Clothing sizes: not just hellish for me

I've written about my frustration with clothing sizes before, and also about the psychological impact those numbers can have on me. I know women's sizes are messed up and an article from Best Health magazine reinforces this knowledge.

It's really interesting, actually but the most important piece of information is that

"Women’s sizes aren’t standardized in North America. “Voluntary standards were created in the 40s and 50s, but manufacturers don’t follow them,” says Lucia Dell’Agnese, associate chair of the School of Fashion at Ryerson University in Toronto. “So depending on the company, the ‘ideal’ 34-28-34 woman could be a size 4, 6, or 12.”"

 It also horrifies me that, for some, the 'ideal' waist is 28" and that is synonymous with a size 12. No wonder women all over have such trouble shopping for clothes!

I also know that this is nothing new, that clothing sizes have been wonky for a long time and, as the article mentions, that some manufacturers size their clothing based on their target market. And I also understand why clothing sizes can't be standardized because women's shapes differ as well.

But men have it easy with sizing in actual inches rather than arbitrary even numbers. I understand that women can be vain when it comes to sizes (like me cutting size tags out of my clothes so the Beau doesn't see them when he does laundry) but why can't the switch be made for women's clothing? Why are we forced to labour over the desire to be a size 2 or size 4 or whatever number is deemed 'perfect' at any given time?

Since I know that will never happen, I guess it's up to me to overcome my fixation with the number on the tag and go with what fits, regardless of size.

One day I'll overcome that. One day...

The Great Pants Shopping Debacle of 2013

After the holidays, none of my jeans fit. (At least none of the jeans I wanted to wear; my skinny jeans still fit which was just cruel because at that point I felt everything BUT skinny.) Because denim is a staple of my office wardrobe this was a bit of a problem so I had to suck it up and venture into the deepest pits of pain and insanity and go...pants shopping.

I've mentioned before that I love shopping and I do, just not always for myself. One of my favourite shopping pastimes is to pick out clothes for the Beau and when we shop together, he always has huge success. But shopping for myself is just not that fun.

A woman needs pants, though, so the Beau and I ventured into Sherway Gardens to find me some jeans. I wanted to get good quality denim though I balk at spending $200 or more on jeans; I just can't do it. The other main factor in my pants shopping is my size and knowing what stores will fit me. I don't even bother with True Religion or Jean Machine or Aritizia because they don't carry sizes that fit my bottom half and I just don't need that kind of embarrassment. It's already hard enough going into some stores and having to go for the largest size on the rack, not knowing if it will actually fit.

So I had my stores in mind: Gap, Banana Republic and Jacob. Sherway Gardens is a fairly large mall with dozens of women's stores and I had three to go to. THREE. Roots and Eddie Bauer also made the short list if I struck out at any of these ones. We started with Banana Republic, where the Beau had to drag me away from the wrap dresses to the denim wall. I've never actually tried on pants at Banana Republic and thought I'd give it a shot - until I chickened out. I made an excuse that the pants were too expensive and we left.

Jacob was second on the list and having a huge sale so I stocked up on things to try (if I'm going into a change room, I'd better have at least four things to try on). I managed to squeeze myself into three pairs of jeans (one pair was eliminated instantly) but - miraculously - two pairs fit! I tried very hard to focus on the fact that they fit rather than the fact they were the largest size available in the store and was mostly successful. While one pair was far too long (and hemming would have eliminated the boot-cut leg) I did buy a pair of straight-leg jeans.

We then went to Gap where, after trying on eight pairs, I managed to find two (TWO!) that fit. The saleswoman at Gap was most wonderful too; I think she could tell that, for me, trying on pants was akin to death by a thousand cuts so she brought me various sizes and styles and always complimented me when I came out of the change room. The Beau was also wonderful the entire time, reminding me that it wasn't my body that was weird, it was how the clothing industry decided to size things.

