Petites, get sewing (or knitting)

I recently came across this blog on the myth of vanity sizing, from someone who seems to know something about the apparel industry. Vanity sizing is the name commonly given to the practice of retailers of labeling the clothes with ever smaller sizes. The thesis is that women feel better about themselves if they can wear a size 4, as opposed to a size 14, even if in practice, that doesn't change their body.

At first, I was ticked off by the title of the blog. After all, for me and many mini-women, the struggle to find clothes that fit is very real. Reading further, however, I was relieved to learn that there is no national conspiracy against small women. At the same time, I rediscovered possibly my favorite blog of all (Extra Petite). The blogger is a beautiful petite Asian woman who transforms tents into high fashion outfits (or used to - she now earns enough to afford to buy petite clothing or pay seamstresses). But the older posts are truly inspirational for mini-women everywhere.

Putting these two blogs together, the moral is: “Small/petite women. Stop whining and get sewing (or knitting).”

The Myth of Vanity Sizing

The gist of the first blog is something I think we’ve all realized. The population has grown in size and if you haven’t, you have been left behind. Explained with a figure, it goes something like this.

The blue curve is a qualitative size distribution of women in the 1940's. The red curve is the same thing, for today's women. The forms on top of the dashed lines, are taken from a 1942 book called "Modern Pattern Design" and are, from left to right: "Mrs. Slim, Mrs. Average, Mrs. Plump, and Mrs. Heavy". Right from the same 1942 book. Back then, they did not mince their words. They also had a very different notion of "average" and "heavy", no doubt based upon the way the population looked at the time. Also notice the association of weight with age. Mrs. Heavy seems to be at least in her 60's. Today, many 20 year olds have her waistline.

If you're a physicist, that's pretty much all you need. If you are not, here is why size labels are changing and why it is not to flatter women or punish small people.

In an adult population, there are people of all sizes. But some sizes are more common than others. The more common size is what we call "average" and consider normal. The distribution of sizes in the US has changed a lot in the past 50-60 years. Two things happened: 1) on the average, people got bigger. 2) The spread increased (that is there is a larger range of sizes with people that are as small as people used to be and some people who are very big).

Now the fashion industry sizes things by normalizing around size 10. Size 10 designates the population’s average size. And how large that is changes with time. One of my favorite summer dresses is a timeless, classic dress I got from my Mom, vintage late 60’s. It’s a Northern Europe size 38, equivalent to a US size 8. The dress fits perfectly (in a size 8 of today, one can fit 2 of me). What that means is that my Mom was just below the average size back in the 60’s (a "Mrs. Slim"), and so would I have been, had I been born at the time. By today’s standards, however, my young Mom and myself are way below the average size. 

The question I always had, was “Fine, produce bigger clothes, but why change the sizing? It’s plain confusing!” But the reason for pegging a size 10 at the average size of the population is very pragmatic. Stores have designated shelf and rack space, hangers, etc… for each size, and they are in a bind if their size 10 goes from being the most popular one to one that only a few women fit into. They can evidently order only one or two size 10s and a bunch of size 16 instead, but what do they do with all these size 10 hangers and rack and shelf space labeled as “size 10”?

What am I? A size -2?

So what do you do if you have been “vanity sized out of the market”? Or less conspiration-theory-like, “left out in the left tail of the distribution?” Back in the 60’s I could have walked into any store to find a good choice of clothes that fit, right off the rack. Not so today. You can’t walk into any store and find size 0 skirts, let alone anything smaller. As a matter of fact, when I tried on a junior size 0 skirt a few years ago to find that it was too big, my irritated thought was “What am I? A size -2?” It wasn’t until I read the Extra Petite blog that I learned that there were sizes smaller than 0 and that they were not negative, but went instead 00, 000 etc…, like knitting needles (why didn’t I think of that?). I had no idea because I had never seen a size 00 before.

[update 11/5/2016] I got my hands on a 00P skirt in a consignment shop. This is a rare tag:

As a side note, in some countries, I can walk into a store and find clothes that fit right off the rack, or at least I could until fairly recently. Clothes shopping in Seoul, South Korea when I got married in 2001 was an amazing experience. There were clothes my size, everywhere. What a novel experience that was. As a girl in her late teens and a young adult living in Geneva, I had actually witnessed this without realizing it. Geneva in the 1990's was a popular destination for Japanese tourists and also Korean tourists (they looked the same to us so we called them all "Japanese"). I remember looking at the (tiny) women in awe, envying their stylish outfits. My dream was to go to Japan one day to find myself some of those. I realize today that what set them apart more than the style was the fact that their clothes fit. The first time I put on a grown-up outfit that fit correctly - in my mid 20s - it looked so good that I felt self-conscious about going outside with it. But I have not gone back since then.

Unfortunately I don't get to travel to Korea often and I don't think many US based mini-women do, so where does that leave us?

Most people tell us little things, “that’s not a big deal, you can always buy children clothes. They're small.” I remember reading an article some time ago (I can't find the link anymore) about Hollywood celebrities bragging about wearing outfits found in the kid's department. It was presented as something trendy and positive (the underlying message being that they are skinny enough to fit into teenage clothing and that's to be envied). I think the article was probably offensive to a lot of people. It was offensive to me for a different reason. Looking to wear kid's clothes for mini-women who earn a regular income is not a fun option to show off how small we are. It is a shameful necessity.

While I do often sneak a peak into the little girls’ department under the guise of looking for clothes for my pretend 10 year old daughter (I am old enough now that this seems like a plausible excuse), there isn’t much I can wear out of that department. It’s hard enough to be taken seriously on the job as a 5’1 mini-woman. I can’t exactly show up at a conference, a meeting, or in front of a class with a pink ruffle skirt and a glittery Hannah Montana shirt.

Get sewing (or knitting)

The solution is to buy adult women's clothes and do alterations. Given finite financial means and inspired by Extrapetite.com, I have become more determined to practice more and get better at doing alterations myself. Regardless of your size or needs, you should see what she can do with two T-shirts. Inspired, I recently took out a skirt I got some time ago (a gigantic size 6) with the intent to make it fit. It's finally done! Pictures and details here!