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Women's clothes what clothes size am I |
| sova |
How clothing is fit and sized!!
There are no true standardization of sizing in the fashion industry. What is a size eight to one designer or clothing manufacturer is not necessarily a size eight to another. With no standardization of sizing, each and every designer has license to create their interpretation of each size. And it isn't just the size number itself that affects how clothing will fit you; it is what the designer is basing their original fit on that plays an equally important role.
Here is a little inside information on how designers go about fitting and sizing their clothing: every designer uses what is called a "fit model" that is an actual model that designers use to create their standard of fit. The type of model they use is based on the type of clothing they are designing, their typical customer, and the fit they are trying to achieve. Generally speaking, more contemporary companies (or companies who are targeting a younger customer) usually use a thinner and leaner fit model for their standard, and companies who are targeting an older or more classic customer usually choose a fit model with a rounder, curvier figure. There are also plus-sized fit models, petite fit models and junior sized fit models in the industry. The fit model that a designer chooses sets the sample size standard for the fit of the company's products. A sample size usually is a size eight. All fit models fit for several companies and spend most of their working days going from company to company fitting garments for different designers. However, even though these fit models lend their bodies to establish a fit for several companies, this does not necessarily mean that the fit will be the same at the various companies for whom she works. I clearly remember working with a fit model whom we used as our sample size ten who was also working for another company where they used her as a sample size eight.
But the inconsistency doesn't stop there. When a fit model works with a designer she regularly comes in for fittings with the design staff. Designers try the sample sized prototype garments on the model and make alterations to achieve a better fit, based on their fit model's body. Once the fit of that particular sample sized prototype is established and approved by the design staff, that prototype garment goes into production, where a patternmaker takes the approved prototype pattern and grades it. Grading of a pattern means adding or decreasing inches to specific parts of the sample sized pattern to size up or size down, creating a size run of varying dimensions. These measurements are called grade rules. Established grade rules vary from company to company. For example, one company may grade the sample size's waist up 1 ½" to make a size eight a size ten, and another company may only grade their waist up 1 ¼" to go from a size eight to a size ten. With no standardization within the industry, each designer or manufacturer is free to decide how a production pattern gets graded and what their specific grade rules are.
So why isn't there a rule that every designer and manufacturer should use the same grade rules? Wouldn't that solve the problem? Not necessarily. While it is required that a fit model have a very balanced and proportioned body shape, the shape of each fit model varies from person to person. In the end, finding clothing that will fit you is dependent on how close your body is to the shape of the fit model that the designer or manufacturer uses to fit their garments. This is the reason why, no matter how large or small your body, if your body shape does not closely resemble the body shape of the fit model used, the clothing may not fit you properly.
Additionally, designers usually only see garments cut in their sample size. Once a garment is graded into larger and smaller sizes it has moved on to the production phase and it is pretty much out of the designer's hands. In most cases a designer will never see what their garment looks like in a size that is larger or smaller than the original sample size.
All of this underscored just how the size number on the label really is arbitrary.
So what are the rules about the clothing industry standardisation of sizes, none? Times have changed since the definition of women's fashion clothes, sizing of the 1950's; and no one within the British clothing industry has made any effort to change the fact that men and women have physically changed? Instead The United Kingdom has an existing standard for women's clothing BS 3666:1982, however this is rarely followed by manufacturers as it defines sizes in terms of hip and bust measurements only within a limited range. This has resulted in variations between manufacturers and a tendency towards vanity sizing. Instead what has happened in the fashion industry is that Europe has become more aware of these changes and so has adopted to these the changes of measurement sizes and as a result we now have more of women's fashion Boutiques on the high street from Europe. Size ten in clothing for instance, gives a different fitting with the style you choose? Confusing?? Size ten in a designer fashion clothes will not be the same looking on women of size 14?? Retailers don't make women's fashion clothes to compliment people of different body shapes? By adopting similar methods of European measuring, we were able to create bespoke (one-off) clothes, which will fit you within the scope of the measuring guide we have adopted? As long as long as a you use the measuring size guide, then we are confident that our clothing will compliment and fit your figure, and not as most clothing out there being sold, that try to "pigeon slot" you into ONE SIZE fits ALL culture!!
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