Top 10 Places to Shop for a Vintage Inspired Wardrobe (Some of them Might Surprise You…)
February 26, 2014Lady in Red
March 3, 2014I remember the first time I realised I was a “weird” shape.
Except I didn’t really realise it at all at first. It was around 2001, I was shopping for a pair of black trousers and couldn’t get a pair to fit in a single shop. Some wouldn’t go over my thighs at all, and those that did left a huge gap at my lower back and I just couldn’t work out why. I remember going home almost in tears, and without any trousers to wear for work.
There were other things that made me weird too. Swimming costumes went what I called “trampoliney” on my lower back, I’ve never been able to buy a pair of trousers off the peg that I can wear without heels, I often struggle to get in and out of dresses with side zips and fixed bodices and anything with fitted sleeves needs to be approached with extreme caution lest my arms not fit through the holes or I get trapped inside them in a changing room.
All these things left me in no doubt that I was weird. Everyone else seemed to just wear clothes without thinking about it, just grab their size off the rack and look perfect. So what was wrong with me?
Over the years I figured out what was wrong with me and why the clothes didn’t fit. I had a small waist in relation to my hip measurement meaning trousers gaped at the waist and pencil dresses were tight on the hips and baggy everywhere else rather than form fitting. I had wide shoulders and bigger arms meaning I couldn’t get in and out of dresses easily, sleeves were too narrow and jackets were tight enough to stop me raising my arms. I had a long body and short legs, so trousers were too long and swimsuits and jumpsuits cut me in half or went trampoliney at the back.
All these things were “flaws” with my body, so I stopped even looking at certain styles. Pencil dresses, pencil skirts, anything with non stretch sleeves and trousers were out of my wardrobe. I wore bikinis instead of swimsuits or went with tie halter necks.
Then I discovered the world of vintage, and vintage repro. I found phrases like “vintage sizing” and I started to realise that I wasn’t the problem, that clothes came in different SHAPES as well as SIZES to fit different bodies. I realised that the reason things didn’t fit me wasn’t because I was weird, but just because I had a smaller waist, longer body and wider shoulders and arms than the “average” woman.
Over the 6 years that I’ve been writing this blog I’ve learnt more about clothes sizing and more importantly body shapes and how it’s changed over the years and written a lot about it on this blog. The average woman today, compared to the 1950s, is 2″ taller, 1.5″ bigger on the hips and bust, but a whole 6″ bigger around the waist. I know that the average woman today has a 6″ waist to hip difference and that mine is about 12″, but it still has the ability to almost reduce me to tears in a shop changing room when trying to find clothing that fits my “abnormally” proportioned figure. If my waist to hip followed the “average” proportions I’d be popping into Debenhams and buying a size 10, as it is I need a 14-16 on their sizing chart to fit my bum. It’s no wonder I can’t buy much that fits.
I HATE the expression “figure flaws”, it immediately tells you that it’s your body that is wrong, if you don’t fit a certain ideal then you are going straight into the seconds bin, discounted and worth less than those with a perfect body. Lets not confuse body shape, with body size. It doesn’t matter if I’m a size 8 or a 18, my arms and hips will still be wearing a size 10 or a size 20, because that’s what shape I am. To a certain extent we don’t have to accept our body size, if you feel comfortable a bit smaller, then you can eat less, or exercise more and lose a little weight, but nothing short of extreme measures is going to give me longer legs or shave actual bone off my hips, so that is something I have to accept, and everyone else is going to have to live with it too.
Even when we’re encouraged to think about body shape (are you an apple or a pear?) we’re still spoken to in terms of clothes flattering and hiding our flaws, rather than simply fitting. Everywhere will tell you an hourglass figure will look great in a pencil skirt, without ever telling you that you might struggle to find one that fits properly if you’re a true hour glass with a small waist and wide hips.
I posted about this on my personal Facebook recently and received lots of comments from friends with similar problems. It seems we’re all “flawed”, cursed with long legs, small busts, wide shoulders and fat ankles. The range of “figure flaws” we all suffer from seems so endless that it immediately becomes apparent that the woman clothes are cut for doesn’t exist and to base our self esteem on whether we can fit into a High Street dress is totally ridiculous.
I feel like changing rooms should carry warning messages “Warning: Not all clothes will fit all bodies, this is the fault of the manufacturers cutting process, not your body. Please remain calm”
So today, I am curious, and I’d love to hear your stories.
60 Comments
@Retrochick_uk Yet, years ago, the ideal figure was supposed to be 36-24-36 – so a 12″ difference! Must say, I love to photograph curves..!
