US size 0 - the new size 4
Aug 16th, 2006 by Yue
Being a US size 4, I went shopping last weekend to J. Crew and Express and discovered I’m now a size 0. How can that be? According to Burberry, a US size 4 is bust “33″, waist “25″ and hip “35″ (equivalent to a UK size 8, French size 36, and Italian size 40).
I can assure you none of these things changed.
The answer of course is marketing. As the super-sizing of America continues and American women get fatter, stores have responded by making their clothes bigger but marking them the same size. This marketing sleight of hand turns out to work wonders for the bottom line.
But it means that shopping in the US is becoming ever more aggravating. Size 4 at Chico is not the same as size 4 at the Banana Republic. This trend also applies online - when I buy clothing on the Web I’m never sure what size I’ll really get. Chico has even developed its own size system with 4 sizes: 0, 1, 2 and 3. Size 0 has nothing to do with a real size 0, it closer to a traditional size 4/6. For anyone under size 4, don’t bother shopping at Chico’s - everything will be to big.
Thankfully, the major European brands have not succumbed to this nonsense.
I understand what you mean.. i have the same problems.. depends WHERE you shop as to what size you buy.. is SOO Aannoying !!!
whay cant a size 2 be a size 2 EVERYWHERE ??
You state “Thankfully, the major European brands have not succumbed to this nonsense.” Well, I’m in my 40’s and a UK size 8 (hence a US 4) back in the 1980s however, I was a UK size 12 (sometimes 10 but never
my measurements being bust: 33; waist: 24.5; hips: 34 - the “normal” UK 12 back then was 34, 25, 34…. so it’s nothing new that shops have changed their sizes … As for now, a march around shops in London reveals a huge difference, sometimes in the same shop: I’m 5.8″ and in Uniqlo for instance I have to wear their ultra-tiny tops and size6 jeans; in H&M I am usually a size 8 (US 4) but sometimes a 10 (US 6) … It’s so variable that I wonder what I’d do if I was say, 5′3 …? Clearly the whole ‘weight issue’ and the obsession in the press with size 0 is a marketing con … but god knows who benefits - very insecure fat people I guess.
I Hate Size Zero
Boys Dnt Even Like It
So Y Do It
It Looks Horrible
Much Love
xxxxxxx
LOL
only fat girls hate size zero
because thats the size they want to be
but will never achieve it
bitter fat girls
lovelove xx
I always knew that the size of clothing have been off for years. I find it annoying that the clothing companies find it necessary to accommodate “fat” people and ignore the rest of us. I have never be able to go into a store and purchase clothing with ease because first my size didn’t exist then fat people didn’t want clothing showing fat sizes so there clothing had to read a lie to make them feel better about being “fat”. There are more than necessary clothing stores for persons size 6 and above what about the rest of us don’t we deserve to go to the mall and find nice fashions in our size with out the hassle of trying to guess what size we wear or trying to find expensive specialty stores. Finally every one who has a size 23 waist is not short some of us slim people are over 5’4” and would like to wear pants that fit on our waist and reach an inch past our ankles that is not made mostly of spandex or lycral.
I love how fat people get blamed for all that is wrong with sizing. It has nothing to do with say the retailers who opt to “fatten” their bottom line by making room for more shoppers. I can’t tell if the previous commenter thinks anything about a six is fat, but I do know that people over a size 12 often have trouble finding clothing and after size 16, there are very few options and most are geared to grannies and very expensive.
I used to be a size 18 and lost 100 pounds and I’m a size 2. I don’t know if I’m a “real” 2 or just a fat placeholder squeezing all the real twos out, but with 32DD-22-34 I could give a fuck what some insect stick figure thinks about size zero haters.
Sizes have definitely shifted to accomodate overweight Americans. After losing 45 pounds, I was excited to be a size four — now I’m feeling like it’s not much of an accomplishment. As I work on losing another twenty pounds — which will put me somewhere between a size 0 and a size 2, I worry about where I will shop and how I will find pretty clothing. In most stores, I find lots of sixes, fewer fours, and virtually no twos or zeros. When will the stores stop catering to the unhealthy overweight women to cater to those of us who make the commitment to a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a reasonable weight? People think size four is for ematiated skeletons and that’s simply not true. At size four, I’m at the tippity top of the healthy weight range for my height and my BMI is 24 — not overweight, but not thin either. Trust me when I say no one is telling me to “eat a sandwich” when I go out (though they’re not calling me fatty, fatty, boombalatty anymore either….) For those of you who think size four is “unrealistic” I’m here to tell you it is completely realistic, completely attainable, and it’s not a size reserved for the super-thin. To the girl who pointed out that people with tiny waists are not always short — I’m totally hearing you. Waists on clothing are too big, in general. At 26″, I either get my waistbands taken in or a live with pants and skirts that gap at the waist.