Today's post is brought to you by the number 14
Why are clothes sizes so maddening? There are times when it really bugs me, and times when it puts a smile on my face. A bit of both today.
First, the Gap jeans development. When I lived in the US briefly, it was just about the last time I managed to wear anything from Gap, and I suspect that my clothes stretching with me was the only thing that kept me in them while I was there. But I've never been able to get back in them. I can get back in the old ones I last wore about 7 years ago, but they're stretched to buggery, and the buttons are falling off from the strain. US size 14, UK size 18 (although I swear that they're not quite that big, they seem to be significantly smaller than size 18s elsewhere). New, unstretched pairs have been a different matter though. Anyway, I've been edging closer to getting into them in the shop, and today I stumbled across the Gap sale. £9.99 for £40 jeans? I was going to get my ass into them if it killed me (and even if I didn't, I may have bought them anyway). To cut a long story short, they fastened, and looked great. If you ignored the overspill at the top (and at the moment it would still take a fair bit of ignoring!). However, based on jeans I've worked my way through recently, I'm confident the overspill will disappear soon enough, and in memory of the old pair I'm not going to stretch them first and ruin the buttons etc. Those babies are waiting until they fit properly, as a little mini challenge.
Anyway, back in the world of UK size 18s and slightly more generous sizing. Despite my brief foray into the world of size 16 (wearing the size 16 jeans at the moment, as it happens, but I'm more and more convinced that they are an aberration and were cut very very very big), I'm firmly an 18 at the moment. I look on the sizing guides, and I'm right there. I wanted to go to the Next clearance shop, where there are no changing rooms, so just to check I popped into normal Next to try on a couple of 18s to make sure I was looking at the right sizes. 2 pairs of trousers, no problems. I didn't need to go down a size (one day...), but they fit fine. And then a skirt. I thought it felt a little tighter than I was expecting, and it sat higher on my waist than I was expecting (it wouldn't sit lower on my hips due to the increased girth lower down). But overall it looked really nice, and suited my shape. I was almost even tempted to buy it. But I decided not to and put it back on the hanger. It was only at his point that I noticed that the size on the label wasn't the same as the size on the hanger. Yes, I'd tried on (and fastened!) a size 14.
I've never worn a (UK) size 14 for as long as I can remember. Maybe at the point when I moved up from childrens sizes to adult sizes, but I'm not convinced, and have a feeling I might have gone straight into 16s. I'm not kidding myself that it was anything other than a forgiving cut, fastened round the wrong part of the body, but still. A size 14! How on earth did that happen? I know I have a lot more weight to lose before I can do that on a regular basis, but I'm still going to re-live the joy of spotting that label in my head whenever I get discouraged.
First, the Gap jeans development. When I lived in the US briefly, it was just about the last time I managed to wear anything from Gap, and I suspect that my clothes stretching with me was the only thing that kept me in them while I was there. But I've never been able to get back in them. I can get back in the old ones I last wore about 7 years ago, but they're stretched to buggery, and the buttons are falling off from the strain. US size 14, UK size 18 (although I swear that they're not quite that big, they seem to be significantly smaller than size 18s elsewhere). New, unstretched pairs have been a different matter though. Anyway, I've been edging closer to getting into them in the shop, and today I stumbled across the Gap sale. £9.99 for £40 jeans? I was going to get my ass into them if it killed me (and even if I didn't, I may have bought them anyway). To cut a long story short, they fastened, and looked great. If you ignored the overspill at the top (and at the moment it would still take a fair bit of ignoring!). However, based on jeans I've worked my way through recently, I'm confident the overspill will disappear soon enough, and in memory of the old pair I'm not going to stretch them first and ruin the buttons etc. Those babies are waiting until they fit properly, as a little mini challenge.
Anyway, back in the world of UK size 18s and slightly more generous sizing. Despite my brief foray into the world of size 16 (wearing the size 16 jeans at the moment, as it happens, but I'm more and more convinced that they are an aberration and were cut very very very big), I'm firmly an 18 at the moment. I look on the sizing guides, and I'm right there. I wanted to go to the Next clearance shop, where there are no changing rooms, so just to check I popped into normal Next to try on a couple of 18s to make sure I was looking at the right sizes. 2 pairs of trousers, no problems. I didn't need to go down a size (one day...), but they fit fine. And then a skirt. I thought it felt a little tighter than I was expecting, and it sat higher on my waist than I was expecting (it wouldn't sit lower on my hips due to the increased girth lower down). But overall it looked really nice, and suited my shape. I was almost even tempted to buy it. But I decided not to and put it back on the hanger. It was only at his point that I noticed that the size on the label wasn't the same as the size on the hanger. Yes, I'd tried on (and fastened!) a size 14.
I've never worn a (UK) size 14 for as long as I can remember. Maybe at the point when I moved up from childrens sizes to adult sizes, but I'm not convinced, and have a feeling I might have gone straight into 16s. I'm not kidding myself that it was anything other than a forgiving cut, fastened round the wrong part of the body, but still. A size 14! How on earth did that happen? I know I have a lot more weight to lose before I can do that on a regular basis, but I'm still going to re-live the joy of spotting that label in my head whenever I get discouraged.
posted by YP at 8:50 PM
1 Comments:
I think I was size 14 when I was about 12. I remember going into a shop and wanting these jeans but the snooty shop assistant said they only had them in 14 and I was too embarrassed to get them.
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