We are confused species. Humans in general and women in particular. Especially when it comes to sizes.We want our laptop screens smaller and phone screens bigger knowing the purpose each serve, our torso bigger and derrerie smaller, our rings larger and chains finer..the list is endless. An online shopping order gone wrong has made me rethink how confused exactly I am about sizes.
I am not exactly an avid online shopper and my latest online order hasn’t done much to bolster my trust in online shopping (no points for guessing which site I ordered from!) The item is question was a ‘free’ size Kaftan dress with attractive prints and a chic belt to team it up with but what was delivered to me was a XXL size dress sans the belt and much more sheerer than it actually appeared online. I can accept no-belt thing assuming I missed to read the fine print but a XXL size in which two of my size can easily fit and still leave space for more is certainly NOT done! Free Size does mean ‘One Size Fits All’ but pushing a XXL size as free size hoping that it will fit all isn’t right! Or is it?
I was grappling for a term to describe this experience and Vanity Sizing came close but ‘Inverse Vanity Sizing’ is what it would be best described as. Vanity Sizing or size inflation means the garment is actually bigger and more accommodating than the label suggests. That means clothes sizes are labeled a size or two smaller than actual by shops and designers to flatter the customers. In a nutshell, vanity sizing, as its name suggests, is designed to satisfy buyers' wishes to appear thin and feel better about themselves.
That made me think Vanity Sizing isn’t a bad thing after all. Well who doesn’t want to feel slim and fit and if a label can massage your ego, no one’s complaining. A wardrobe full of XS, S and M sizes is such a joy but the moment the letter start reading L, XL, 2L and what not, you strike the panic button.
Knowingly or unknowingly, all of us at some point of time must have had picked a wrong size and still feel good about it. I have done it many times…like the waist 24” hot pants I bought ages ago – forget about the pants fitting me , the button and the hole are more than 4” apart today ! Similarly, like the time I went shopping with my ‘apparently large’ friend where we both picked a size M – she unsure if she’ll wear it but afraid to admit she is large and me amused at her suicide attempt by asphyxiation! :D
So I’ll let this particular oversized buy pass as a compensation for the undersized ones and I think I should probably gift it to a pregnant friend!!!
P.S. What has been your vanity sizing experience?
