Weight is a difficult subject for me. I have always been a wide girl, even though I'm petite. I've struggled with weight all my life, and I feel able to talk about it now because, strangely enough, I have lost ten pounds since I started this blog in October. I'm bringing this up because I had a recent reality check about sizing distortion in women's clothing, and while not a foodie topic, I feel like I should discuss it here. Size distortion and portion distortion are the twin devils of American culture - as the "size to be" gets smaller, restaraunts push bigger and bigger portions to eat. They might be different issues, but they are inextricably linked. What you eat determines what you weigh. It took me 20 years to really grasp that concept, and now that I've got it, I'm getting healthy - but there are still a lot of people out there who don't get it.
One of my favorite things to do when there's nothing to do is browse dresses online and pick them out for my "after" photo. I mean, cute dresses exist for the big girl, but supercute is a bit beyond our reach. One of my favorite sites is ModCloth.com, and now that I'm finally seeing real progress (yay, double-digit losses!) I started looking at their sizes. And wow. They are tiny.
After a bad run-in with their customer service team - it's always a joy to be implicitly called fat by a stranger who wouldn't know you from Eve - I channeled my snow day and seething energy into a little research. Because as much as we know about Barbie's unnaturally distorted figure, what do we know about real women and their natural figures?
According to the CDC's 2009 summary of data collected between 2003 and 2006, the average American woman (AW) is 5'4" tall, weighs 169 pounds, and has a 37" waist. According to American lingerie manufacturers, she wears a 36C bra. And based on her BMI (29, the borderline between overweight and obese) and research about the relationship between the waist-to-hip ratio and weight-related health risks, she has 43.5" hips. That's about a Misses size 18.
That's what "normal" looks like, but normal is overweight. What does healthy look like?
The one thing that won't change is her height. So the hypothetical ideal average (HI) is stil 5'4". Since she's average, let's put her at 125 pounds, right in the middle of her ideal weight range, 110-140 pounds.
The AW has 37% body fat. The ideal is 20-25%; too much lower and hormones and reproductive organs are disrupted. Let's say that at 125, HI has 23.5% body fat. Based on the reversal of a fitness calculation system developed by the US Navy, she would probably have a 28" waist. Since she's healthy, she probably has 38-40" hips. And since she's no longer overweight, like the AW, her bust is likely in line with the old average of a B-cup bust. That's more like a Misses size 8.
Now what about ModCloth? Since the data I've used this far is for the "average" woman, it makes sense to reference their medium size. To create the average for the ModCloth medium, I took a random sampling of 20 dresses from the "Under $50" section and averaged their bust, waist, and hip measurements. Only half of these dresses had any stretch, including smocking, stretch material or elastic. Most of the dresses that had stretch had it only in the waist. Not all of these dresses listed a hip measurement.
Another ModCloth problem is how they do their sizing. Rather than testing the garment on a dress form to see what sizes it can fit, they lay the garment flat and measure the bust, waist and hip size across the front of the garment. I have enough problems with this method, but what it comes down to is that the measurements listed are approximately half of the measurement the garment will fit. The average I came up with was 16"-14"-18.5" - that would fit roughly a 32" bust, a 28" waist, and a 37" hip. That's a Juniors size 5. Juniors sizes are meant for girls just starting puberty, so the bust and hips are slightly smaller. A full-grown, curvy woman would have to decide between a garment with a too-big waist or a two-small bust/hip.
So let's compare:
- The average American woman is 42-37-43.5, a Misses 18.
- The healthy ideal for the average American woman is, hypothetically, 34-38-39, a Misses 8 or 10.
- And the Modcloth average medium is 32-28-37, a Juniors 5.
Even if the average woman was perfectly healthy, she couldn't fit into the average ModCloth medium. Her waist would fit, but her bust and hips would not. If she noticed this and decided to try and lose more weight in order to fit into her dress, she would probably be unsuccessful, because hips, as you know, are bones, and when you're fit, they are probably as small as they will get. Breasts, too, are hard to reduce without surgery, or extreme malnutrition.
Two inches may not seem like a huge difference, but consider this: one pound of body fat has a volume of roughly two cups, or 29 cubic inches. Even assuming that HI can lose those two inches on her bust and hips to fit into that supercute dress, it would equal a total volume of 116 cubic inches off the waist and hips alone, equal to four pounds. You can't lose weight in just one area, so she would probably lose eight pounds total trying to lose those two inches.
That would put her at 117 pounds, which is so light, it's the bare minimum for giving blood. One nasty stomach bug could be very dangerous to her health, and one restaraunt meal would blow almost all her calories for the day. She will have shifted away from a healthy medium, towards an unhealthy extreme that may encourage further size distortion and lead to eating disorders and a whole host of other psychological problems. Let me be clear: this is bad. And while my encounter with ModCloth's distain for the upper sizes left one bad taste in my mouth, this information leaves another that is far worse. Discriminating against curvy girls is one thing, but discriminating against healthy girls is far worse, and the slim margin is so enticing as a means to lose "just a little more" that I find it sickeningly insidious.
