Finding your size for well fitting clothes can be a challenge, especially in menopause, when you are in menopause. Read why you should ignore size tags and learn to buy by measure for best fit.
- Size Is Just a Number
- How to Measure for Potential Fit
- A Size Tag Is No Reason to Be Unhappy About
- How to Buy Clothes That Fit
- Fitting Rooms Are A Nightmare for Finding Your Size for Best Fit
- German Fitting Rooms
- Finding Your Size or Best Style
- Fitting Rooms in the US
- Online Shopping and Fashion Boxes
- Finding Your Size in a Nutshell
- Welcome to the 174th Top of the World Style linkup party
Updated: 1/2/2022
Disclosure: This post has affiliate links.
Size Is Just a Number
Do you buy by size? I don’t. In my closet, there are pieces labeled XS, S, M, 2, 4, 6, 34, 36, and 38. No, I did not yo-yo diet. It is because I have bought these clothes in various places.
I have learned early on as a child that size doesn’t matter, but fit does.
Back then my parents went for the winter and summer clothes shopping to Venlo, The Netherlands, as there was the closest mall to where we lived in Germany. Back then, our height in centimeters was always what we tried out first to find our Dutch size that was a good fit.
Shop by Measures, Not Size
In other words, read the measures in the size chart when online shopping. When in a store, have a measuring tape. Lay the garment flat, take the measure and double it to get the circumference. Add an inch for ease. I have a measuring tape in my purse. It saves time as you won’t try out clothes that have no chance to fit you.
When I was a graduate student in Clermont-Ferrand, France, I started buying clothes by measure rather than size. In the French malls, they had a lot of Italian clothes. It was just too much effort to find out where the item was produced to know whether 38 or 34 could be the right fit. I have kept determining whether a piece could be a fit with a measure ever since. It makes finding your size for best fit so much easier that trial-and-error. It also saves time.
How to Measure for Potential Fit
Hold the piece of interest flat and make the hip, waist, leg, shoulder, sleeve measures depending on what applies. Except for the shoulder and sleeve length measurements multiplication by two gives you the amount of inches that would correspond the measurements when worn. This measurement should be slightly greater than your body measurements, but not much. When the item is not supposed to sit tight – read body conscious like a sausage casing – add an inch (2.54 cm) for ease of wear. When the item is supposed to be oversize, add 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm).
A Size Tag Is No Reason to Be Unhappy About
When my Mom went shopping with us girls in the 70s, she always was complaining that the “cute, nice pieces” didn’t come in her size. There weren’t much plus size clothes in the town we lived to begin with. Here in Fairbanks, the opposite is true. You can call yourself lucky when you find a size 4. Most the time they start with size 6. And, do I have to say that they most likely only have one piece in that size, but much more in 8 to 18? I experienced and had to deal with body discrimination several times when asking for a size 2 or 4.
Body discrimination exists on both ends of the size chart, but that’s not the reason why you shouldn’t pay attention to the size tag. As you go thru menopause, your body is constantly changing. These changes are not necessarily visible on the scale. You may still have the same weight, but the weight “shifted” around.
Often the boobs become smaller and the butt or belly become bigger than in earlier years. Many women face that their waist seems to vanish. It makes no sense to get upset about changes in size. It’s natural that our bodies change during menopause. This means the size that always used to work with brand XYZ may no longer be the right one. We may gain a size here, and loose a size there.
How to Buy Clothes That Fit
For the above reasons, it’s important to realize the following:
- Size doesn’t matter, fit does.
- Size tags are meant as a broad orientation not an absolute.
Front view of Notations summer abstract floral print jacket dyed burgundy, Miu Miu heels, gemstone buckle belt, tear-drop T-shirt c/o Covered Perfectly, and mid-rise crop trousers c/o White House | Black Market - Sizing has changed over time, i.e. a size 12 in the 60s had different measures than a size 12 today. Thus, especially when buying in a vintage, consignment or thrift-store browse/order by measures.
