Does size matter?

Take it from a girl who went from
XXX to respectable.....
yes it does.












It's finally happened.....I can honestly say....back in my day
Yes, I feel 50 now!

No, I'm not going to talk about walking barefoot in the snow 20 miles to school. What I'm referring to is--the sizes of women's clothing. I think they are getting bigger. I'm no Sherlock Holmes here but, honey, I ain't no almost Size 10 either. At least not from what I can remember....back in my day.

Here's my story--
I did a little shopping this past weekend (shocking, I know) to get ready for our trip to Niagara later this week. I wanted a pair of jeans, a pair of casual capris and a dressier pair of pants. So, I started out with the Size 12's. Although they fit me well enough, something just wasn't right. A little baggy here. A little too long there. So, I headed for the Size 10's--sporting a huge, ear-to-ear, happy, happy grin, I must add. As I triumphantly sifted through the Size 10's, it occurred to me--the last time I had a pair of Size 10's on my body, I was at least 30 pounds lighter than I am now. I mean--how could that be? How could I be at the weight I am now and wear the same size I wore 30 pounds lighter? It just didn't make sense. Even so, I quickly scampered into the dressing room, all clandestine-like. As if someone might catch me with an arm full of Size 10's or worse yet that I'd somehow grow out of them on the way to the dressing room.
Fat girl behavior takes awhile to shake....
Alright, so... I could definitely get those Size 10's on--which was a good sign-- the zipper was a bit of a struggle--as in I could not coax in up no matter how much I wiggled. So, okay, I'm not a Size 10 after all. But, I am--almost a Size 10. Or, at least the 2009 version. I am almost a Size 10 (my most coveted size of my entire life!) and I weigh almost 30 pounds more than that millasecond in 1999 when I was an oh-so-yes-I-am-a-Size 10? Who do they think they are fooling here? They knew damn well that if those Size 10's would have fit, I would have bought every damn pair of Size 10's on that rack. Every damn pair.
So, what's the deal?
According to Wikopedia--the all knowing internet site:
As a result of various cultural pressures, most notably vanity sizing, North American clothing sizes have drifted substantially away from standard over time, and now have very little connection to it. Instead, they now follow the more loosely defined standards known as US catalog sizes. These are on average 6 sizes smaller than the original standard. So, for example, a size 12 on the old standard would today be described as a size 6, while a size 6 on the old scale would be what is today known as size zero.
In architecture, one of the most common ways of making overweight people feel smaller is by expanding the world around them. Architectural designers call it “framing.” A person who is big does not want to look big. So if their house is bigger, they will look of a more average proportion. Over the past 20 years, the American fashion industry has manipulated clothing sizes to accommodate its widening public, especially women. To show how sizing has changed over time, size-eight dresses from the 1980s, 1990s, and today were compared. The waist circumference on a 1984 dress was 25 inches (63.5 cm). On the 1995 dress, it was 26 inches (66 cm). And on a 2004 dress, it was 27-1/2 (70 cm), a two-and-a-half inch (6.5 cm) difference from 1984 to 2004.

Ah-ha, I was right!! So, I'm not really an almost Size 10....I'm an almost Size 16? Yeah, well, I was already a Size 16. I'm way past that....

Hmmmm. Alright. So, given all of that information--I guess I wasn't merely a Triple X girl. I was more like a SEX-X (6 X's) girl. Funny, I didn't feel all that sexed....

Alright...enough of that.....let me wrap up my story--the important piece of information....
I easily fit into a size 12 Petite. Did you hear what I just said? PETITE.
It might be vanity sizing or framing but at least it's respectable....no more X's for me....