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Vanity sizing and the little black dress
By workoutmommy | June 18, 2008
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Everyone has a little black dress, right?
The one dress that makes you look and feel fabulous, no matter what the occasion?
Well, mine has hung in my closet for the past 3 years eagerly awaiting my return to a size X. When my brother got engaged six months ago, I figured it would give me plenty of time to get back into that dress so I could wear it to his wedding. That date is fast approaching and it does not look like said dress is coming out of my closet anytime soon. Let’s face it, no amount pulling and squeezing is going to get that thing on my body. (sigh)
So, I went dress shopping this past weekend, something that I hate more than going to the dentist. The trip would be short, all I needed to do was find a black dress in size X+1 (or maybe 2) and be done with it.
I had success at the first store and ran to the dressing room with a dress that ended up being HUGE on me! After going down 3 more sizes, I stood there thinking how can this be? This size is smaller than the one I have at home?!
The store was trying to trick me with their vanity sizing! According to Wikipedia, this is actually a trend that:
“is designed to satisfy buyers’ wish to appear thin and feel better about themselves.”
I didn’t feel better, in fact it made me feel worse. I know I am not this size. If that were true, I would not be out buying a new black dress.
Dear Ann Taylor , please do not think I can be fooled into thinking I am magically thinner just because your tag tells me so.
A woman in the dressing room nearby asked the clerk to get her a size 00 because the ZERO was too big. What? Am I that far removed from the world of shopping? Why is ZERO (or double zero) even a size? Doesn’t that imply there is nothing there?
I bought the dress simply because I hate shopping and I need one. After getting it home and repeating my rant to my husband, I tried it on for his opinion. His response?
“nice, but it makes you look pregnant again”
My response to that?
“but it is a size X minus 2, the smallest size I have ever worn!”
Maybe the vanity sizing worked on me after all.
How about you? Anyone else find the sizes are completely off base, or do I just need to go shopping more often?
photo credit: stevenjude
Topics: about me |
June 18th, 2008 at 6:29 am
off base AND a crazymaker.
do we women really prefer the flattery to the quickfastandinahurry ability to shop everywhere knowing we are ALWAYS a size WHATEVS?
Im for in & out
MizFit’s last blog post..Viewer Mail.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:45 am
1-Husband needs to be told to never, EVER tell a woman she looks pregnant unless he is absolutely sure she is. And if that is the case, he needs to say something like “wow, you have not gained any weight other than your tummy, that’s amazing!”
Men sometimes…
2- The smaller size I ever owned has been from Ann Taylor. I like this store because their stuff fits women’s bodies, not mannequin’s. I have wondered if it was vanity sizing, or if every other store was just off on their own sizes. I mean, at my thinest, I still bought some medium or even large from some brands… while in others, the small had to be altered… I think those significant differences between brands made me care a lot less about the size on the tag.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Vanity sizing makes me mad. Because I know it isn’t true. I want to be a size 6 (I can wear a 6, but I “know” that it is really an 8, so now I need to wear a 4. It messes with my mind.
Oh, and Ann Taylor is the worst. My little black dress is from there. I got it about 4 years ago. It is a size 2!!!! What the hell! I am 5′6″ and 140 pounds. In what world is that a size 2? What does a 5′2″, 110 pound person wear? I guess a 00. It is crazy.
Robin’s last blog post..My Foot!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Totally! Moreover I wish that sizing for women was an industry standard and were more reliable as mens. My husband has been the same size since we dated and I can go into ANY store for any part on his body and the exact size fits regardless of brand! Why can’t this be for women? I can’t tell you how many times (since kids) I’ve had to return clothes (of my supposed size) because I’m never able to try them on in the store with kids in tow.
Additionally I learned that clothes that are made in other countries are designed based on the average size of those women - not American women, whom as we all know are traditionally larger than say the average woman in Japan. So for someone like me who has shoulders the size of a linebacker, it’s nearly impossible to find a shirt that fits well - if it fits my shoulders then most likely it blouses on my mid-section and (to your statement), makes me look prego. If a shirt fits in the torso, then I look like I’m wearing a shirt 2 sizes too small. I often tell my husband that if I had a designer talent I would design shirts for women with wide shoulders, exclusively.
