Size Doesn’t Matter
When I was in junior high, I distinctly remember an unsettling incident at Abercrombie & Fitch.
It was my first trip to the store with some girlfriends and I was very excited to try on their famous jean shorts. After being unable to pour myself into their size double zero, single zero or “1” daisy dukes (like my two super thin friends), I lost the enthusiasm to shop.
Participating in many different sports growing up, I was always in good shape — but by no means a string bean. With my muscular legs and broad shoulders, the model dimensions at stores like A&F certainly weren’t created with girls like me in mind.
In high school and college, this size dilemma continued (only on a larger scale). I wanted to be a 2. I thought I worked out hard enough and ate healthy enough to be a 2. If asked, I was a 2.
But depending on the store, that 2 was actually a 4, a 6, and sometimes even an 8.
Now I’m sure some of you out there think I sound ridiculous. Many people would be grateful to be a 6 or an 8.
I’m not saying that being a 6 or an 8 is bad. I’m saying, regardless of the specific numbers we’re talking about, no woman likes to feel like they’re not the “right” size. I’m sure most women can relate to that moment in the dressing room when a well-intentioned sales lady carefully suggests you bump up a notch.
Whether it’s from a 2 to a 4 or an 8 to a 10, it’s not exactly a self-esteem booster.
Yesterday, a girlfriend of mine shared this article with me: When a Size 0 isn’t a really a 0: The Psychology Behind Top Designers’ Big Secret.
The article confirmed what I’ve suspected and pretty much known for a while. There is no standardization in clothing sizes. A 2 at one store is a 4 at another, and a zero in a third brand.
Sizes are based on either a label’s intention of excluding people of “undesirable” sizes (like Abercrombie famously does) or of “vanity-sizing,” labeling clothes smaller than they actually are to make size-obsessed shoppers more likely to purchase them.
In addition, sizes often change each season, depending on the model the designer uses to base the sizing off of.
This paragraph sums it up pretty well:
“French and Italian zeros are often equivalent to a U.S. minus 4. Not only that: Every designer brand cuts samples on their own fit model and garments are scaled up to the larger sizes from there. If said fit model goes breatharian (i.e., a diet of air) with a bout of modelrexia after a bad break-up, an entire season’s collection will reflect her wasting-away waifiness and could make real women sartorially suicidal.”
Eek.
So how do we combat this roller-coaster without becoming “sartorially suicidal.”
1. Embrace the truth, that we all have different shapes and sizes and we are not all meant to fit into perfectly-packaged proportions.
Like I said before, I have broad shoulders. This means while I may be a small on the bottom, I’m usually a medium on top. And while I may shimmy into a size 2 dress occasionally, I might have to keep going up in size until I find one where the zipper will actually close on top.
If it looks good in the end, who cares what the label says.
2. Acknowledge the fact that the numbers really shouldn’t don’t mean anything. They don’t!
Don’t be proud that you’re a zero, a double zero or a two, and at the same time, don’t be upset that you’re not. Those numbers stand for nothing.
The euphoric feeling you get after a hard workout. The glow in your skin and eyes when you choose to rest, hydrate and eat whole foods.
And the happiness you feel when you can share these positive experiences with your friends and family, and stop perpetuating myths about what size makes a woman beautiful.
That is all.
*Shout out to my friend Rachael for sharing this article with me.
Jana @ Happy Wife Healthy Life says:
This is such a great post and I kno
Jana @ Happy Wife Healthy Life says:
(Please see above, sorry!) I know we have all been there. I actually struggled a bit when wedding dress shopping because my dress that fit perfectly and I loved so much was a size 10. Like you said, nothing against a 10 at all but I was so used to wearing 2s or 4s on a regular basis and was thrown that my wedding dress would be ‘5 times my size’! Turns out that the number really is just that – a number. I wore my dress with love on my wedding day and on e I realized the number doesn’t define me, I felt as beautiful as I hoped I would! :)
Whitney English says:
Oh man, looks like I’m in for a treat when I go dress shopping next weekend! At least I’ll have this info and your anecdote in mind :)
Ashley @ A Lady Goes West says:
I love this! I don’t think your size matters at all, and I’d like to add that the number on the scale doesn’t matter that much either. I train clients who really want to lose weight, when all they really need to do is shed some body fat and add muscle, which may end up keeping them at their same number. As long as you’re mobile and feeling good, the numbers aren’t that big of a thing.
Whitney English says:
Great point Ashley! Especially when you factor in water retention – the scale is not a reliable measure of your overall health on a daily basis.
natalie @hellodayblog says:
I have my share of those moments. I remember shopping for wedding dresses and trying on dresses in the 8-10 range. Those numbers mattered to me – it felt like a slap in the bride-to-be face that the dress shop associate would even suggest I was such a size.
I have gotten in the habit of cutting the tags off my clothes so that I don’t associate myself with a number.
Whitney English says:
Haha that’s one option!
Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment says:
Love that quote!
