make nobody happy. And don't even get me started on Gap doing that annoying Sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. Size 3 isn't a size! Soylent Green is people!
I'm actually wearing right now: a Gap vest, Size S/P (?!), a Primark cardigan, Size 8-10 (so...in between sizes?), and Stella McCartney for Adidas track pants, Size 12 (the only label that gives a conversion to all other sizes, except, weirdly, the US).* Number-number style sizing I can cope with, up to a point, for stuff like cardigans or whatever -- if they're not meant to be fitted, I guess a random one-size-fits-several attitude is acceptable. Plus it's Primark. BUT 'S/P' IS NOT A SIZE.
*I'm at home and it's cold and I'm poorly! Please don't judge me on this mishmash.
Am I alone? Do y'all find yourself wandering around stores just utterly perplexed and guesstimating the size? Feeling crappy when you go up two or four numbers? I do think that using numbers or graded size words plays into this: would one strive for a size zero if it were called something else? And as pointed out above, if you start sizing S at a UK 10, you pretty quickly run out of options except to just keep adding Xs in the manner of the stalkery love notes I write to Bryan Greenberg until
I personally think the fashion industry needs to steal a leaf from the food industry's book (perhaps playing speedknob on it, and writing 'I smell' for good measure, then flicking its pigtails), and, following Spain's lead, standardise the lot. Perhaps not worldwide, but cutting a swathe across continents so you can flit between, say, London, Paris and Milan buying up a storm without having to carry a calculator. As each country's population has changed a great deal, and differently, measuring 10,000+ women seems a good place to start in drawing up the new sizing.
(If they can also make bra manufacturers stick to the same sizing chart, I and my boobs would say a hearty thank you also.)
Then when they're done measuring and cutting and sticking and drawing and deciding, (you know, the all powerful 'they'), a system that doesn't involve ever increasing numbers or judgey words would be super. I'd far rather be a size green or a size fabulous than a size 12 anyway. How great would that be? Not only are you the same size in every store, but it's a positive (if totally random) word, that bears no relation to any other size words. So instead of having people sniffle that they're now a size delicious and need to diet back down to size effervescent, they..wouldn't.
16 comments:
Acknowledging that your size converter was hastily constructed, etc., the XL scale is *way* off for the U.S.
XL is usually a size 14 (maybe 16). 1X is generally 16-18; 2X is 20-22; 3X is 24-26. Just to show how skewed our system really is over here compared to the rest of the world.
I can't even imagine a size 16 being XXXL! Size 16 may be large, but it ain't THAT large!
Signed,
2X/3X, depending on which half of my body you're trying to clothe.
The "s/p" means a "small petite" as far as I know.
And does anyone else LIKE that each store has a different size chart? It's a pain when ordering online, but what if you don't fit the model the numbers were taken from? I'd never wear pants again if each brand didn't change change the size ratio of the thigh and waist. But maybe that's just me.
why is it "delightful" to go down two sizes on a label?
I don't see why sizes are necessary at all - can't garments just have the measurements on them? This is why I like buying from ebay - I range from size 22 to 32 (yes, seriously) depending on brand and garment, but it's easy to measure my bust, waist, hip and inseam.
My sister-in-law who is tiny and Asian has the same problem in the other direction - size 6 Australian (=size 0 US) cut for boobs and hips is not the same as a straight cut. Measurements would solve this, too.
I was perplexed while shopping in the UK this past September. Although goodies purchased at Primark (my new love) were UK sized, I was still pleased that the double figure that I wear here worked there. So forget about the tag and try on to your heart's content. BTW...great blog H.
somebody's Mum in NY
That sizing chart is wrong. There is, in fact, a size 48 in France and it does correspond to a US Size 16.
I know because I'm an American who lives in France. :)
My mother teaches apparel design and told me that sizing in the USA is based on measurements taken of women in the WWII era. Furthermore, the women were enlisted in the Army, so I'm guessing they were relatively homogeneous bunch!
It's time for our country to update sizes too!
Lane Bryant, a ubiquitous plus- size franchise here in the US, just came out with a new line of jeans called Right Fit. They are sized 1-10, by colour/body shape, and height.