So the question is: where do we go from here? How do we tackle the difficult issue of size distortion? How do we affect change?
Aren't the means to affect change already sort of in place? There are programs geared toward the youngest generation, encouraging them to get out and eat healthier. (I mean the Cookie monster, admitted that cookies are a 'sometimes' food)
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there's nothing/not much for their parents. They're pretty much on their own when it comes to eating healthy and losing weight.
I looked up my BMI, I'm healthy, but only 1.9 points away from being considered overweight. I guess I could lose more weight.
What happened with the customer service people? And dang, I never looked at it this way. I'm too big for an extra-large in a lot of stores, that's a blow to the self-esteem. This is Violet btw.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin, there are two problems here. Obesity is one of them, but the other one is that "normal" sizes have been distorted into unhealthy sizes, and that's the one I'm worried about, because body image is based on sizing.
ReplyDeleteViolet, they have yet to get back to me. I'll let you know when they do, but their customer service/relations team has proven so clumsy I doubt they can salvage this situation. I'm offended and angry and they will have been sitting on this goose egg for minimum four days before they start working on it.
(this is Megan B)
ReplyDeleteThis is really bad, and kind of disgusting. (calling a potential customer fat?? How the hell do these people have any customers? I mean yeah the clothes are pretty to look at, but from the sounds of things, that's all they have)
I mean, I'm really underweight according to my BMI (have been pretty much all my life), but I'm still tall and have a rather large bust size, so from the sounds of it I'm not going to fit into these clothes either. So who are they even making these clothes for?
It's sad though, because they do look nice. Too bad almost no one will realistically fit in them and make them feel about themselves how they felt about the outfit.
The scariest part, to me, is that this is an online boutique. They don't design anything in-house, they buy from designers. So really, they could buy bigger sizes, but since they look for S-M-Ls, they are representing the industry standard.
ReplyDeleteI shop on ModCloth, and find that their sizing is pretty helpful. You have to check the measurements on any garment before you buy it, because they sell from so many different designers. In reference to your measuring and coming up with an "average" of their medium sizes, I don't really agree with your point because each garment is different, from the designer's sizing, to the material, construction (jersey or woven) and the amount of stretch in each garment.
ReplyDeleteI am 5'4' roughly 140 (near the top of my weight range) and generally fit into a size medium in their dresses, and trust me, I am not a juniors size 5! I am not saying that their clothing always fits me perfectly, which is understandable (and expected) considering that's what happens when you go into a store and try clothing on, not everything fits like a dream - thus the wonderful concept of returns and exchanges! I have a size 9 pair of pants from ModCloth, whereas I also have a size 2 pair of pants from the Gap. So who is at fault here? I wouldn't praise the Gap for making a pair of size 2 pants that fit me, and I'm not going to bash ModCloth as I fit their size 9, because both fit well, so I'm happy! In my point of view, if a garment fits YOUR body, whether it be the size 2 or size 9, does a number even matter? I think it's about accepting who you are, and being comfortable in your own skin.
I think most importantly, people should focus on health rather than size. It's such a debated issue in the fashion industry, which I feel very strongly in discussing having studied fashion design in school. Upon graduating, few if any of my peers concentrated their portfolios in the areas of Menswear, Maternity, or Plus Size. It was definitely an option, and the market is there, but they are niche and it seems like we just need more indie designers to take them on.
In as much as I love fashion (less fashion really, and more those with interesting style of their own), when it comes down to it you have to remember that clothing is just another material possession, there are much more important things in life. Try not to dwell on this negative experience you've had, or sizing, and channel your energy into something positive! (excuse my super long response, it's Sunday)
JK, I understand your points. Modcloth was the catalyst here, not the problem, because it got me thinking about the issues of size and health and clothing as a whole, rather than mostly separate issues. At the end of the day, my problem is with the industry, not them, because as I've said elsewhere in the comments, ModCloth is a boutique, not a design company, so their clothing represents industry standards. It's those industry standards that bother me. And since the runway standard has pretty much leveled at size 0 and 2 models, I don't think those standards are going to change any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your feedback, and I hope you'll take a look at some of the other Try This posts.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteThis is Aire from ModCloth. I know Braiden and Ravan addressed this issue with you, bringing up the below points.
Our team members come in many shapes and sizes, so we're sensitive to the challenges that most people face when trying to shop for new indie styles online. Unfortunately, for the most part, ModCloth lacks the market influence to demand the production of particular sizes from our vendors. As we grow and our presence becomes a mainstay of the fashion industry, I assure you that we'll seek changes in industry standards to allow for more size availability.
Many of our manufacturers simply do not make clothes in additional sizes, which is something that we also believe is unacceptable. Women come in all different shapes and sizes and we DO NOT believe someone is fat just because they do not wear a size zero. We have been working tirelessly with our vendors to manufacture more reasonable sizes for our customers. This is something that does take time because many designers are not willing to change right away, but as demand increases, they are changing their minds.
I appreciate you all taking the time to comment on this. I hope in some way we have helped answer your questions about our sizing. As always we thank you for your support!
<3 Aire
ModCloth