- When buying used clothes the previous owner may have had the piece tailored for fit.
- Sizing varies by country. A Canada/US size 10, is an International M, a UK 12, an European 38, an Italian 44, Australian 14, Japanese 13, and Chinese XXL.
Dyed Notations blazer, Miu Miu pumps, purple gemstone embellishment statement belt (all own), tear-drop top c/o Covered Perfectly, and stretch cropped pants c/o White House | Black Market - Best fit requires shopping by measures, not size, especially when you shop online.
- Size is just a number.
- Tags are for SEO only.
- Your size doesn’t define you. Your clothes do.
Side view of purple-burgundy-black fall work outfit with dyed Notations blazer, Miu Miu pumps, statement belt (all own), tear-drop top c/o Covered Perfectly, and stretch cropped pants c/o White House | Black Market - The size tag is inside. Nobody can read it.
- What’s wrong about size anyhow?
Fitting Rooms Are A Nightmare for Finding Your Size for Best Fit
Worldwide, clothes shopping needs fitting rooms. A simple principle of a room to try on a potential item. Straight forward, one could think. (Wo)man, it’s not that easy! Here are two examples of how vendors tackle the task and create (wo)men’s fitting room nightmares.
German Fitting Rooms
In Germany, for instance, fitting rooms are often as small as a restroom at Mc Donald’s. You can barely turn around, testing a skirt sitting, moving, etc. is close to impossible, or at least difficult. Usually, these stalls have a stool, at least that fits somehow. 😉
A slimming mirror makes everyone look great and tanned. It serves a salesman. The one hook on the wall can either hold your own or their clothes! You choose. A long curtain serves to give privacy, but its width is too small to actually close the view to all angles.
Tip: Ask a sales person to take photos on your phone. Evaluate all angles before buying a piece of clothes.
In large apparel houses covering a low to medium price range, the fitting rooms may be in a separate area of the store, blocked by a mid-age (!) sales person who will hand you a card in different colors. They indicate the number of items you take into the fitting room. Often the maximum is three. You become an unpaid employee of the store; you have to hang the items back on the rack that don’t make your cut. Sounds like punishment for not buying them – at least, when you hear this as an American customer.
Finding Your Size or Best Style
The nightmare besides the lying mirror and tight space: You have to decide whether you try the item in three sizes for finding your size or three different items in the size you think that may fit. You will have to fully dress again to get another size or item depending on the initial choice, and undress again. Well, a nice exercise to burn off calories.
Tip: Always try out typical movements you will make in your daily routine before buying the clothes to make sure the clothes fit and perform well.
Fitting Rooms in the US
Space is no issue and fitting rooms have a large bench, many hooks, and (lying) mirror inside. The fitting rooms have a door that you can lock from the inside and you can bring as many items inside as you can carry. Paradise – German fashionistas and fashionisters may think! Forget it!
The nightmare? The many hooks are overloaded with the rejects of the person who used the room before. Customers are not supposed to hang unwanted items back on the racks. In big stores, the fitting rooms are often locked like a safe. You will have to hunt down a salesperson who has a key. The door will snap locked when you leave the room like to ensure that you cannot get a second opinion from a trusted person on the fit, flattering, etc.
Tip: Hang a hanger over the handle so the fitting room door won’t snap and lock you out when asking someone for a second opinion.
Online Shopping and Fashion Boxes
Online shopping allows trying out clothes at home. However, you must check that they offer free shipping and free return within a certain amount of time. Otherwise you may end up with clothes that won’t fit, and/or have to pay huge shipping costs without having a new well fitting piece of clothes.
Recently, various retailers offer styling fashion boxes. They also permit at-home try-ons. Read more about the service of Fashom styling box program that I tested as an example.
Tip: When shopping online, read the size chart for right fit, shipping and return policies. Look for free shipping and free return.
Finding Your Size in a Nutshell
Don’t let the size tag bother you. The only important thing when it comes to dressing is that you look your best in your clothes.
Photos of me: G. Kramm
© 2013-2024 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserved
