Okay... I just had to make a real quick rant cause I want to see if others have this problem.

Today is "casual" day at work (jeans - woohoo!) - so I have 3 pairs of jeans I can currently fit into... one pair is size 18 and they are literally falling off of me - I can pull them down without unzipping them, lol. SO, I put on my size 16 jeans (I have jeans ranging from size 18 down to size 10, haha) - and they are too tight!!! Huh?! They are the same brand (Levi's) - different cut, but c'mon! Why do a size 18 fall off me and a size 16 still pinch my waistline like this? Why do clothing manufacturers do this?

Even more puzzling... most of the skirts I'm wearing now are size 14 and fit perfectly.

the dreaded clothing sizes. I'm convinced that clothing designers get some sort of perverse pleasure by confusing and demoralizing anyone over a size 8. Depending on the brand, I either wear a 14 or 16 pants, a 14 or 12 skirt. I think the problem is that my waist is thinner and my thighs and hips are bigger. The skirts fit better because they don't have to fit totally around each voluptuous thigh.

Why is it that men's clothing sizes are so easy... based on actual measurements?? This is just not fair.

YEP clothing sizes SUCK!!!!.... I still like to shop in the junior department for some stuff and you can look from juniors to womens at the F'd up thing with sizes. I have a closet full of Junior Levis in a JR 11 Long and you go to the Womens department and they are about the same size as a Lady's Levis size 8, same pants same manufacturer...lets kill the kids image with that HUGE leap in sizes. My DD wears a 0 in the Junior department for the length and then can wear a 12 or 14 in little girls... so go figure.. I can fit in some 10's and not be able to squeeze in a size 12 in another pair of pants. SO You figure it out. I fit back into a pair of my Womens 11 Levis this week so I guess I am heading back in the right direction- I just hate to have to go buy anything new.

Amy

I have to put in my 2 cents here. Cloths size really suck! Then there is the issue of misses vs plus sizes. It is awful when you are somewhere in the middle. The tops I have to go to the plus side(they at least are roomy enough up top) and the bottoms I get to the misses. This is where I fall inbetween. Like everyone else I can wear 2 sizes and still they don't fit right. If I could get the jeans to fit my hip and legs they would be so much smaller. Go figure. I have found one brand that does ok so I tend to stick to that one. Maybe we all should get together and start our own clothing line, sized the way we think that it should be.

ok, this is sort of my area of expertise...sorta...
I was a buyer , for about 5 years, though not in the clothing area. Anyway, many of the places I went also sold clothes so I got the whole 411 on this little scam

first, there is no international size guide. Nothing that says your size is the same from company to company. and everything is measured differently depending on what it is. Jeans will fit much differently from company to company and design to design (nothing new there) The fashion industry does not want an international size chart and here is why...

some companies will make the sizes a scooch bigger than the 'average' that way they build loyality to that brand. How many of us will say, 'well, I can wear a size 10 in Donna Karen but I am acutallu a 12/14...and how we love seeing those smaller sizes hanging in our closets!

well designed clothes, and vintage clothes are larger. Clothes from any place ending with the word MART tends to run small, thus saving the total amount of fabric over an entire purchase order. You would be amazed how much 1/8 of an inch can add up!

the real high end clothes companies do not want to design anything over a size 12 as they do not want their lable on our fat behinds! I can think of a few, and others are developing different brands to cater to US...I can't buy a Liz Clayborn, but I can a Liz2...(well, she can cram it!) Needless to say, their clothes run by the design. If the designer builds a dress that would only suit a size 6, then you wont find it in a 12.

Jeans are a case by case item. I can wear some jeans, especially by Wrangler, but have never had a pair of Levi's in my life. The legs are just too damn tight. But every style of Levi's are designed different from others, that is why my hubby (who use to weld as a plumber and would only wear levi's because they were 100% cotton) had is levi 504's and they always fit, but a pair of 501's never would.

There were attempts to change the sizing program, and I bet you all can remember the confusion. Anyway, that is my sermon of the month. It is one of my hot buttons and I refuse to think of myself as a size, because it means nothing!

