The Truth About Size
If you’ve ever had a bad experience in a dressing room that left you hating on your body, you need to know this one thing – the real deal with clothes that so often gets overlooked is that mass produced clothes are not actually made to fit the masses.
I’ll say that again so it can sink in. Mass produced clothes are not actually made to fit the masses!
They’re made to fit very precise measurements that equate to an industry standard that was set for your size. And there’s even more to the story. Those sizes differ from brand to brand.
You may very well be a “regular” size 10, but in some clothes, you’re going to wear a 12, and in some, an 8. That’s why the number on the tag doesn’t matter. The idea is to find clothing that fits your unique shape and not worry about living up to an arbitrarily set standard. You are not standard. We are all beautifully different.
Some brands run small, and some run large. Sometimes you can even pick up two pairs of the same jeans off of the same rack in the same size and one will fit while the other one doesn’t. Why is that? Manufacturing issues, mostly. All it takes is a simple ¼ inch adjustment to a machine to make something not fit you.
Remember the Lularoe debacle? So many people loved the style, but the brand’s one-size definitely didn’t fit all. It didn’t even fit most!
If you go on eBay right now and search for LLR leggings, you’ll find that the country they were made in contributes to these fit issues. Not because clothing made in one country is somehow better than clothing made in another, but the LLR clothing that was made in Vietnam was just made smaller than the LLR clothing made in the US. Same brand, different sizes.
“Vanity sizing”, as it’s called, has made things even more frustrating. Your body can have the exact same measurements as it did ten years ago, yet you’ll wear a different size.
In 1967, the smallest size available was an 8. Today, it’s a 00 for someone with the same measurements. The fashion industry keeps adding more sizes to the mix in order to “get it right”, but in reality, it’s just getting more confusing.
That gorgeous top you found online? There is a pretty good chance that it won’t fit you either. According to Time Magazine, online shoppers return an estimated 40% of clothing they buy, mostly because of sizing issues.
Think about that for a second. 40% of shoppers return their clothes because they don’t fit right. That large percentage is great proof that it has to do more with the clothes than the size or shape of your body. And that doesn’t even take into account the percentage of people who don’t bother to return them and just donate their brand new but ill-fitting clothes.
Can you see what’s wrong with this process? Clothes are based on the measurements of an ever-changing “industry standard” but as humans our bodies are anything but!
I definitely shed a few tears in fitting rooms over the years until I realized the simple and true fact that clothes are not created to fit me, or you, or anyone you know but rather a mold that the fashion industry deemed to be standard at the time.
In fact, until the 1940s there was no such thing as a “size.” Women had clothes tailor-made (or made their own clothes) to fit their individual measurements. Say whaat?! I know 🤯
It’s not just women, either. Men have this same problem. Do you have any idea how many men have their suits altered because their bodies don’t fit the industry standard sizing? It happens all the time. It’s just not talked about as much because suit alterations have come to be expected.
Have you ever been in a wedding? Whether you’re the bride, a bridesmaid, or a flower girl, chances are, that dress was somehow altered to fit your body. When it comes to formal events, alterations are fully expected and widely accepted.
We know that a formal gown probably isn’t going to fit right and have no problem having it altered to fit our body’s specific shape perfectly. For some reason, most women just don’t carry that wisdom into their everyday wardrobes.
I’m not saying you should have everything altered - unless you really want to - but if it’s “normal” for a bridesmaid’s dress not to accommodate your unique curves, then why don’t we feel the same way about a pair of dress pants?
So the next time you try on a piece of clothing and it doesn’t fit, please, please, please remember that’s it not you. It’s them.
Celebrate the fact that you inherited your grandma’s hips. Or your mom’s long torso. The same goes for the shape of your ears, the scar on your knee from when you fell off of your bike in first grade, and that one curl that always falls in your face no matter how you try to tame it.
Those are the things that make your body special - the things that make you unique.
Just like some colors will make your eyes shine, some hairstyles will affect your face shape differently than others, and some shoes will squish your toes, the way you fit into a certain size is going to be different. Every. Single. Time.
There’s nothing wrong with your body – your body is not too big, or too small, or too much.
The only thing a piece of clothing not fitting right tells you is that you don’t fit the arbitrary (completely made up!) retail industry measurements. And that’s okay, because honestly, very, very few of us actually do.
Clothes need to fit your unique, special, one of a kind body – not the other way around.
So when something doesn’t fit, you can toss it aside and move on knowing that it doesn’t deserve to grace your beautiful, sexy, amazing just the way it is, body anyway.
Celebrate your unique body type and be proud of who you are. You deserve to love yourself and feel confident in your own skin no matter what. Period.
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ABOUT:
I'm a Minneapolis personal stylist on a mission to eradicate outdated style 'rules' so women can unleash themselves in all their beautiful, authentic glory!
I offer personal styling services that empower women to wear what they love by helping them ditch any outdated style rules keeping them stuck, showing them how to dress in a way that embraces their beautiful body and, the key to it all, having fun! I believe in a liberated style approach so there are no style rules, body shapes, seasonal colors or dos and don’ts given out here. Rather, I help my clients tap into what lights them up and dress with the purpose of expressing their authentic selves rather than impressing others.
This is all done through a combination of styling services (including wardrobe edits, shopping trips and styling sessions) available in thoughtfully curated styling packages designed to help clients unleash their true self through the power of style.
When I'm not helping women take back their power style, you can find me reading (about a gazillion books at once), learning the art of pole dancing, making & decorating cakes, binging a random circa 2000's TV show with my hubby, Aaron, while playing with my adorable rescue pup or, of course, shopping! :-)