This is a brilliant article! I am often criticised for saying “oh I dont look right in that” even though I’m a size 6-8 which is why I prefer vintage. No, it is agreed that one size does not fit all even if you are petite! 🙂
Thank you for this! I love vintage, because there really is something for everyone, and i have even less of a waist than the average nowadays! I’m a tree! So giving the illusion of a waist and curves is sonething i can do with vintage styles, and going by inches rather than shop sizes takes the psychological stresses away a little! We shouldn’t see our bodies as flawed, just individual
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I’m an apple. One of the reason I put photos of myself on my blog is because I feel apples are kind of at the bottom of the ‘figure desirability’ table, and it’s hard to find many happy apples, especially in vintageland where so much emphasis is on a tiny waist. I do wear pencil dresses. Apples have big busts and so that can draw the attention from a less than slender waist. My big no-no though is stuff that draws attention to the waist, such as thick belts or coloured panels – and cropped tops, tie blouses and so on are right out. I prefer to pull focus up to the bustline and above.
20s and 60s styles are often said to be for the very slender, but I think they’re fantastic for apples as there’s usually plenty of extra room in the waist.
Oh yes, I agree, and apples (my sister is one!) often have really amazing legs and arms as well so those styles really show them off!
Great article but where do I start? My arms are too long for jackets (as opposed to coats) and many long sleeved tops, so I tend to buy three quarter length sleeved tops and have replaced jackets with cardigans which are fine on my gorilla appendages. I have a high waist so skirts tend to float around my midriff, unsure of where to settle, hence thick waist bands are out. My top half is usually half to a full size smaller than my bottom half so any kind of fitted dress (shift, shirt) is out. I have saddle bags so skirts have to be A-line (no wiggle dresses for me – they make me look malformed) and trousers have to be bootleg. I also have what my father called ‘footballers knees’ – they’re chunky, even when toned. I don’t therefore do shorts or skirts above the knee. Having said that, having lost my figure to motherhood for several years and recently lost weight, I have a different perspective on my figure than my younger self did. I think my curves are quite sexy. I know what I look good in and if that isn’t what’s on the cat walk then so be it. I’d rather be me.
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RT @Retrochick_uk: One Size Doesn’t Fit All: http://t.co/OnwhIuH2Df
A great post on clothes size/shape/fit issues by my fellow @WowzersFest panel member @Retrochick_uk: http://t.co/Mwl3koSwrL
This is so true, i’ve worn clothes ranging size 8-16 in different shops despite my actual weight not changing. Ridiculous. x
Long arms and legs, mean I can reach the stuff on the back of the top shelf at supermarkets, and I agree with Fi its about acceptance, and acknowledging they aren’t ‘flaws’, its not you that’s ‘wrong’ just fashion. 🙂
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@Retrochick_uk Great post! Our ‘quirks’ and ‘flaws’ aren’t imperfections, just differences that make humans distinguishable from each other!
I measure 36 26 37. But I’m also 5’2! NOTHING EVER fits, because of my hip size and leg length. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pair of jeans that fit right, struggle with form fitted as if it fits in the waist, no chance will it go over my hips!! I am far too governed by what size it says in the label, and can get so upset. I can’t even fit in Topshop anymore post baby 🙁
Very interesting.
I would muchly like to see that sign on changing rooms, it would make me smile before trying stuff on instead of just getting stuck in stuff and leaving the shop and never going back. Who invented side zips?! The person must have had three arms, one to hold it down, one to hold it together and one to zip it up! I rarely shop on the highstreet anymore. Although I am not that tall I do have long legs which makes any dress shorter than 35″ not suitable – especially for work. I have a 10″ waist boob difference which only increases when I loose weight so even if I can get in a 12 my bust cant and I curse all my weightloss efforts, sadly despite loosing nearly 3 stone I am still no better off finding clothes – just a new set of challenges! I do only stick to styles I know will suit now as I am fed up of returning/ebaying everything I love but looks hideous. I desperately love sleeveless high necklines but it does tend to look like I have smuggled a pillow up my top – it is not a good look for me. I am stupidly exited to be bridesmaid in May. Our bride let us each choose a style of dress to have made and a colour, we all look different but have all chosen what suits us best and we feel comfortable in – thank goodness as trying to find something to suit the four different body shapes/heights would have lead to some serious compromises!
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I find that with some trousers/jeans they fit round the hips but gape at the waist. My solution to that is (especially with jeans) is to cut triangle of fabric out from behind the belt loops and sew them back up – not ideal I know but it works for me.
