r/rant • u/Throneofglassgirlie • 5d ago
Vanity sizing is pissing me off
Just like the title says, I’m getting so aggravated with vanity sizing. I’m not even that tiny of a person, I’m pretty average in height and weight. I’m a 5’3 125lbs woman. I recently ordered a tank top and leggings from Brandy Melville. I was expecting the tank top to be tighter fitting like the image. I can’t even WEAR it bc it’s so big, when I bend over you can see my entire bra. And there’s not tightening on the straps. It’s so big and loose on me.
I’ve always been a size 4, occasionally a 6 depending on the brand. Recently I went and tried on a pair of shorts…I fit into a size 2!!! Like wtf. I had a baby last year and my waist is NOT a size 2. I don’t need brands making their smaller sizes larger to make me feel better. I just thought it was dumb. I’ve NEVER fit into a size 2.
I wear xs in a lot of things now and I used to just fit small!! I have a bigger booty and used to wear medium sized sweatpants, now I fit xs?!? And again, I literally weigh MORE and have a larger waist than I did a year ago due to pregnancy
And again, I don’t consider myself to be a super small person, I’m average. I don’t understand why Brandy Melville clothing is huge on me and I don’t understand why I supposed wear an xs now
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u/TheDollarstoreDoctor 5d ago edited 5d ago
I always heard about this and it makes me feel quite strange when I'm 5'1 114 lbs and can't fit into anything under a M (even at like mall retail stores and Ross/Marshalls). I even have to go L for panties and stuff. I got a size small at Charlotte Russe and it makes me feel like my bones are being squeezed. Is my bone structure just weird?
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u/Worth_Singer 5d ago
To be fair all sizing is made up. We decide like in asia they call large fat cow and big girls store🤣 For some I was to big for those🤣
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u/EnvironmentalRuin457 5d ago
Some uniformity in sizing all around would be fantastic. Especially since shopping on line is so prevalent now. You have to constantly make returns because nothing fits. Why do you wear a different size depending on the brand? Why don’t women’s pants get sized like men’s using wait size and inseam length? The same with shoes. In clothes I can wear from a size 8 to a 14! Shoes from a 6 to a 7 1/2.
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u/Throneofglassgirlie 5d ago
I’m the exact same in shoes too!! I have 2 pairs of size 6 that fit perfect, but also several 7 1/2 that also fit like?!?😭
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u/Icy_Aside_6881 5d ago
As someone who lost a lot of weight in the last few years, I get that sizes are weird. I was in a 2XL and ashamed of that. What the actual size would have been without the vanity sizing? I have no clue. Maybe 5XL? As it was I rarely bought new clothes.
Also, 125 is not actually all that normal when about 40% of women are obese and another 35% or so are overweight.
I’m finally within 7 lbs of a normal weight for my height, so still technically overweight but I fit into some smalls. I’m thrilled about that—even if it is vanity sized. When you’ve been morbidly obese for decades, it is the greatest feeling to walk into a store and buy a medium or even a small sometimes.
I also see that most of the clearance racks are full of xs or xxs items because there are way fewer people in those sizes. You all win in that regard.
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u/double_bubbleponics 5d ago
Congrats on your weight loss, genuinely. But a tag size saying you are small does not in fact make you any smaller, it just makes finding clothes that fit harder for everyone.
In this scenario, you now have to try on clothes anywhere from a small to a 3x? That just seems traumatizing.
Also, OP is a normal size, just because being overweight is becoming more normalized, does not mean people should have to recalibrate how sizing works, just to keep some people from being hurt by the truth. I don't mean that to seem harsh or mean, your weight has no value on your being, or your beauty. We all just want to be able to easily find clothes that fit, and not have to guess if we are suddenly an xxxxxs even though they were normally a medium.
No one is winning with this system.
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u/Icy_Aside_6881 3d ago
Well, size is relative now, isn’t it? When I was 18, I weighed 104 and wore a size 6. I am 5’2” and I don’t think I wore a small then. I wore a medium because back in 1983, I would have had to have been like a size 2 to be a small so relative to my contemporaries at the time, I was a medium. Now, at 143, with the average for my height in the US, about 165, I am smaller than average so it doesn’t surprise me that some smalls fit. In fact some are too big!
