Does (clothing) size really matter?
Picture this; its festive season, and undecided on the several winter outfits and seasonal purchases that will be needed for this time of year, you frantically look through several clothing apparel websites, Instagram clothing hashtags and Pinterest boards to find the perfect outfits; hours of your valuable time is spent pouring over numerous open computer tabs and pages upon pages of glorious costume and clothing ideas until finally, you come across the missing piece to complete your look- and it’s on sale! Without hesitating you select what you assume is your size and press checkout on your order. It’s only 4 days later when your package comes and you’re a crying heap on the floor of your room, clothes splayed around you, mocking your size, that you realise just how much you hate the hellish nightmare that is online shopping and misleading, almost insulting clothes sizes being forced upon you for societal approval. There’s almost no sense in deciding to order clothes in what you assume is your size when shopping online because the chances are that it will not fit when you try it on.
An article published by BBC News questioned over 1000 online shoppers about their clothing habits, and found that over 63% of women return clothes purchased on the internet! One of the main reasons for the large percentage of online purchase returns made by women is because of the uncertainty as to which clothing size they fit, due to fashion trends such as 'vanity sizing', rendering most sizing labels meaningless. Vanity sizing allows brands to shift their metrics, in order to make shoppers feel slimmer and skinnier when buying clothes. The clothes are labelled with sizes smaller than the actual cut of the items- and as there is no standardised labelling, this may explain why you are a size 6, 8 and 10 in three different shops, and why nothing ever fits! Brands constantly try to shove down the consumer's throat the ideology that a smaller clothing size equals a more appealing body type- when in reality the clothing sizes are unrealistic and ultimately lead to plummeting self-confidence when a size 6 doesn't fit you because you don't fit 'society's standards'. ‘No size fits all’ as I like to call it, because there is no way that 7 billion different body types, can squeeze into a metric system of falsely labelled clothing items.
Modern fashion clearly has a problem- online and in-store, and while it also affects men, it’s fair to say that women are more largely affected in terms of having to deal with body dysmorphia and major sizing issues- not just because of the constantly fluctuating clothing size options available, but also because women are so much more closely scrutinised for what they wear and how they should appear, and proof lies on your social media. Don't believe me? Open your snapchat and read the “for you” articles. I guarantee at least one of them will be commenting on the way a woman looks or on the clothing she is wearing.
The build-up of eyes watching us choose what clothing sizes we put in our online shopping basket or take into a changing room can make you feel left out, unapproved and like a burden. Moreover, when those clothes don’t even fit you when they’re supposed to be your “size” it can be extremely aggravating. So when you order your festive outfit, or even just the next time you buy a pair of jeans in-store, remember to buy what you feel comfortable in and screw what the hanger says, no size fits anyone and we’re not shapeshifters, made to squeeze or expand into a certain clothing fit.