I tend to avoid pencil skirts as I’m about 5′ 1″ and struggle to get up and down stairs/on and off buses in pencil skirts.
And again being 5′ 1″ means that some fitted/body con dresses don’t lay flat on my back/bum as they are shaped for someone taller than me.
I once had a boyish frame, so straight up and down. As the years and my love of food have progressed I now describe myself as ‘solid’ I’m not exactly fat, but I’m definitely not thin, I have the physique of a rectangle. I don’t really have boobs I definitely don’t have a waist and I have a very long torso. This makes buying clothes extremely challenging. Most modern clothes are too short, the waists tend to sit uncomfortably on my ribcage as my torso is too long. To get clothes that fit my waist I have acres of fabric round the boobs and more often than not the sleeves are too tight and too short. It’s very hard not to feel like a freak when absolutely nothing fits.
RT @lipsticklori: A great post on clothes size/shape/fit issues by my fellow @WowzersFest panel member @Retrochick_uk: http://t.co/Mwl3koSw…
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Like this article 🙂 There is no normal. No one person is ever going to fit in every piece of clothing from different manufacturers. I cant get trousers to fit at all, Ive taken ever pair i own in at the waist.
I’m a true hourglass in the sense of wide hips with a tiny waist. However I am around 14/16 depending on the styles. As a teen I HATED myself because I could never fit into to the same things my friends wore. I have wide calves and a bum that is hard to fit and I won’t even start at how hard it is being busty. I’m not cookie cutter and in my twenties I’ve realized that and accepted it’s not me, it’s the clothes. I can’t expect my one of a kind body to fit into manufactured cookie cutter clothing.
The Fictionista
{sean-mackenzie.blogspot.com
Oh geez. Yeah, I know that feeling! I’m a decided pear, with a 10″ difference between bust and waist and a 16″ (!!!!) difference between waist and hips. I cannot for the life of me purchase suits, pants, or anything with a pencil skirt unless it was made for someone with about my dimensions. I’ve had friends express derision or disbelief when I explain that I can’t purchase a pair of pants new at a shop without having inches of extra fabric flapping about the waist.
Vintage clothing (and sewing my own stuff) helps a lot with my finding-things-that-fit problem, but I notice that a lot of things (especially retro) are aimed towards a much… bustier woman than I am. So really, fit issues all around. I find that when I find things that really do fit me, though, people assume I have more “ideal” proportions than I actually do!
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I’ve always had the biggest trouble finding high street clothes that fit me, and I used to think I had a weird ugly body because I wasn’t straighter up and down like models I saw or even my friends or classmates. I later understood that my body is just an hourglass shape (I’m not busty but my shoulders are as wide as my hips, and that’s what I consider an hourglass), and my 25″ waist and 38″ hips mean most modern clothes just aren’t cut for my shape. I generally stick to fit and flare dresses from the high street, and buy pencil skirts and dresses from repro brands or true vintage. The right “fit” can do SO much for one’s look!
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I used to dress to hide my “flaws” (short, muscular legs) although I love 60s fashion. Now I don’t care, if I want to wear a short skirt I do. Gok Wan and his like preach ‘body confidence’ but it’s more like ‘body conformity – disguise yourself as a not-too-extreme-hourglass’. Pfft. They’re not flaws just body shapes.
This is a great post, thank you! I look like a fairly standard shape, but one of the reasons I love vintage is because pre-late40s/early50s patterns fit me without alteration. In modern stuff, I’m a different size from the waist down.
Great post! I stopped worrying about what size I am “supposed” to be a while ago.. I now sew most of my clothes so I work solely in body measurements.
When I do buy clothes I can usually look at something and know whether or not it will fit me.. so I try it and if it looks good I buy it. I have sizes ranging from 6 to 14 in my wardrobe.. that says a lot about the ridiculousness of sizing these days.
I have a rather small waist too, but larger thighs and a smaller bust (so, a pear) so a lot of the time things that I can get over my thighs will be huuuuge on my waist, but anything that would fit my waist perfectly I can’t get past my thighs, grrrr.
I also have quite athletic calves, so a lot of the time I can’t get skinny pants past them. And don’t even talk to me about slim-fitting long boots. ugh.
