Clothes Sizing for Normal Women
Health authorities in Spain are recommending a major overhaul of clothes sizing. They will use the results of a fascinating study that laser-mapped over 10,000 women aged 12-70.
The research identified three main body types: cylinder (similar measurements for bust, waist and hips), diábolo (or hourglass), and bell (pear-shaped).
They discovered that body shape generally changes with age - typically starting at a cylinder shape, then an hourglass shape (around age 30-60), then to a bell shape.
The proposed method for clothes sizing will include a three-point measure
(bust, waist, and hips). There may also be a height indicator.
According to the research 41% of women have trouble finding clothes that fit.
"Forget the sizes we use now," Bernat Soria, the health minister, said
last week, adding, "We are moving toward a new system, which I hope
will better reflect women's real measurements." via IHT
Just last week three British models were banned from the catwalk for having a BMI of < 18.
The video below shows body shape changing through different age groups (note: años means "years").
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Created / Updated: December 17, 2011
Pretty cool to see
Reply"41% of women have trouble finding clothes that fit."
This is a myth. The clothing industry is market driven. (Well, at least it is now. It looks like in Spain it will be turned over to a neo-Soviet Gosplan style industry).
I have no problem believing that 41% of women are unsatisfied with how they look in clothes because somehow the effect on them is not the same as on fashion models. But that's down to their bodies and their perceptions, not the clothes.
ReplyYou know what, everything you've said is BS, but your attitude is what's worse. Of course the fashion industry is "market driven," but they also "manufacture" what it is they are "driving," i.e., they dictate what the latest looks are. They have been catering to a boyish, narrowed hip silhouette for decades now, and I for one am soooooo sick of it! I HAVE A WAIST! I HAVE HIPS! AND I ONLY WEIGH 105 lbs! I can't tell you how many times i've seen women stuffed into hip hugging pants, which only emphasize the hip even more, looking frumpy, and dumpy even in the best designer clothes.
For women such as myself, who are small, curvy, and not shaped like a boy, it is nearly impossible to find clothes that flatter the figure. The waist is always too big, the shoulders way too big, the sleeves & pant legs too long (sorry, since when is a size zero 5 "10?), and no matter what, EVERYTHING is too tight through the hips and thighs. I mean, I love the whole bubble skirt thing, but come on! Like I need my ass too look even bigger? Hello, I already have one, and so do most women! (And, yeah, in this case it is the fricken dress/skirt that makes a woman look fat! Thank you!)
But it's not just that the clothes aren't made for a women's figure, but that many of the styles are also just down right inappropriate for the work place. Most women have hips, and some of us have breasts, but being a vamp is a good way to jeopardize your career. I am so tired of having to buy long jackets because it looks tacky when my ass is all vavaaaavoom (why are the skirts/dresses/pants always designed to be way too tight around the hips, or make your butt stick out even more? Mine already sticks out, I was an athlete, I don't need to make it worse! Hello!)in the work place, and i am tired of pinning my neckline together because i'd get fired otherwise for distracting my male co-workers. See, you don't wear low cut neck lines in the work place! Hello!
I actually HATE shopping for clothes now. And the amount of money I have to spend to get a suit altered is ridiculous. Just buying a pair of pants is an anguishing ordeal, and for that reason I rarely wear pants, or even jeans! It sucks! I hate buying clothes because NOTHING fits right. I am tired off it!
So when I hear some one get all snotty, and act like women such as myself are just whining it pisses me off just a little bit. I have money to spend, but there is not one designer today that is making clothing that flatters the type of body that most women have.
Please start making clothing that flatters the female form! We look so much nicer is styles from the 50's, with a real waist, which celebrates the female form.
ReplyI totally agree; I'm 5'3/4", weigh 104 and wear size 8P; sometimes I can get an 8P short!!! I used to buy at JCP but no more, they're made for people who are 5'8" or more. I live in a very small town and shop locally only now. Ross Sportswear and Omni are great for my size and the sales person is accommodating also -- meaning she knows what I like and what size I am. It cost me a lot to have my tweed pantsuit altered after I lost 10 pounds but it was worth it.
ReplyI dunno, Mark -- I think sometimes the shape of the clothes really is wrong. I'm pretty skinny down to the waist but find most jeans a real pain as they fit perfectly on the thighs/backside but not around my stomach. I'm a UK size 8 in tops and "high-waist" jeans but find a 10 in lower-cut jeans is often too tight.
My impression is that I'm pretty normal compared to other women, just not quite a flat-stomached shop-window-dummy!
So I look forward to this applaudable idea reaching Britian :-)
Ali
ReplyMark - next time you shop for women's clothing, then you may have credibility in saying that 41% who claim finding clothes that fits properly is difficult isn't based on reality....I'm definitely one of that 41% - my inseam is long, thus I can almost never find pants long enough (36" inseam); these days it seems all the waists on pants are too big compared to the hip (designed more for apple shapes than pear/hourglass shapes IMO); tops routinely are cut very short in the body and again lean toward cut for apples not pears; and many other "basic" clothing items are cut all "wrong".....so yes, some of us really do find it difficult to find clothing cut properly so it fits our shape well....it has nothing to do with "perception" or being "unsatisfied" with how *I look* - and everything to do with the clothing isn't cut right to fit well.....if I'm an hourglass and the clothing is cut for an apple, well that doesn't fit right!
