On Thursday, September 25, 2014 8:50:16 AM UTC-7, Kalmia wrote:
> On Thursday, September 25, 2014 10:32:59 AM UTC-4, sf wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 24 Sep 2014 23:36:18 -0700, "Julie Bove"
>

> > > wrote:
>

>
> > > I'll tell you what shrank! My pants! That's what!
>
> >
> > Dress sizes have increased, What used to be considered a size 10 is
> > more like a size 2 these days.
>

Yes, "vanity sizing" rules the day. My wife discovered years ago that,
the more expensive the garment, the smaller the size she takes.

But back in the 50s, the then National Bureau of Standards helped the
relatively new Ready-to-Wear industry standardize women's clothing sizes,
based on measuring a bunch of real live women:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040409...drawnstds.htm#
>
>
> I don't think there were any sizes like 1X, 2X 3X in those days. I can remember dresses usually were made up to size 18, MAYbe a 20. After that, you had to order a tent.
>

The truly bulky needed "half-sizes."

> If you are petite, you'll hardly ever find a shop specializing in those sizes. I used to love Petite Sophisticates in the late eighties, but I fear they folded due to the enlargement of Amercian women.
>

On the West Coast, petites are tailored to fit tiny Asian women.

But the long-gone chain I remember is the 5-7-9 Shop.