The Hour glass figure

[stewart38]

I was thinking if they are being more economical with the truth with women sizes why not men ?

Couldnt a 40inch waste now be a 36 ?

Or 17inch collar be a 15 inch collar ?

If anyone knows of any shop thats doing that please let me know :clap:

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Hourglass Figure

Fitting into a smaller clothing size than you expected is every woman's dream – a dream that Topshop has made possible by being a little more generous with its sizes, which now suit our current shapes.

The feminine beauty ideal has changed over time, and the 20th century saw the most dramatic shift for hundreds of years.

In the 1940s and '50s, the hourglass shape was made not only acceptable but fashionable by glamorous stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.

Female curves were abundant, breasts were accentuated and often padded, waists were cinched and a shapely bottom was de rigueur.

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[Cruella]

The feminine beauty ideal has changed over time, and the 20th century saw the most dramatic shift for hundreds of years.

In the 1940s and '50s, the hourglass shape was made not only acceptable but fashionable by glamorous stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.

Female curves were abundant, breasts were accentuated and often padded, waists were cinched and a shapely bottom was de rigueur.

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I knew i was born to late!! I would have been fashionable in the 50's. :rofl:

[Lynn]

They are also making clothes longer :tears: (well Next made their petite range longer, which doesn't matter as I can't afford to shop there anymore!)

*sigh* Wouldn't mind having a few more curves though!

[WittyBird]

I cannot believe how pathetic shops are getting. A size should be standard not oh lets change it cos people are getting fatter. You are what you are and does it matter if thats a size 6 or a 26. The larger you are the longer it takes to iron but hey ho. :grin:

[angelique]

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Hourglass Figure

The feminine beauty ideal has changed over time, and the 20th century saw the most dramatic shift for hundreds of years.

In the 1940s and '50s, the hourglass shape was made not only acceptable but fashionable by glamorous stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.

Female curves were abundant, breasts were accentuated and often padded, waists were cinched and a shapely bottom was de rigueur.

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:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
At long last I am fashionable!!!!

It's taken FAR too long in my opinion! :rofl: :rofl:

[MartinHarper]

I was thinking if they are being more economical with the truth with women sizes why not men ?

They do. An American "Medium" T-shirt is pretty huge, and condoms don't come in "small".

[bigdjiver]

I was thinking if they are being more economical with the truth with women sizes why not men ?...Long, long ago ... My one big failure with designing and writing systems was in trying to produce a fraud proof manufacturing control system for a clothes manufacturer. The hardware was very flakey, so the owner demanded a demonstration of the system so far, to see if it was worth continuing. We tracked through a clothes order for Marks & Spencer, and came up short in size 10's, too many rejected. The owner promptly relabelled some size 12's to make up the difference. He was very angry indeed when my system indeed when my system would not let some size 12's disappear without trace, or produce size 10's from thin air, and cancelled the project. My system had caught it's first fraudster, and it was him.

[Missy D]

And dont you just hate it when a garment comes in "one size fits all"!! How can it fit all? I went shopping with my boss recently and she loved this skirt that had this "fits all" label in. I tried it on first and it just fell down to my feet. Then she tried it on only to discover she couldn,t get it over her bum. Would love to know what this "fits all size really is". Its certaintly not size 8 or 16..

[Whitebeard]

The larger you are the longer it takes to iron but hey ho.
I like that image. But, really, in this day and age, you shouldn't be ironing.

[LMC]

Women's clothes sizing is ludicrously inconsistent - I'm a size 14 in trousers from New Look and George at Asda, size 16 from Tesco (I shop in all the high quality places :rofl: ) but a size 18 at H&M.

Some High Street shops don't sell clothes larger than a size 12 (an actual 12 even if not a 'labelled' 12) - why do people in Zara clothes always look so slim? - because Zara clothes don't come in "Large" and even size 14 me can't get into a "Medium". No great loss, IMO, Zara sells overpriced craply made s***e anyway.

In some cases it's not the sizing that's the problem - it's the cut. George trousers at 8 quid a throw fit me better than Next at 40 quid a pair (lucky me :grin: ). I'm with wittybird - standardise across the board, I would love to be like a guy and just go into shops and BUY stuff without spending hours in changing room queues.

[Clive Long]

What I have never been able to fathom is, given the glorious variety in the shape and relative proportions of the female figure (of which I am a keen student), how can a woman's measurements be reduced to a single number?

Clive

[Aleks]

What I have never been able to fathom is, given the glorious variety in the shape and relative proportions of the female figure (of which I am a keen student), how can a woman's measurements be reduced to a single number?

