Shallow, clothes-oriented post

[ceebeegee]

WHAT is the deal with sizing in women's clothes? I ordered some pants from J. Crew, some cute chinos with flared legs. As my mantra is "Order in the Smallest Size Possible Because Everything is Too Damn Big" I ordered them in Zero Petite. They came on Friday, I tried them on and they were a little tight (although I must say, they hugged my ass quite nicely). I was going to exchange them via email, then I found out that J. Crew stores accept catalogue returns, so I went down today. I tried on the size 2--HUGE. I could've been pregnant in those. WTF? Now, these were a 2 Regular, not 2 Petite, but still--Petite means they're shorter, not smaller around the waist. *throws up hands in disgust* I give up. I decided to keep the zero and just diet.

I also had ordered a sweater--it was described as orange on the website but when I got it, it was more of a salmon color. Too pastelly, didn't pop out at you. So I exchanged it for a thin, merino wool turtleneck sweater that's a much brighter orange, a real citrusy, warm, delicious color. Veryveryvery happy with it.

Comments

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

For one thing, men's sizes are absolute--the numbers indicate the measurements. Whereas women's measurements are relative and much more coy (because culturally women have more invested in what size we are) so size 2 isn't absolute from brand to brand. It's just always smaller than size 4.

I like Ann Taylor Loft and yes, Liz Claiborne.

I'm tired of going to the tailor--I've funded my tailor's last three vacations, I go there so much. But thanks for the suggestion.

[wonderpanther.livejournal.com]

If you buy label clothing, you get a better sizing system. The meaurements are the waist measurements.

I will never wear a size zero.

My big issue is that nothing is ever long enough. I either have to buy expensive clothing or have things taken in so that I can get the length of a longer size. I want inseam measurements. Some places make "tall" or "long" so that is good but they are few and far between. Sometimes I end up looking like I am dressed for a flood.

Size zero: Divide by waist error!

[jayspec.livejournal.com]

I used to date a girl who was a size zero. Until then, I had no clue that such a size existed. I mean, yeah, she was skinny, but I didn't realize that her waist was a singularity!