ReplyI think the size/shape of clothes leaves a lot to be desired, and that's not because I don't like how I look in the mirror. I have real trouble finding clothes with sleeves long enough. I might be taller than average (I'm 5ft10) but is that really so much taller than average that it should make finding something with long enough sleeves an issue? I don't think so. I'm a little overweight, but overall in proportion (arms included) and it baffles me as to what manufacturers think I should look like.
Don't get me started on womens shoe sizes either.
Replyamen Regina
ReplyUsing multiple measurements makes so much more sense to me. I have narrow hips and thighs, not an hourglass tummy, and just a little larger than matches my waist bust--shirts that fit at the waist are unseemly at the bust, but I still like to have form-fitting tops. So, separate tops and bottoms can work OK, but dresses that fit my torso are WAY too big at my hips. Sure, Mark, some clothes are dissatisfying just because I WANT to reshape my body, but it makes much more sense to have multiple measures--just look at men's pants with TWO measures instead of womens' pants with just one.
ReplyOh I love this idea! I have lots of trouble finding clothes that fit too. I'm another hourglass with gaping waistbands. And blouses that don't pull at the bustline & don't fit like tents are impossible to find. And I'm 5'4" - too tall for petite pants, too short for regular pants, and I hate hemming.
ReplyI think I fit somewhere in that 41%. I have a pear shape and if the pants fit in the hip, then they don't in the waist. Thus the waist line of basically all my pants sit at the hip.
ReplyI agree with Regina. I am 5'9". I have hips,a round butt, and a small waist. When I bye jeans that fit in the hips they are way too big in the waist. Also manufacturers seem to think that taller women have longer crotches rather than longer legs. My friends and I have a good laugh over this one. I guess I am also in the 41%.
ReplyI couldn't agree more with the crotch comment. I am 5'10", long torso and long legs but I really do not need an extra 2" between the crotch and waist. Low cut pants help some but they still do not fit right. I am another one with hips but smaller waist. Sometimes I think I could almost fit another person into the waist of the pants while the hips fit fine. I do have to say that it is easier to find longer pants these days than it was 20 years ago.
ReplyI agree with you , and I am 5 "4. I can't wear petites. If the pants fit in the hips, then they are too big in the waist, and don't get me started on belts! I actually did an experiment once, to see how big the pant size needed to be before the pants actually fit my thighs and hips comfortably( i have an hour glass figure). I had to wear a size 6 or 8 in women's in order to find a comfortable fit, but by then the crotch was wayyyyyy too long, and of course, the waist wayyyyyy too big.
ReplyI am an hourglass, and have been since puberty hit. I'm obese, but my waist still nips in sharply and curves out again. When I was slimmer, I loved playing it up with big belts, tight waists, etc.
I have trouble fitting pants, because if it fits my waist, it doesn't fit my hips, and if it fits my hips, it is too big in my waist (generally). So, elastic waists are very me-friendly, or those cut specifically for hourglass or X-shape. But I'm not long-waisted, so some slacks actually have a waist too high (or too low, given the fashion for those low-riding pants).
It's a mess. NO wonder I live in top-grade athletic wear or get tunics to cover the iffy waisty-region...with all that stretchy fabric that solves a lot of the problem in the former and the simple camouflage of the latter.
La Princesa
The Princess
ReplyFact: The average height of American women is 5'4". Which means half of all American women are shorter than 5'4".
Fact: Nearly all clothing designers assume that any woman shorter than 5'4" must be 80 years old with advanced osteoporosis and a penchant for flower prints.
WHY?! Certainly not "market pressure".
Reply"Fact: The average height of American women is 5'4". Which means half of all American women are shorter than 5'4"."
No it doesn't.
ReplyOkay, okay. Half of all women are shorter than OR EQUAL TO 5'4". That still doesn't mean that ALL short women are 80-year-olds with osteoporosis.
ReplyI'm surprised that ONLY 41% of women have a difficult time finding clothes that fit. I would have expected the number to be higher.
I'm among the 41% also. I'm an apple shape and when I buy pants to fit my waist, the butt and thighs are always really baggy and unsightly.
This really isn't a new line of thought though, Lane Bryant researched and developed a new line of jeans and slacks to fit the same body shapes noted in the Spain study. The jeans were rolled out last spring and it's amazing what a well cut jean does for your booty and your sanity.
I hope more stores follow their lead.
Replyi'm 5' and 100 lbs, nothing fits right. the legs are too long, the waist is too big, and the pants are tight around the thighs- the way i see it, everything that is supposed to fit me was made for a waistless, hipless woman- the least retailers can do is compensate for thin women who are curvier than waif-like...
ReplyWe know how manufacturers work - they have a "sample" model, and then they size up and down by adding material to certain points - i.e. My model is an 8, so to get a 10 I'll add 1" to the bust, hips, and waist. It might work for a size or two, but not for long.
Also, many manufacturers refuse to size for anything over a 10, because they say their customers don't want to wear the same clothes as fat people.
What happens if their clothes don't get sold? They end up at bargain stores. There's a business model that couldn't exist if the designers were doing their job right in the first place.
Reply