Oh yeah - the horrible clothing sizes. I am just about a different size in everything depending on the brand - some 14s I can hardly squeeze into, while lots of 12s are too loose, and 10s, well it depends on the brand - 11s are usually just right. I don't like jeans that are thick or tough-textured, so I like the Gap and Old Navy stretch jeans.

Also if the pants are comfortable in the waist they are often too big in the seat, or vice versa, and as for tops...who knows! I was just shopping secondhand today searching for a good top or two - not too big and not too tight, sort of body skimming and everything was either too big or too tiny. I love to hunt so I guess I don't really mind but it sure takes a lot of time!

Lidian

Ginya... this stuff you are telling us just me off! No wonder buying clothes is so traumatic. That just sucks.

You know that I have also noticed that bras are also sized differently. The cup size esp. I think that it is men doing that to us! Ginya, you are lucky to fet into a pair of wranglers. They do not fit anywhere on me but the waist. Lidian, tops I think is the one thing that I am careful about buying. Too many stretch style now that are totally unflattering. Those Mart jeans may be smaller but I have finally found one that actually fits all of me. The smaller cut is great when you have no butt. Keep on keepin on.

sandy

Sometimes I find jeans that fit really well and a few months later I'll go back to buy the same brand and cut and they've changed. Of course it couldn't possibly be me!

Reminds me of a friend that always says, "I really wear a size 10, but a 12 feels so comfortable that I buy a size 14!"

Not only can you not find consistant sizes, but try finding something that looks good! Last time I went shopping for something to wear to a nice occasion I ended up in the middle of the mall crying! It was a sad faire...
I don't know how a person can go from a C cup to a DD cup by looking at a different rack... and I don't know why I can't find anything that doesn't have animal print, dragonflies and cats, or a shirt that is so big a family of 5 can live inside it! Seriously, shirts do not need to go down to your knees.
And while we're *****ing about bras... just because your breasts are large does NOT mean that you have big broad shoulders. I am not a foot ball player. I can never keep my bra straps on my shoulders! Grrrr..

oh, man don't get me started on that again! I work in a wierd business and have to go from totaly grunged out when visiting Asian factories, to 100% professional for meeting with the big dawgs...just try to find a business suit in anything above a 16...impossible! aparently, if you are a 'woman of substance' you are not suppose to want anything professional. Now, if you want something with gardening prints, glitter, or big-*** floral prints your life is cake! and what is with the animal prints anyway???

I can spend hours looking at different bras. Every stinkin' one does something different. I really don't have an adgenda for my tits, I just want them hoisted up and out of the way. Lift, seperate, minimize, cleavage, plunge, front closure, back closure,
underwire, ahhhh! too many decisions! I have learned someting in this life...you get what you pay for...don't buy $2 bras at big lots!

Ok.....I want to get in on this one cause i hate shopping for clothes. Expecially UNDERWEAR!!!! Do they think we ALL want up-to-the-boobs granny pants? And whats with making the 'high-cut' thing with that little band of cloth that just loves to hug that hip-roll thing, accentuating it and making it all prominant and stuff? oh oh and bras....so just cause we are voluptous gals does not mean we don't want something other than thin cheap material, or loads of lace. And what do they think when they are making cup sizes? Sorry manufacturer, but my boobs don't start at my forehead and end at my navel....*sigh*

Aint that it. For us it is either God awful material of we are suppose to have wall to wall boobs. I just wonder why more than one manturfactor can't realize that? Yeah those prints I think that someone ought to outlaw them for good. Rubens you said it when you said granny. That one word sums it all up. Ginya you are so right you do get what you pay for. I just wonder how the stores can justify charging lots more for our undies as well? Extra for a peice of matrerial that does nothing to lift, seprate, or flatter.

Lift, Separate and Flatter!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... I can't quit laughing...I haven't purchased any thing at any price that has been able to accomplish that. Squeeze, pinch and poke maybe

And they SAY the prices are more because of the extra material, but in THAT case why aren't petites CHEAPER? (Been a long time, but I used to wear petites!!)