The body types are yellow (straight), red (moderately curvy), and blue (curvy). The sales clerks will measure your waist and hips to give you your number size (or you can do it yourself with the online conversion tool).
I end up being a Blue 4 petite. And I could not believe how perfectly these jeans fit. For years I've been settling for jeans that in order to fit my hips and thighs, were gaping at my waist. These jeans have solved that problem (no tailoring required).
And they only cost $40!
Does size Blue 4P sound better than the 20-22 I usually fit into? Who cares! If the jeans fit, they fit.
S/P (at least in Canada) means:
small (english)/petite (french for 'small')
Ah, to those clever peeps who explained to me that "S/P" means "small/petite": thank you. My GCSE French teachers would be appalled.
I'm now further confused by the announcement of 1X, 2X etc. Yet another sizing system!
I think much of the confusion arises because there's no standard conversion system as there is in Metric/Imperial: you mostly have to rely on web searches which lead to travesties like my converter chart.
The XS/S/M/L/XL thing is fairly accurate though for sizing in stores that only go up from a UK8 to UK16: they divide the 5 available sizes instore into those definitions. When you then introduce a wider selection of sizes into a collection, the XS-XL range of definitions is stymied, leading to adding a bunch of Xs in large and small directions.
anonymous, my comment about it being 'delightful' to go down two numbers between UK/US shopping refers to my general point in the post (and why the Spanish industry feels sizing labels contribute to poor body image), that giving sizes numbers, combined with the pervading sense in the industry that smaller is better, means that many people do feel better if they go down a number, whether that's in reality from weight loss, or just by crossing a border.
I know a great deal of people who judge themselves on their size, and enjoy the sensation of being 2 sizes smaller in another country. I do, too: perhaps I shouldn't, but contrary to my dazzling appearance, I'm not perfect. I'm not saying it's right, or that small equals better -- that's hardly the manifesto of the site -- but as Run DMC once said, it's like that, and that's the way it is (HUH!).
jennyfir, thanks for the info on the jeans sizing system. And thanks to everyone for their informative comments -- you may see further articles on the sizing label nightmare soon!
I once went to a store where all sizes were five less than a normal size.
If you were a 4, you were a child's fourteen.
It was very confusing. In reality, you were still a four, but the size would say Y14.
What if you were a 00?
http://orangefluffle.blogspot.com/
Can I just get a HECK YEAH for the suggestion of bra-sizing reform? I've been everything from a 14C to a 20DD (that's in terms of bras that fit, not my own fluctuations).
I agree with veiled_static's comment. Sometimes the fit of a particular garment decrees that the grading between sizes should be less or more. I'm a cog in the garment industry machine, and I am learning that my old wish for standardized sizing is a helluva tall order (pun intended). I'm not sure I want to force a fit model onto any designer, I just want them to try and include the strangely-sized such as myself.
Size doesn't mean anything. I can take 3 garments from 3 different clothing manufacturers and they will be different sizes. A S with one manufacturer is not a S with another manufacturer.
Hi, about sizes in Spain, yep, its totally insane. You may think that incorporate a UK 18 size to all the ranges is not too much, but I can tell you its more than baby steps. Here Zara and Mango, and all the other High Street brands only make clothes to 12 or 14 UK sizes (44 o 46 sizes in Spain, 48 (16UK) if they feel generous). All beyond that are "special sizes", so we depend on foreign brands (Evans, H&M, C&A...) or little retailers that often are focused on senior customers. Or boys clothes... A living hell...
About sizes in Japan, it's a real problem for those of us with more than a little meat on our bones. I'm a US size 16 which translates to about a 21L. Yep, that's 21 "L's" lined up in a row. Let me tell you, stores that sell clothing that size are few and far between. I'm also 5'11 with size 11 (27.5-28.0 cm) feet. Pants are out of the question (aside from waist size issue, they are cut to accommodate more delicate hips, etc). Shoes here are adorable/crazy, but shoe sizes for women universally stop at 25.5 cm. For shoes larger than that, you have to visit specialty stores, go internet shopping or resign yourself to wearing tennis shoes every day all day.
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