This dilemma has confused me for quite some time. Who came up with the single number dress size system, and what were they thinking?

As a guy, I'm used to having things laid out on the line for me. If I want pants, I look for the ones that say 32-32, indicating 32 waist, 32 inseam. Your average woman, however, would go out to buy pants and look for a size 6. What's going on here?? Don't women need numbers too? There have got to be more measurements going on here, like for the hips, but they're ALL covered by one number?

This strikes me as insane. The one-number system would have to indicate that all women are proportioned the same way, which (correct me if I'm wrong here) is not the case. But the system must work, because I don't know of anybody trying to do anything about it.

So what is it? How has it come about? What do you women do when your size 6 doesn't fit right? Just throw your arms in the air and cry? Why do you put up with this crap?


Obviously the women's clothing industry has adopted a philosophy of "Well, fuck" and abandoned you all. May God have mercy on your souls.

Women's dress sizes DON'T work, I guess would be a response to this. But the logical reason for the single number sizes is that if women's clothes were sold by measurement, you would have to sell for both waist and hip measurement. The standard sizes for women now are based on having hips ten inches larger around than ones waist, which is why many women have a hard time with pants having either the waist too large or small while the hips fit or vice versa. A better solution would be to sell clothes with differing waist-hip measurements, such as 28-36, 28-38, and 28-40 being options for someone with a 28 inch waist, where 28-38 is the only option currently available. However, this increases the number of items that a store must keep in stock three times, and instead of carrying three size tens, the store would probably carry one of each, thus increasing the already documented problem of never being able to find the size that you need. Add the much needed inseam measurement to the mix, and the problem is tripled once again.

Then there's the psychological factor...I don't figure that many women want to buy clothes by their measurements unless they fit the 36-24-36 mold. It's a lot more pleasant to buy a small number such as 6 or 8. This might be a silly reason for women's sizing, but a valid one.

Therefore the single size system, while it doesn't work perfectly for nearly anyone, is probably a necessary evil. The only ways around it are to have your clothes tailored for you, or of course, to make your own clothing.


I think that "well, fuck" pretty much sums up the attitude of the fashion industry. Thousands of girls are dying of anorexia in part to conform to the unrealistic standards that the industry promotes..."well, fuck!" and the models are even thinner.

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