Ah, shopping. Hell on Earth for some, especially if you're on the plus-size side.
Vanity sizing has made it impossible to know your true clothing size, and even more impossible to find that size. And when you do? Well, there's no promise that the size will fit.
We are in hell, and clothing brands are keeping us here.
Basically, it's the arbitrary system brands use to tell us what "size" we are in their clothes. It's that horrible number that sends us to certain sections of the store and humiliates us in dressing rooms.
It's the size 2, the size 14, the size 22 of it all. And as many women know, those numbers don't really mean anything. Why? Because one brand's size 2 is another's size 4.
And yet we have been taught to tie our self-esteem to them. When I was growing up, the "standard" sizes were 2-12. Go above that size, you're sent to a special store for plus-size girls.
That number ruled my life. I squeezed myself into size 12 jeans and prayed they wouldn't cut my circulation off when I sat down.
Those numbers mean absolutely nothing. An XL at one store is an L at another. Clothing brands keep us guessing at our sizes because they aren't interested in creating a unified sizing system to make their customers' lives easier.
If I reach for a 14, I know in my heart that it could either be a 12, 14, or 16. There's no guarantee! How insane is that?
"Vanity sizing exists to keep us feeling bad about ourselves," plus size model and influencer Lyndsay Patricia told me. "In today's world, it makes no sense that every company has a different sizing system. I shouldn't have to gamble on my own clothing."
Damn straight.