So I was able to leave the mall with three new pairs of jeans. Why a debacle, you say? Because the whole experience completely destroyed my self-confidence, nevermind that I was still bloated and soft from an overly indulgent holiday. Sure, I probably went pants shopping at the worst time (body-wise) but when nothing fit, it was a necessary evil. And the frustration and self-defeat I felt was almost overwhelming. Had I been alone, there's a very good chance I would have left several stores either near tears or in tears.

Clothing sizes are so ridiculous but they still exist as another number to be applied to our bodies and it's something I continue to struggle with (and have written about here many times). Men have it easy when it comes to pants: waist size + inseam, all in inches. Women? We get that stupid 2/4/6/etc sizing and depending on the store, the number can equal different waist sizes. In one place, a size 12 equals a 32" waist while another store has size 14 at a 32" waist and yet another puts the size 14/16 at a 32" waist. And then other stores have denim sized in inches and other pants sized in single or double digits. AND they don't have pants sizes that go as high as denim sizes so when I think I've found a store where I can buy pants I learn I can only buy denim there because the pants sizes don't go big enough for me. (Seriously, who decided THAT was a good idea? Wouldn't you want a person to come back to your store for everything, not just jeans?)

After shopping, I posted on Facebook about how I'll never understand how women's pants sizes work and many of my friends expressed their own frustration - and these women were of all shapes and sizes! So that got me thinking: who on Earth are these clothing sizes made for? I mean, there must be SOME woman out there who fits into these sizes, no matter what? Because women come in all shapes and sizes and, yes, I know there's no such thing as "one size fits all", but if so many of us have problems finding pants that fit, why haven't pants sizes changed?

(Though I suppose my Facebook feed is not quite enough evidence to support my sweeping generalizations, but still.)

Today I'm wearing my jeans from Jacob and I feel good in them. They're not cutting into my stomach nor are they too tight anywhere. But this morning, after drying off from my shower, I caught sight of my belly and it wasn't pretty. So I'm conflicted: I'm sitting here in pants that fit me well and are comfortable to wear yet I know that my stomach is bigger than I'd like and that my jeans are a size bigger than I'd like. Even my successes can easily become failures.

Stupid pants.

Money guilt

I've been making great progress on paying off my student loans, but I still get money guilt and it's been growing lately.

Maybe it's because Christmas is coming, maybe it's because the end of the year is coming, maybe it's because I'm lusting after brown knee-high boots, but every time I think about buying something I feel like I should be putting that money towards my loans.  I'm also really close to getting another paid off, with only about $3,800 left on it and I want it gone so badly. 

September is a three-pay month for me, which is always lovely and which will mean more money on my loans.  But I'm also putting a chunk into my savings account (it's a high-interest account but since my interest rate is only 2%, it just feels wrong calling that "high interest") to help offset the expense of the holiday season.  Not only will this cover gifts, but also the baking and traveling and other expenses that pop up.  I've also already started my Christmas shopping and have ideas of what else I need to get.  Some people would say this is early.  (Okay, most people would say this is early.)  But for me and my money, I find it helps to spread the costs across a few months rather than try to afford everything in December.  Plus, it means I'm not rushing at the end so I'm not over-spending. 

See, I've got things in control...only I'm feeling really guilty.  The Beau and I were at Dixie Outlet Mall on the weekend to hit up the Michael's (this girl needed yarn!) and we decided to walk through the mall as well.  Of course I found a bunch of things I want, including lots of nice soft sweaters at the Jacob outlet.  ($17.50!  I'll take one in each colour please!)  However, I did not buy a thing.  I felt guilty.  I don't need any more soft sweaters; my closet is full.  Some of my sweaters need to be defuzzed, sure, but then they'll be good as new for another season. 

But I'm a girl who loves a deal and it's just so tempting. 

Without spending a dime I still felt guilty.  I guess it's because I have this money sitting in my account "just in case" that I'm not putting on my loans but that is there, encouraging me to spend.  I know I should put it all either in my "high interest" account or just move it to my debt now, but what if I need to [fill in the blank]? 

So I've got a plan.  But I'm not going to share it just yet; I need to do something else first and that won't happen until day-off Wednesday, so I'll fill you in then.  In my head it's a great idea.  It's just making it work in practice that will be the challenge.