Thanks for the vent session. I feel better now.
momofthree’s last blog post..My Clay is “Aiken for a child…….
June 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I don’t have a black dress. :). My wife does and she read the post and chuckled in agreement! I am going to find out what the chuckle meant!
Mark Salinas’s last blog post..Abdominal Basics
June 18th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Maybe that’s why I’ve fallen in love with Ann Taylor
Playful Professional’s last blog post..WFMW: Finding Beauty in Every Day Life
June 18th, 2008 at 10:33 am
A 00? I have heard it said that 0 is not a size, it’s a warning…it seems you should just disappear if you hit that size.
Missicat’s last blog post..Time for a laughi….
June 18th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Ann Taylor does Vanity Sizing???!!!!
WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
Fitarella’s last blog post..Calgon, wherefore art thou?
June 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am
[...] over at Workout Mommy wrote a post about vanity sizing that resonates with my complaint about women’s clothing. I hate shopping for clothes because [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Instead of vanity sizing, why don’t they work on vanity lighting in dressing rooms?
June 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Is your hubby in the dog house?? Mine would be. He’s famous for opening his mouth and inserting both FEET. When I was prego w/B @ 8 weeks my doc told me to STOP running. I immediately gained like 10 pounds!! My hubby said, “what have you been putting down your snout?”
Have you seen these clothes? http://www.doiedesigns.com/ I think they’re awesome!
Rachel’s last blog post..Survival breathing techniques
June 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Ugh- vanity sizing can be frustrating. It just makes it even MORE complicated when you go to different stores and you range anywhere between about 4 sizes just because the stores have different ways of depicting the sizes.
Sagan’s last blog post..Food Choices
June 18th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The worst is the vanity sizing combined with the “skinny mirrors” like in Banana Republic. So yeah, there I try on a negative size and look fab in their lighting and slim mirrors and then I get home and hold the stupid expensive pants up to an old pair 4 sizes bigger and realize that I haven’t shrunk, I’ve just gotten more gullible.
I HATE vanity sizing.
Sorry about the dress too Lisa - hope you can find one that makes you feel like the hot mama you are!
charlotte’s last blog post..I Immediately Regret This Decision…
June 18th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is exactly why I hate shopping for clothes- especially jeans. I found a pair at one store that looked pretty good, but they were 2 sizes over what I normally wear so I couldn’t buy them out of principal. But then it made me wonder what my “real size” was. I rarely if ever weigh myself and base how I am doing on how my clothes fit. Vanity sizing messes with that whole method!
I really do wish there was more of a standard like in men’s clothing. I can buy a 32×34 pair of pants for my man and they will fit every time. Argh!
Hannah’s last blog post..one hundred push ups
June 18th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I have similar issues with closing sizes, although it seems to me that a lot of the mainstream bargain stores like JCP make their clothes really small. I shop there, and a 4 looks like a 0! I recently bought a pair of jeans from them, and they were a size 14. I held them up to a pair of my Gap jeans, size 8, and the waistbands were the same size. So who’s right? I am confused!
BTW, momofthree, if you design a line of clothing for women with large shoulders, you’ve got one loyal customer: me! I have the exact problem. I can rarely find button down blouses that fit me because I am larger in the shoulder and chest areas.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
uuuhhh let’s just say you’ve read my mind, workout mommy! It’s a dirty marketing ploy to get more women to buy from their store. At one store I can fit into size 4 jeans, and at another a size 7…so guess where I might buy jeans again just to say or think that I AM a size 4…it totally messes with your mind. In the end, regardless the size, we should just shop wherever the style and fit is best.
Jojo’s last blog post..Mssg from the Chipmunk Prison
June 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
glad to know I am not the only one out there with this issue!
rachel-hubby is always in the dog house!
erin-I need vanity lighting for my house! I guess I should ask Banana Republic about theirs?
hannah-i agree. men can get the same size–every single time. and then they wonder why it takes us so long to shop!
ok, so who is a designer that can make momofthree and luna (and others) some tops and the rest of us some great fitting pants? anyone?
June 18th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I totally agree! Or how about this- I weigh 30 pounds heavier than I did in high school and only wear 1 size larger? How can that be? Sizing has changed over the years. Different types of pants have a wide range too. I have 2 pairs of capri pants and they are 2 sizes smaller than what I normally wear and they fit! Gggrrrr I hate shopping
June 18th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I agree about sizing. In trying on 4 pairs of capris I own, to see where I’m at in my inches loss, I find that one pair of a smaller size of a pricer brand fits so much better than the bigger size of a cheaper brand. It’s confusing, but I’ll be happy when I can wear the one that’s the tightest right now, regardless of size! Darn those marketers!!
June 18th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I have found that I now wear a 2 or 4 instead of a six or an eight - despite gaining nearly twenty pounds - ridiculous!
June 18th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Ooo, sneaky sneaky! But this just leads me to think what does size mean, anyway? In the end, it’s just a stinkin’ number! But wow, how powerful that number is! It can affect our self-esteem and change the way we see our bodies!
Oh, what a deceptive marketing strategy!
Susan’s last blog post..Deep in the Heart of Texas
June 18th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Vanity sizing makes me frustrated from when I go from one store that vanity sizes like crazy (Old Navy, such as at Old Navy, I am size X-4) to a store that doesn’t vanity size. It makes me feel like I gained 30 pounds walking from one store to the next!
June 18th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Ditto Robin’s comment! What the hey! I can clearly see my enlarged thighs, the rolls on my belly, the love handles, that back fat. Yet, I’m slipping into a size 4 or 6. Yeah. Whatever. I happen to hold on to clothes (leftover fear from being dirt poor). I can barely fit one leg in my old size 6 jeans.
Vanity sizing=size denial for us
Vanity sizing=$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for the fashion industry
LaskiGal’s last blog post..Wordless and Toothless (nearly) Wednesday
June 18th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Vanity-sizing sucks! I wish we had standard sizing like men do. That’s why it’s almost impossible for women to buy clothing without trying it on first — you can’t just go to a store and pick up “your size,” because it’s likely to be completely different from another store.
Zandria’s last blog post..A New Pushup Goal
June 19th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Ah! The little black dress is equivalent to the skinny jeans. We want to get back into both of them. I’ve written lots about the vanity sizing particularly when it comes to size 0 and 00 because so many woman want to be that tiny. What is eye opening to me is that the vanity sizing can really show you how attached you are to a number. If you look good and feel good, what difference is it what the number on the label says especially when you know that everyone vanity sizes to play marketing games with us. This realization got me on the path to learn to stop obsessing about the number.
Stephanie Quilao’s last blog post..Quick pasta: Napa Style Spicy Parmesan on Brown Rice Spirals with Cherry Tomatoes
June 19th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Ditto on the button down blouses Luna - I’ve all but given up on wearing those!
Thanks for looking out for us “broad shouldered” ladies workoutmommy! You let us know if you have any takers! =)
momofthree’s last blog post..My Clay is “Aiken for a child…….
June 19th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Thank heavens the Bag Lady doesn’t have this problem. She wears jeans and men’s shirts 90% of the time.
That said, when her step-daughter got married, she quickly grabbed an outfit in a store (because she had a sewing disaster - don’t get her started on the sizing of patterns, either!) that said it was her size. Got it home and ended up having to alter it to make it smaller. Still looked like she was wearing a peach-coloured potato sack. Sigh. Can’t even look at the wedding photos without wanting to cry.
Lesson learned.
the Bag Lady’s last blog post..Fencing
June 19th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I think buying clothes nowadays just plain SUCKS! That my opinion and I am sticking to it!
Angie’s last blog post..Finding Serenity
June 19th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Vanity sizing works on me, but then it doesn’t make me want to work out. i justify it by saying that I still fit into some 4’s or 6’s, but in reality I know I am an 8. And that is my caution sign to get my butt on a treadmill.
I think Gap and it’s company of brother and sister store like Banana Republic and Old Navy are the worst offenders of this.
Amanda - The Mom Crowd’s last blog post..Kegels - A Lifetime Exercise
June 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Hi there… I just found your blog. It’s right up my alley. I’m a mom of one and totally stuggling to fit in work out time. What a constant struggle.
And yes, vanity sizing works for me. Sadly, I totally buy into it.
Big Girl’s last blog post..Operators Standing By…
June 20th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I don’t think men are immune from vanity sizing either…
I went to buy a pair of man-pants in a particular style/fabric. I try a 34, and get a 32. No problem, it’s the size I wanted and it fits as I wanted/expected it to. Man pants are fun and easy!
On to the next pair, I try a 33 and a 32, with both falling off. Surely I haven’t shrank an inch or two in the minute it’s taken me to try on shorts… I go to another store, notorious for vanity sizing in the women’s section, to also find that I would probably need a 30 to fit the exact same area as the first pair of size 32, but they would have been too short.
I leave the dressing room and yell at my friend “I thought men were supposed to have it easy buying pants and not suffer from vanity sizing! Maybe the stores us different inches or something…”
Somewhere in Europe, next to the kg, there is the Std. inch, the Gap/ON/BR inch, the JCP inch…
June 21st, 2008 at 12:20 am
Vanity sizing shows how much is wrong with this country. Clothing stores put alot of effort in creating a sense of cashe and chicness, and in their blind eyes, a plus size can never be this, but they still want the plus size dollar. Rather than having accurate sizing and just carrying bigger sizes, they insist on false “Vanity Sizes”. Would it be such a crime to simply carry clothing for fat people instead of cloaking the process in either shame or denial?
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I’m with Hannha on this one. Vanity sizing and jeans…yuck. I hate that designers and retailers know they can mess with my mind. And I hate that I allow them to.
MomWeightLoss’s last blog post..convincing the hubby I’m right
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
So, a week after reading this I was given an outfit that a friend bought in Italy. It is 2 whole sizes bigger than what I supposedly wear from American stores. AND this same friend gave me some clothes from a store that I frequently shop from and the pants are from about 3 y ears ago….they are all 1 whole size bigger and fit the same as the size I buy now. I knew I had heard of it, but that was proof positive to me! Same store — two different sizes, exact same fit. Crazy!
June 24th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I understand you’re frustrated and perplexed. While you were at the wikipedia site, you missed the only fact based article explaining what is happening with sizing. There’s a rational explanation. In a nutshell, it’s sizing to the mean of a given manufacturer’s demography. If you just want to rail because you’re frustrated, so be it. If you want a rational explanation, this is the start:
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/mt/archives/the_myth_of_vanity_sizing.html
June 30th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
AllI know is that I used to be a size 2 and now a 00 is too big and I am the same weight/height. so if vanity sizing is actually sizing to the mean of a given manufacturer’s demography” have I been outsized or something? Did the manufacturers just decide that there were no small women?I should be a size 2 and a size small.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Outsized? No. It just means that the *median* size of a given manufacturer has increased. Obesity is on the increase. You are to be commended for keeping your figure but statistically, most have not. More importantly tho, obesity is on the increase among the young. This matters because it’s young people who buy the majority of clothing. They are the new median size.
Smaller sized clothing is more expensive clothing. The wealthier are thinner than average. When we were younger, we perhaps bought more fashion forward, less expensive items. Now that we’re older, it’s time to gravitate to classics I suppose, items that last longer and cost more. It’s in that market that you’ll find more appropriately sized apparel.
Another alternative is searching out designers who design for you. By definition, they won’t be mass market brands (the mass market is oversized) but sell to boutiques. Yes it’s more costly but then they tend to produce domestically (no sweat shops) and don’t have the economies of scale. We aren’t the majority any longer and so, can’t enjoy the clout of being marketed to and designed for at costs we’re used to paying anymore. This is just one respect in which obesity incurs costs to everyone.