Category: Vanity Sizing

I remember the first time I realised I was a “weird” shape. Except I didn’t really realise it at all at first. It was around 2001, I was shopping for a pair of black trousers and couldn’t get a pair to fit in a single shop. Some wouldn’t go over my thighs at all, and…

Oh dear, Retro Chick is getting ranty about dress sizes again. I’ve written a lot on the topic of vanity sizing and our relationships with our body size, but this morning I read an article entitled “Would you rather be a ‘Marilyn’ than a size 14” on the Guardian website and I felt the urge…

Something of a minor storm in a Champagne coupe has been brewing over the last few weeks. Marks & Spencer have apparently ditched their “too glam” models for a selection of “real women” in sizes 8-16 to promote their new shapewear lingerie range. But apparently these “real women” aren’t “real” enough. So The Sun published…

This website has been doing the rounds for a while now. Someone on Twitter bought it to my attention back at the end of January I think, but I’m only just getting around to telling you about it now. I do apologise! The website it called “What Size Am I” and in theory allows you…

Yep, this again! Back at the beginning of September I urged you to write to your local MP about the issue of Clearer Clothes Sizing. In case you’re not familiar with my witterings on the subject I’ll explain. Currently the number inside your skirt means nothing, for a lot of people it’s a totally random…

I started the campaign for clearer clothes sizing back in May. It proved to be a little more controversial than I expected at the time. It’s worth noting that what I DON’T want is for all brands to cut their clothes to fit a standard body size. What I want is for them to be…

Here at Retro Chick I’ve talked about clothes sizing a LOT! If you don’t believe me check here, here and here, not to mention my press page. When I think back to shopping in my teenage years I had no idea of the measurements of my waist, hips and bust. All I knew was that…

What size clothes do you wear? Are you sure? Last week I went shopping. Not ground breaking news, but I wandered into TK Maxx and took 4 dresses in a size 12 into the changing rooms. Two were too big, one made me look like I was wearing a kids party dress because of the…