Its Your Body Shape That Counts – Not Your Size

In this article we look at the common notion that size is  everything. Of course, as fuller figured women, we know  that whilst the tabloids and movies seem to be constantly  convinced that women come in one size, that size being  “THIN”, we know what more than half of American women are  a size 14 or above. And a size 14 is the first in the size  for the plus size range.  So, are we saying in a  roundabout way that more than half the women in America  are a plus size?  Well, yes, I guess we are.

But more than our size, it is our bodyshape that dictates  the styles of clothing that will fit us the best and  therefore flattering our figure so as to show off our good  points.

Whether you are a woman from America, Canada, Australia,  the United Kingdom or anywhere else, you will have  observed the strange phenomenon whereby a size 18 skirt,  lets assume this is in the US, bought from one  manufacturer is fits you completely different to a size 18  skirt bought from another shop – even though both are more  or less the same style of skirt.

Why is this?

Because our clothes sizes at the moment are basedon  measurements taken from the sometime around the 1950s.

And, given our current lifestyle these days compared to 50  years ago where there was no junk food and people were  more active and therefore much more fitter and slimmer  than they are today, the sizes from that era don’t really  apply to the women of today.  We are much bigger than our  counterparts were in the 1950s.  Remember Elizabeth Taylor  or Ava Gardner and their hourglass figures?  Marilyn  Monroe was considered big and she was only a size 14!

Since we have had no proper sizings commissioned by the  government or other body, many designers and manufacturers  have made concessions to the basic sizings and you’ll  notice that a size 14 of today is a lot bigger than a size  14 was back in 1950.

In fact surveys carried out by the mail order company J.D  Williams and another similar survey carried out in Germany  with regards to sizing confirmed that only a small  proportion (about 10%) of the population were comfortable  in the standard sizes. In other words, the basic sizes  that we are used to, can only comfortably accomodate a  smaller portion of the population. The rest of us will  find that something doesn’t quite fit “right”, even though  we have bought an item of clothing in what we believe is  the right size for us.

These surveys also found that today’s women have, compared  to existing standard sizes:

• a flatter bottom

• fuller upper arms

• larger upper hips

• larger, lower breasts

• a thicker waist

• a more rounded tummy

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