Carolyn, I know what you mean! I'm taller than you and am by no definition small ... I'm muscular and kinda stumpy. Trust me, you'd never look at me and think 'small'. But I was trying on some Ralph Lauren pants yesterday in a 4 and they were too big! The waist was about an inch too large and the butt was droopy (and I have plenty of butt, thankyouverymuch
). What the heck? As far as I know, size 4 is as small as Ralph Lauren sizes go ... so what's a genuinely small person like you supposed to do??
I seriously believe that manufacturers are trying to re-do sizes so that there aren't any more plus sizes. No woman wants to be plus-sized (I sure hated it) so if they can figure out a way to make everyone fit into a regular size, they'll sell more clothes. If you're a plus size in Brand A but a regular size in Brand B, which one will you buy? It's a no-brainer!
I don't think there used to be size 2's and 0's (and isn't there a 00 now in some stores?) They've had to create new sizes because they're bumping up all the old sizes and making them bigger. It's insanity and I swear a little person like you, Carolyn, is going to end up as a negative number in another year or two.