Musings of a size 10

A friend, Em, has sent me the following for posting here. What she has to say on shoes I find especially interesting.

I don't worry much about sizes and have at times deliberately bought a size too big if I prefer the way it fits, so I don't think I am susceptible to vanity sizing. e.g. sometimes I prefer tops to fit loosely or skirts to sit on my hips rather than right up at my waist. My problem is mainly that clothes are the wrong shape for me - something that fits my waist might be too tight for my chest or bottom so I'll buy a bigger size and take it to Tam for her to alter it. also being tall I sometimes have to buy bigger sizes on the high street to get an extra cm or 2 in the length (sleeves, hem etc) and again, get them taken in.

Regarding the whole size zero thing, US sizing is as inconsistent as UK - I am usually a size 4 or 6 in America and somewhere around a 10 here. However, I have a pair of size 4 jeans from A&F that I got in NY last November and there is definitely some vanity sizing going on there as well - they fit snugly but I could probably have wedged myself into a 2 if I cared about sizing, and I could quite easily drop a dress size from where I am now through hardcore diet and exercise. I would then be a size 0, at least in that shop and that style of jeans, which is clearly nonsense - I'm slim but nowhere near Victoria Beckham/Nicole Ritchie territory. I think Natalie Cassidy has probably got hold of a similar freak pair of jeans!

It's interesting and slightly sad that the current obsession with sizes has eclipsed earlier ideals of a low waist to hip ratio - a social standard that was rooted in science, as low waist:hip ratio is a marker of fertility and also of low heart disease risk. Obviously this was also stressful for women who had to struggle with corsets etc but at least the fashion was in line with what is healthy and also with what men naturally find attractive.

Bras: Rigby & Peller told me I was a 30E last summer, but only had hideous mumsy-looking things in ivory lace in that size so I didn't buy any. I did feel a bit strangled in them too as they were very tight, but bras aren't meant to be soft and comfortable, as this doesn't give enough support; if you can get more than one finger inside the band when you've got it on, it isn't tight enough. They also give a little as you wear them, like jeans. I don't think they should bite into your skin though! I find that like clothes, bra sizes vary wildly from one brand to the next.

Are you looking at shoe sizing? I know many women who take pride in having relatively small feet and mention it wherever possible - seems especially to be women who aren't otherwise of small/dainty build or feel self-conscious about their weight. Interesting correlations to Chinese foot-binding etc. Generally shoe sizing is much more consistent than clothes sizing, probably because there are fewer manufacturers and it's not such a charged issue, although I have noticed that really expensive shoes e.g. Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo tend to come up slightly smaller and definitely narrower than high-street shoe brands. I tried on some Jimmy Choo knee-high boots last year and couldn't zip them over my calves! which is obviously ridiculous as my calves are if anything slimmer than average - I usually have the opposite problem with boots. still, it saved me £500.