Clive

:yeah:

[Lory]

I'm with wittybird - standardise across the board, I would love to be like a guy and just go into shops and BUY stuff without spending hours in changing room queues.:sick: the thought of this scares me, as I'm also like you, (but in a very different way;) ) clothes from different outlets, with different cuts, fit me 'better' or 'worse' to one degree or another. :rolleyes:

If they standardised everything to the same dimensions, it might be to the standard that fits YOU and not ME! :what: :sick: :tears: :tears:

[LMC]

I knew there was a flaw in that plan somewhere :rolleyes: :blush:

I came across a catalogue a while back which did lovely clothes - not cheap, but not *that* much more than high-end High Street prices - where you sent them your actual measurements and they made the clothes to fit - selection of materials/colours/lengths for the skirt/trousers/shirt in the catalogue. Wish I could remember who they were :( - it was about £300 for a suit, which is NOT cheap, but if it's been made to measure :drool:

If anyone can throw any light it would make me very happy :) :flower:

[WittyBird]

If they standardised everything to the same dimensions, it might be to the standard that fits YOU and not ME! :what: :sick: :tears: :tears:

Ah but..... if they standardise the way the fittings are done it wont, for example if all top half attire was done the way bra fittings are done then you can buy a top that would fit and fit properly, instead of size 12 top you could have a range fits from 34a - 36d etc.

As for the bottoms they are ok but need to be small petite, regular petite etc
then regular long etc.... :eek:

[Lory]

Thinking back, when I was little, my parents used to have lot's of my clothes made. I really have no idea if I was just spoilt or if this was the norm then :confused:

But I do know that my Nan (who wasn't the one who made my clothes) used to be a keen seamstress and would think nothing of buying something off the peg and altering it in some way... maybe just buying a larger size and taking it in, in all the right places or simply changing the buttons to 'personalise' it :waycool:

p.s. Angelique's pretty nifty with the old sewing machine :worthy:

[Aleks]

Ah but..... if they standardise the way the fittings are done it wont, for example if all top half attire was done the way bra fittings are done then you can buy a top that would fit and fit properly, instead of size 12 top you could have a range fits from 34a - 36d etc.

Bravissimo already do this for jackets and blouses (and they sell bras too!)....can someone do the link thing - I'm hopeless!

[Aleks]

Thinking back, when I was little, my parents used to have lot's of my clothes made. I really have no idea if I was just spoilt or if this was the norm then :confused:

My mum/gran made almost all my clothes too - the only things I was ever bought were sock, pants, vests :what: and shoes! (and all my dolls had clothes to match me :aww cute:).

[Lory]

Ah but..... if they standardise the way the fittings are done it wont, for example if all top half attire was done the way bra fittings are done then you can buy a top that would fit and fit properly, instead of size 12 top you could have a range fits from 34a - 36d etc.


I see what you mean BUT for example, my neighbour (I was absolutely astonished and aghast to find out) takes the SAME bra size as me but she's a size 20 in tops :what: as she has a rather LARGE and rotund midriff but no hips and legs like a sparrows. ;)

[Tiggerbabe]

Bravissimo already do this for jackets and blouses (and they sell bras too!)....can someone do the link thing - I'm hopeless!
Is this (http://www.bravissimo.com/BRAVISSIMO/) the one?

[clevedonboy]

condoms don't come in "small".
There's a great story about that - don't know if it's true or not (probably not IMHO)

During the planning stage for acquatic landings such as D-Day troops found a novel way to keep their guns dry - putting a condom over the barrel and stretching it as far over the rifle as they could. Unfortunately they didn't stretch far enough to cover the whole weapon (excuse the expression). A request was passed to the war office for larger condoms to be manufactured specially for the purpose. Hearing about this Winston Churchill agreed to the request on the condition that the articles should be labelled "Made in Britain - Size Small"

[Aleks]

Is this (http://www.bravissimo.com/BRAVISSIMO/) the one?

Wonderful - thank you:flower: !

[Icey]

Thinking back, when I was little, my parents used to have lot's of my clothes made. I really have no idea if I was just spoilt or if this was the norm then :confused:

My grandmother used to make matching dresses for her, my mum, me and my sister :eek: This was when I was very young but OMG! Every so often my parents pull out the photos for a jolly good laugh :mad:

She did make me an evening/coctail dress a about 8-10 years ago and it fitted like a glove - it made me look like I had legs up to my armpits and a cleavage like cheddar gorge :D I must try it on again.

[Anna]

*sigh* Wouldn't mind having a few more curves though!

You can have some of mine if you like! :rofl: Its nearing summer so the curves are currently being evacuated/destroyed/made extinct etc etc ..