My latest blog, on figure flaws and crying in the changing room http://t.co/EfUQ1JuDbu
Thanks so much fir these articles, Gemma. I totally agree with your points. If I’d been able to see if that way a fwe years ago I’d have saved myself a lot of misery when in changing rooms! xx
I too HATE trouser shopping, as a 5ft woman with a 27″ leg where on earth do I find trousers that aren’t massively too long for me! With the Petite range in most high street shops advertising for women 5’4″ – 5’3″, that isn’t Petite, I’d be delighted to be that tall! And not only that shops like Dorothy Perkins seem to assume that Petite also means thin which means a size 12 in there normal range fits me perfectly but with a 32″-30″ leg is massively too long. A Petit size 12 is better in the length but after wondering what was wrong with me I took a tape measure into the chaining room with me and found out that they have decided to make a Petite sizes on average 1.5″ smaller on the waist. So as a shorter lady what makes me automatically 1.5″ thiner than the average size 12!!
I’ve even had to buy in bulk trousers that fit just because it’s such a rarity, absolutely frustrated with high street sizing not catering for other heights and sizes. Sometimes I try things on and think “who is this cut for”?
Oh, I love the idea of putting a warning sign in changing rooms! It’s exactly what I’ve started to think if not a single dress in a shop would fit me: That it is the manufacturer’s fault, not mine or my body’s. Wearing vintage or retro/repro clothes made me much more confident regarding my body shape. I’ve realised that there’s nothing wrong with it. I’d rather have a less average body that makes it possible for me to wear less average clothes than just looking like everyone else. On the other hand, what does “average” mean anyway if so many women find it difficult to find clothes that fit them perfectly? It’s a shame, that many manufacturers don’t realise how wrong they are about women’s shapes and that shopping for clothes has become sort of a nightmare for many.
Nice post! i’am a pear!!!
http://duecuoriinpadella.blogspot.it/
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Good post!! I am always explaining this to my friends who just buy off the rack and look great. I have never as an adult found jeans that fit right. Tiny waist, curvy-ish bum and reasonably wide hips, though no more than other women these days means I end up with jeans long enough, fitting enough… and gaping at the waist! Until I found jeggings!!!! Only in the past two months I tried on a pair of jeggings which I had discounted for years as clothes manufactured for teenagers. Hey I’ve found leggings which are jeans without front pockets (who cares I have hip bones, couldn’t get into front pockets on regular jeans anyway!). Jeggings however don’t gape at the waist, fit perfectly, come in a long enough leg length and don’t fall down. Nothing worse than having too much denim at the waist so they fall down and give that oh so not desired saggy bum jean look when they’re too big.
As for dresses I learnt early what flatters and fits. What my size is per each high street shop. I have a large bust, small waist and wide hips. Classic old hollywood hourglass. Thing is, Topshop make clothes for boyish clothes horse frames. I’ve bought vintage reproduction style dresses and tend to nip everything in at the waist with a belt or actually take it in. There are 9 inches different between my bust and waist and my hips and my waist. You see the issue!
My other complaint is my shoulders. Maybe I’m weirdly proportioned, or the mass market has giant shoulders. Am I just dainty? Most tops, dresses with straps I have them shortened otherwise they fall down. Does everyone else have a huge gap between shoulder and bust???
For anyone wondering I am 36-27-36. I’ve just seen a comment saying the ideal was supposed to be 36-24-36 years ago… that’s me with a corset on! Yeah River Island and New Look aren’t designing clothes for me any time soon. You just have to learn what works.
Great post! Don’t even get me started on trouser shopping. The only trousers I have loved in recent years have been vintage 50’s mens ones with a very forgiving high waist. Now I sew most of my clothes I only work with my actual measurements and can tweak patterns to fit me correctly. Very few people fit the manufacturers ‘ideal’ perfectly, even with sewing patterns. Dressing in vintage and sewing your own has been very liberating. Many is the time I’ve felt like a fat freakish monster in Top Shop changing rooms!
My biggest bugbear at the moment is bra sizing.
The cup sizes increase exponentially with an increase in band size, and most manufacturers only start with bigger cup sizes anyway on their bigger bands (38 usually starts at a B cup).
I used to wear a 34B, but after a bit of weight gain (and a move to the UK where the sizes appear to be smaller) I now need a 38 band. In some consternation, while trying to come to grips with the smaller sizing here, I went for a bra fitting, wherein the lady told me, “well yes, you need to go down a cup size for each increase in band size” What lunacy is this? So I go from 34B to 36A to 38AA (yeah, right, like you can find this anywhere) to what? A bandage around the chest perhaps? Why on earth is a B cup on a 38 band the size of a D or E cup on a 34 band?
It seems manufacturers just don’t make undergarments for women with wide chests and small breasts.
Jessedi, there’s a new company, Bosom Galore, specialising in small band/ large cups – I’m currently a 34GG, at the top of their size range. I can’t speak for the quality of their products as I haven’t seen them up close, but they look okay in photos.