Everyone is so hung up on their dress size and the number on the scale, but it is all about how you look and feel. We are all created in different shapes.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Whitney English says:
Thanks Lauren, you too!
ganeeban says:
I wish it didn’t, but sometimes it does. Sometimes its frustrating and other times I could care less! It just depends on the day…but I have never bought something because it was a size/number I didn’t like. It might have made me a little discouraged, but if I like it then I just get over it. This is a perfect reminder, we could all use it at some time or another! Thanks for sharing! xoxo, ganeeban
Whitney English says:
I know what you mean. Although I wish it didn’t, my mood definitely influences how I’m going to feel about a size upgrade.
Brittany says:
This is why I live in yoga pants, no numbers.
Whitney English says:
One of many reasons to live in yoga pants ;)
Alex @ DelishKnowledge says:
I love Brittany’s comment above! :)
Great article! I totally notice this when I am shopping. I just bought a pair of jeans at Express last week that were a much smaller size than I am normally. While I secretly love the idea that my jeans were so small- I also know it’s not real. If I went into Bebe next door, I would be put right back into my place!
Brittany Lesser says:
Loveeee this post. So true! I am always a different size at different stores, different clothes. Whatever, who cares. A number is just a number!
Alex @ True Femme says:
This was so awesome, Whitney. I absolutely love it! And the quip about the zeros and paycheck made me chuckle–I agree with you there 100%! I don’t think I’ve ever said this but I can’t think of anything else to add here. You said it all so well and beautifully that I will just raise a glass to creating a life that’s based on how we feel, not what arbitrarily-sized clothing we fit into!
Bethann Wagner says:
This is wonderful, Whitney! Thanks for sharing so many personal and inspiring things here. I love that euphoric feeling you get after a hard workout.and agree it is 10x more important than what is on the scale or tag. Off to read that article now!
Arman @ thebigmansworld says:
It’s crazy how different parts of the world equates to different sizes yet even with that knowledge, we still double guess ourselves.
In many Asian countries, I’d easily be a Large lol whereby American/Australian sizes, easily a small. Then there’s the brand distinction like Levis VS Zara- different again.
Great post buddy.
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner says:
I love this! We’ve all had those dressing room moments and while I like to pretend that I don’t care and that I’m over all of the numbers thing, sometimes it really does bother me that I have to size up in a brand of jeans that I already have in that size. One step I have taken is that I stopped weighing myself almost a year ago. After a whole life of letting that number dictate how I felt that day, I’d had enough. And you what, nothing bad happened. I still eat the same foods, do the exercises and wear the same clothes.
Khushboo says:
Fabulous (and empowering) post, Whitney! It’s crazy how much sizes will differ based on the shop & outfit cut. My wardrobe ranges from an XS to Large so clearly that just goes to say how much discrepancy exists with sizing! For a while I refuse to buy a piece of clothing if it meant going up a size but clearly that has become less of a focus. So long as I feel confident in it & it fit wells, I’ll buy it…regardless of size!
As for 0s on my pay check, I am DOWN!
Gillian @ That's G says:
Love this post, Whitney!! Vanity sizing is so frustrating because it basically means I HAVE to try things on and can never buy things online unless I already own the exact same thing or am super familiar with the brand. It’s crazy how I can be a 6 (or even a 4) in some stores and a 12 in others. But the important thing is being healthy and feeling confident in your clothes!
Kim says:
Because I grew up shopping mostly at stores like K-Mart and Walmart, I wore a larger size than a lot of my friends. When I was in college I worked at a nice boutique and the first time one of the ladies I worked with asked my size I said “10”. (I was thin and ran competitive cross country and track still.) Umm….nope – I was a 4 or 6. Just goes to show the difference in how stores/companies mark their products.
Now I don’t worry about the # just how I feel (and look:).
jill conyers says:
I’ve had my share of dressing room horror stories. Now, I’m battling the world so my 15 year old daughter realizes [one day] that size doesn’t matter. Great read Whitney!
Chelsea @ lil miss fitness freak says:
Such an amazing post! I really enjoyed the article as well and may chatter about it on my own blog :-) It’s very true that size seems to run our lives these days. If you’re a size bigger in the most beautiful dress you ever saw you may second guess buying it because, god forbid someone (who apparently is really nosey if they do…) asks you what size you are then you would have to tell them I’m normally a __, but for some reason this dress is a __. But for real tho, I’m really a __.
Silly we all are.
Lizzy says:
This drives me crazy! For those of us who are just… small… (I’m 5’1″) companies that mess around with where their smallest size is can size me straight out of that brand! I really wish that we could have measurement-based sizing like with bras or mens clothes. I feel like it would be so much easier for everyone.
Jezz Dallas says:
This is beautiful! And so true….I sometimes feel so discouraged shopping. I am an average size girl yet society can make me feel as if I am way heavy…..the world needs a reality check!
http://jezzdallasmakeup.blogspot.com/
Whitney English says:
Thanks Jezz! I totally agree.
Chanel says:
Thanks for posting this! Just tonight I was tempted to go into shame over eating some ice cream. Your approach to life and living is so well balanced and filled with life and wisdom. When you share stuff like this it really lifts people up and inspires instead of REQUIRES. You empower people with your feedback which enables us to move powerfully forward instead of getting stuck in the shame pool or perpetuating patterns that are ultimately unproductive. THANK YOU!!!
Whitney English says:
Thank you so much for the kind words Chanel. It’s so nice to hear that I’m making an impact. Keep up the positive attitude and outlook!