When shopping for clothes it can be frustrating because sizing really depends on which store you are shopping in. One store sizes can run bigger while another store can have sizes than run smaller than you’re used to. Online shopping is especially difficult when you’re not entirely sure what your exact measurements are. Unless you have a seamstress or you and your friends got together to measure each other, you probably don’t know what your exact measurements. Then the ultra skinny models in magazines aren’t very much help because they are not a representation of the average woman, so it makes it more difficult to see yourself wearing the ultra chic clothes.
In a study, it seems as though women prefer the “average size” models over the super skinny ones. At least women have the sense of knowing that they do not have the same body as the models in the high fashion magazines. This could be a step towards more positive outlook on sizing. Acknowledging that most models are not a body type that can be achieved because everybody’s body are not the same maybe fashion designers will have more diverse looking models on the runway. With different body shapes and sizes.
The way sizes have been created over time is just crazy. Before the 1940’s, sizes were based on age instead of measurements. So, if a woman was 18 years old she size would be an 18. That doesn’t seem to have any flaws in that way of sizing clothing, no wait it does. Again, not everyone has the same body type so that would make women feel as though by a certain age they have to look a certain way. The 40’s was when women started wearing clothes where the sizes were based on measurements.
According professor to Beth Dincuff Charleston,who told Time “It was flawed for many reasons. They didn’t really get a cross-section of American women… It was smaller than what the national average should be.” Many of the measurements were based off of bust, the women who volunteered were of lower socioeconomic status, and were mainly white women. See the problem? Eventually sizing got a new makeover about 20 years later and they changed again in the 90’s. The supper skinny trend started in the 60’s with Twiggy taking the fashion world by storm and then again in the 90’s when it was heroin chic.
However, now there is new attitude towards sizing. More and more women are embracing their shapes for what they are, which is their own. Also, more retail stores are selling more and more plus size clothing and seeing that it is helping their sales. There might be a makeover for clothing sizing again, especially with today’s technology. Until there is a better way to size clothing, just remember that the sizes are just numbers. They don’t reflect who you are.
