5 facts about your dress size

For most women, there is the size we are in our minds, and then there is the size we really are.

Our true size can be difficult to discern when you easily slide into a size 6 work dress from J.Crew and then, to your dismay, you need Crisco and a diving suit to get yourself into the strapless size 6 dress from the same store.

Fret no more. Here are 5 facts to help embrace your dress size when buying new clothes.

1. one size does not fit all

The models you see strutting down the catwalk are wearing custom fit clothes. The Michael Kors clad baby giraffe (who weighs 110 pounds) might wear a double zero waist yet have a size 4 bust and size 6 shoulders.

Her clothes have been tailored because she is not one particular size.

Welcome to the concept that we were never intended to fit into one particular size.

2. made for the masses

Did you know that women’s clothing was all custom made until the 1920s? Commercial sizes didn’t even exist in the Untied States until Army uniforms for men were made en masse.

The production of women’s clothing procured more slowly. Factors such as the rise of advertising, growth in urban professional class and consumer industries redefined the way Americans viewed mass-manufactured goods.

Convenient, affordable and up-to-date duds gave way to the freshman effort to manufacture women’s clothing, though it maintained a reputation for fitting properly.

3. measurements of the times

It wasn’t until 1939 that the Home Economics division of the USDA led the first effort at size standardization for women. Fifteen-thousand brave female souls subjected themselves to 59 different measurements dressed only in the skivvies for the sake of commercial clothing.

From this experiment, Misses, Juniors, Womens and half-sizes were born.

If you break it down in layman’s terms, the measurement of your clothes today, is based upon the measurements of a small fraction of women liven gin the United States 73 years ago.

4. tailor made

George Bernard Shaw said, “The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”

Regardless of size, it’s a rare occurrence that a ready to wear garment will fit perfectly without tailoring. Find a good one.