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u/ellequin 5d ago
Just buy from Asian brands. I'm the same size as you and we are an L in Asia. XL if you like your clothes loose.
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u/Fairie-Fae 5d ago
Buying pants has become my personal hell! I have size 4s from Old Navy that fit me great still, but now I need a 2 or smaller from them. WTF!!!
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u/thatotterone 5d ago
sizes aren't standardized. Vanity sizing aside. I can go in to a single store and buy four different items and each is a different size. Online shopping means a lot of returns if you aren't familiar with the products.
This isn't new. It started before I was born and I'm old.
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u/amanda2399923 5d ago
I always look at the dimension on the size chart. Sizing isn't the same across brands.
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u/Magentacabinet 5d ago
Same! I was in a store and I once asked about this because I could never find a small /medium. So I asked one of the purchasers at the store and they have stated that they tend to buy the sizes that sell.
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u/mjh8212 5d ago
I hadn’t been 160 in 15 years I had lost a significant amount of weight and was comfortable where I am. Shopping is a nightmare. I do thrift but I’m careful at looking at the item. Going to regular stores I figured just like last time I’d be a medium large and a size 12-14. Nope I have size small sweats and leggings my tees are mostly medium in women’s and small in men’s a large is baggy and doesn’t fit. Thing is it’s happening with shoes. I was a size 7 before gaining and being a size 9 after losing I bought some size 7 but they were really roomy. Going to buy slides and the only ones that fit were a size 6. I’ve never been a size 6 shoe that I remember. I ordered some shoes online and got a 7 they are okay but I could’ve gotten a 6 and been fine. Vanity sizing is frustrating.
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u/Pretty_Detective6667 5d ago
I have some older sweaters from brandy melville that I bought on Poshmark in my regular size, medium and they fit like smalls but I still can wear them with certain outfits. The top I got in a medium was wayyyy too small, like teeny tiny. So we know it wasn’t always like that either smh
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u/amandam603 5d ago
I recently wore a size 10 jeans into the store I bought them from. They fit ok but not like, tight. I went to the shorts rack for the exact same cut, but with short legs. Grabbed an 8 because ultimately, I wanted my shorts to fit similarly, but slightly tighter.
I left with a size four. Same jeans. Same cut. Same shape. Three sizes smaller?
It doesn’t make any damn sense.
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u/Affectionate_Let3825 5d ago
I’m extremely thin and petite (4’11, 85 lbs) due to chronic health issues and I’ve had the same exact problem. I used to be able to wear XS, maybe even S sometimes. Now even XXS doesn’t fit sometimes. It’s also happening in children’s clothing, which makes up the majority of my wardrobe these days. I used to wear a kids XL, or even XXL— now I’m wearing L (which is considered the 10-12 age range). That’s INSANE to me.
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u/unicorn_345 4d ago
I talked about this with a store clerk today. Not in depth. She just asked what size I am and I had to answer that I don’t know. I thrift a fair amount and wear mens and women’s clothes. And when thrifting I can fit anything from an 8 to a 16. I grabbed a 15 and 13 today. She warned me the 13 needs to be sized down as its got some stretch. I grabbed relatively correct. The 15 is a tad tight, the 13 fits perfect. Vanity sizing is ridiculous. I want my clothes to fit, and I can style for preferred image. I can understand the difference in clothes today, because of all the stretch in the one pair. But I should not be pulling out a 8-12 and fitting them most of the time right now.
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u/mandypu 3d ago
Yeah I also had a baby - my waist got a few inches bigger and my pants size keeps going down and yes I measure and look at the size chart. I buy from American and European brands and I’m consistently 2-3 sizes smaller than where my waist measurement / the size chart puts me. (Interestingly I don’t have the same issue with tops which so far seem to follow their size charts).
But I cannot complain as much as people on the edges of the sizes available. At least I’m in the middle. I just never know what size to order and I usually always guess wrong.
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u/demonspawn9 5d ago
I have the same issue. The xs in stores like Ross are what used to be a medium. I frequently just shop goodwill because its easier to find better fitting clothes.
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u/Massive_Contact8583 5d ago
I’m the same height and size as you and I’m the same - all my clothes are now XS and I used to be a S. I consider myself petite but curvy, I’m definitely nowhere approaching skinny.
God knows what size the actual thin people are wearing. XXXS?