Vanity sizing is a myth. If it were for vanity sizing a woman could walk into a store and walk out wearing two to three sizes smaller than her “normal” size without ever a salad passing her lips. Simply put, vanity sizing would allow a more generous cut in clothing while making the size smaller. So a size 4, for example, would be cut for 36″ hips and a 28″ waist, where it is now around a 33″ hip and a 26″ waist, or thereabouts.
People accuse expensive shops of this atrocity. Well, maybe I just don’t shop at those places, but for Me Ann Taylor and Nordstrom’s are pretty expensive. Granted I don’t go shopping at Dior or Chanel so I can’t tell you how their ready to wear sizing is arranged, but I will say with some degree of confidence they don’t use generic American sizing at any rate.
Recently I found myself at Target looking for emergency clothing. You know, some socks, underpants, camisole, shirt and pants. I found everything but the pants. I have been buying tops at Target for years. I do not think I have ever purchased a pair of fitted pants there and I now realize why. Target does “vanity sizing”. Instead of calling it vanity sizing, I am much more comfortable calling it demographic sizing, because that is exactly what it is. The store looks at it’s demographic and chooses sizes accordingly. Let me explain. Let’s say I normally wear a size X at Nordstrom. If I try and buy size X at Target I need a size x-2. Yes, TWO sizes smaller than my X. I find a decent looking pair of pants in size X, then I go and try on the pants in size X. Ugh, no, ne, niet! They are huge and too long. The too long I can appreciate as I am short and most pants if not labeled petite will be too long, but the too large I don’t quite get. These are a size X, they should fit or at least come close, right? Alas, no and I’ll tell you why.
Stores tend to have a certain demographic. Some stores, like Macy’s, JC Penney’s, etc. have a very wide demographic and some stores, Bebe, Forever 21, Chico’s, etc have a narrow demographic. You’ll notice, however that even when you go to Macy’s you’ll find a part of the store “in your style” and these clothes will fit more or less to your particular idea of what your “proper size” is. This means that when I go to Macy’s and shop in the INC section, I can fit a size X. if I go to the Juniors section, I fit a size X+2. I could not tell you what size I would be a Bebe, but if I had to guess it would be a size X+1 or 2 (and much too long). Old navy puts me in a size X-2. This is very frustrating! This seems to plague women only. A man can walk into a store with his “measurements” and buys clothing that will more or less fit. Men’s dress shirts come in plastic packages that they may not open in most stores! Yet they take these shirts home and they fit! Amazing, this would not happen with a women’s shirt, though it would be nice.
What this demographic sizing means is that you find a store you are comfortable with and where you know what size you wear and that is where you shop. You are a busy woman and you just want a new pair of pants already! You try on the pants in the new shop and they don’t fit, argh! You try on another and that one doesn’t fit, then you leave in a huff, going back to your old standby shop, even though you really wanted a more updated look than your old standby can accommodate.
You’ve all been there and I think the only way to really work around the issue is that when you go into a new shop you must talk to the sales associate. I know this is a hard thing to do, but they usually know how the sizing in their shop works and if you talk to them about your current size, measurements, fit you want they can usually get you in te ballpark rather quickly, and definitely more quickly that you could.
What if you’re looking at Target? Sorry, you’re on your own.
1 response so far ↓
Oh, how I hate vanity sizing! I am running into the same problem in my local Target store. This last summer while shopping at Target I spotted the PERFECT pair of jean shorts. I grabbed my usual size 4, but when I held them up they looked pretty big. So I glanced at the rack again and they had a size 2, so I took those into the dressing room also [wow-I hardly ever see a size 2 in the stores here].
Anyway, after looking at both pairs again in the dressing room, I decided that I’d better start with the size 2. I couldn’t believe it when I pulled them up without even unzipping or unbuttoning!
What a joke that was…who do they think they’re kidding? I was disappointed that even the smallest size was too big, and I walked out empty-handed.
Target has now lost me as a customer in their clothing department after I realized that they’re one of the stores that carry the fake sizes. Actually, I don’t have a choice…they have sized me out of their clothing.