I went on a shopping splurge yesterday looking to increase my wardrobe, recently going into a couple of stores, cheap/supermarket, I found to my surprise that size 12UK/8US fitted nicely. Tried and bought a couple of tops yesterday at the cheap store, Matalan, then went to M&S as they had some sale stuff, tried size 12 fitted nicely. Then on to White Stuff that also had sale items, tried the 12 could hardly get it on. They did not have 14 so tried 16 it fitted perfect.

So what size are you in different stores?

Jessica

In the cheaper stores like Kmart or Target I am a size 18-20 and it the more boutique stores...they just don't have my size unless its a specialist "larger sizes" store....there is nothing g as inconsistent as womens' clothing sizes LOL

The size chart of US women's tops is generally larger than in other countries. In the U.S., I mostly purchased and wore size S or XS tops and dresses, and even the size M is bigger, but more comfortable. My height is 184 cm (6 feet) and my torso is relatively small. Here in S. Korea or from AliExpress.com (China), I mostly wear L size tops and dresses, sometimes XL.


Junior XS in the U.S.       


Lady S dress in the U.S.

                               
Size XL jacket from AliExpress.com


Size L dress from AliExpress.com

barbie~~

Quote from: barbie on March 24, 2019, 04:30:34 AM
The size chart of US women's tops is generally larger than in other countries. In the U.S., I mostly purchased and wore size S or XS tops and dresses, and even the size M is bigger, but more comfortable. My height is 184 cm (6 feet) and my torso is relatively small. Here in S. Korea or from AliExpress.com (China), I mostly wear L size tops and dresses, sometimes XL.

barbie~~

Gosh I wish I had a figure like yours. What on earth would be the size for more shapely women in S Korea and China

Those clothes are amazing

Jessica

There is two unit size differential  when buying clothes from Asia versus the USA.  You may find stuff two sizes too small.  On Amazon many companies now have a size chart as the last photo of the item description.  The idea is to view the pictures as a "package of information," as you  can't rely on the text.

I buy XS tops.  H&M is too big so I don't go there anymore.  The Asian guy equivalent of XS has sleeves that are too long for me, while women's XS fits perfectly everywhere.   

I am a medium in bottoms, and a large in tops.  With numbered sizes, I'll start with a 10, bot tops and bottoms, but I'll go up or down as required.  I am more likely to go up to a 12 in tops, and I sometimes can get away with an 8 in bottoms.

Sometimes, if an item is just too cute to pass up, I'll put up with it being tight in the shoulders. 

Quote from: Jessica_K on March 24, 2019, 05:33:59 AM
Gosh I wish I had a figure like yours. What on earth would be the size for more shapely women in S Korea and China

Those clothes are amazing

Jessica

There are 'petite' sizes in the U.S.!

barbie~~

I am a US XL in tops (sometimes it is 16, but I have found 14 to also fit sometimes), and an L in bottoms (also between  and 14).  I have to watch with 12 for the length, because I seem to have rather long legs.

Right now I am a us medium but I'm closing to fitting back in a small.

Quote from: NatalieRene on March 25, 2019, 04:49:54 PM
Right now I am a us medium but I'm closing to fitting back in a small.

You are lucky that you never developed a large rib cage, or wide shoulders!  Us Viking women are used to wild swords and spears, while holding shields at the same time, and we need that rib cage and the shoulders to be able to do this!  Us Viking women have to stand their man positions!

I think the smallest I ever could get would be an L size, but I doubt that very much, because bones do not shrink much!

Quote from: Dietlind on March 25, 2019, 08:54:22 PM
You are lucky that you never developed a large rib cage, or wide shoulders!  Us Viking women are used to wild swords and spears, while holding shields at the same time, and we need that rib cage and the shoulders to be able to do this!  Us Viking women have to stand their man positions!

I think the smallest I ever could get would be an L size, but I doubt that very much, because bones do not shrink much!

The Roman people where no push overs either.

I have the same build as my Mom. I'm not small but I'm not huge. When I was a kid in gym I remember looking at the girls and the guys and how the guys where bulking up and it was in seventh grade when I first prayed to god to please not make me bulk up like that. When we had to pick activities for gym I always elected for running. My parents wanted me to join track but I didn't want to associate or be a team and have to take group showers with other boys that looked more like men. It was bad enough in gym.

Looking back it probably wouldn't have been so bad after the first few days when they realized that I was the rare breed that can sustain a run for miles. I used to run three miles in roughly 19 minutes. I wasn't the fastest. There was this one rabbit of a boy that could do a mile in five minutes but after a little over a mile he slowed down. I always passed him before the second half of the second lap.

I'm a ways off from being in that kind of shape again but I'm down to 10 minute miles for two miles.

Quote from: NatalieRene on March 25, 2019, 11:16:40 PM
The Roman people where no push overs either.

I have the same build as my Mom. I'm not small but I'm not huge. When I was a kid in gym I remember looking at the girls and the guys and how the guys where bulking up and it was in seventh grade when I first prayed to go to please not make me bulk up like that. When we had to pick activities for gym I always elected for running. My parents wanted me to join track but I didn't want to associate or be a team and have to take group showers with other boys that looked more like men. It was bad enough in gym.

Looking back it probably wouldn't have been so bad after the first few days when they realized that I was the rare breed that can sustain a run for miles. I used to run three miles in roughly 19 minutes. I wasn't the fastest. There was this one rabbit of a boy that could do a mile in five minutes but after a little over a mile he slowed down. I always passed him before the second half of the second lap.

I'm a ways off from being in that kind of shape again but I'm down to 10 minute miles for two miles.

I never really bulked up (because I did not do a normal puberty either), I just was tall and had a bigger rib cage and the fitting shoulders, albeit rather round ones.  I never developed massive muscles or anything like that, and I never participated in any team sports either.  Because of my rather long legs, I was a good sprinter for 50 and 100 meters, and won some competitions in it.
I have never been in a locker room or seen one of those notorious mass showers from the inside, and in fact, I have never seen a undressed male body after the person went through puberty!
I am just cursed (blessed?) with a rather large rib cage, but you find that with many Nordic type females.

I am quite lucky to be short,  to not have large bones and broad shoulders as you can see from my avatar. Only down side is my rib cage that will limit my top size. I am 38" with still a little bit of chest fat left so 36/37 possible?

This why I was so surprised that I was size 12UK in a lot of stores. I think it's a marketing vanity thing, the stores increase the size of their clothes to keep the dress size down. This makes us girls happy so we go back to get more from them instead of down the road where the stores clothes are (correctly) 2 sizes bigger.

I also used to run when at school, a very very long time ago, was quite fast over short distance with 200yds as back then being my best distance 100 was a bit short it took me a few seconds to turn on the boosters, lol, and 400 I had run out of steam.

I never bulked up as I grew up and later used weight; fat, to fit into the hated male role. Now most the weight has gone the majority of my body is quite feminine except those darn ribs.

Jessica

Quote from: Dietlind on March 25, 2019, 11:48:00 PM
I never really bulked up (because I did not do a normal puberty either), I just was tall and had a bigger rib cage and the fitting shoulders, albeit rather round ones.  I never developed massive muscles or anything like that, and I never participated in any team sports either.  Because of my rather long legs, I was a good sprinter for 50 and 100 meters, and won some competitions in it.
I have never been in a locker room or seen one of those notorious mass showers from the inside, and in fact, I have never seen a undressed male body after the person went through puberty!
I am just cursed (blessed?) with a rather large rib cage, but you find that with many Nordic type females.

You didn't miss anything that wasn't mentally scaring in the locker room. People commented on my butt looking like a girl, that I walked like a girl, that I threw like a girl, that I had bigger boobs then some of the actual girls. There was also the ridicule for having almost no body hair.

The showers where the worst. You being spared is a good thing. The adults thought it would make a man out of me. It led to fights.

When I first started buying women's clothes (by mail) I wildly mis-estimated my size. I thought I would be about a 16 and it turned out I was closer to an 8. I think size standards vary much more than just by different stores, though. You can find considerable size conflicts within a store or even within one brand. Sizing of women's clothing is wacko by design, as best as we can tell. Makers don't want it to be easy for their customers too defect to other brands.

In S/M/L type sizing I can usually wear wear a M in either men's or women's tops. I'm very skinny. In women's tops the arms tend to be shorter, so I look for longer armed tops. I rarely wear button tops, so fitting for me doesn't have to be too precise.

Quote from: NatalieRene on March 26, 2019, 09:31:48 AM
You didn't miss anything that wasn't mentally scaring in the locker room. People commented on my butt looking like a girl, that I walked like a girl, that I threw like a girl, that I had bigger boobs then some of the actual girls. There was also the ridicule for having almost no body hair.

The showers where the worst. You being spared is a good thing. The adults thought it would make a man out of me. It led to fights.

They all know the saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, But the continuously trying to use silk purses to make sows out of them, buy forcing you people into gender roles they don't fit in.  How can one man up if one gets mobbed and made fun of?  Because of my body and having to wear glasses starting with 8 years, I know what it means to be made fun of, etc.  I am glad that I did not have the locker room experience on top of it!

Quote from: Dietlind on March 26, 2019, 10:31:47 PM
They all know the saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, But the continuously trying to use silk purses to make sows out of them, buy forcing you people into gender roles they don't fit in.  How can one man up if one gets mobbed and made fun of?  Because of my body and having to wear glasses starting with 8 years, I know what it means to be made fun of, etc.  I am glad that I did not have the locker room experience on top of it!

I had to wear glasses in first grade too. My eyes suck.

The locker room experience was horrific.

Quote from: NatalieRene on March 27, 2019, 10:54:13 AM
I had to wear glasses in first grade too. My eyes suck.

The locker room experience was horrific.

I really feel for you!  I am glad that I had assertive parents (mainly my dad), who did not allow anybody to put me knowingly into situations that would make me feel bad!  It helped a lot that my dad and the principal of the high school were really good friends!
I remember well when a sports teacher that wanted to force me to do those kind of things, got chewed out by the principal in front of several students!  He avoided me like the plague after this!