Size zero?

When something is on sale and it's still $165 people with common sense would either 1. wait until it becomes cheaper or 2. not buy the item. Unfortunately I seem to be lacking in the common sense department. Once again someone needs to slap some sense into me before the Independence Day sales start.

So there have been several things that I've been curious about lately and I thought that you guys might be interested in these things as well. I figure I'll randomly post the answers I have found to the random questions that pop up in my mind. Today as I was online shopping (seriously, right? stop this madness) I was looking through the reviews on a pair of jeans that I wanted. There was an angry lady that said that she used to be a size four and that she could still fit into all of her clothes from ten years ago but when she buys jeans or pants now, she has to buy a size 00 or 0 (is this actually a size? I'll explain later). So after reading this review, it sparked my interest. Why the heck would they change the sizing and why are there size zeros because that never really made any sense to me (of course I was never anorexic enough to fit into zeros so I guess it didn't affect me directly).

The reason why sizing charts have changed is in part due to vanity sizing. Simply put, Americans are getting fatter (in fact, since the 1950's the average waistline has expanded by six inches). As people get fatter, they find it demeaning to wear size 12's and 14's so in order to satisfy the buyers' needs to feel good about themselves, stores are forced to shift down the pants sizes, hence the size zero is introduced (size zero is around a size 4 in the UK sizing chart). Back in the day, America's sizing charts were based off of EN13402 which is the standard United Kingdom sizing chart. But when the fast food restaurant revolution along with the hectic 9 to 5 schedule was adapted into Western culture, the inevitable result was a bunch of fat people (example #1 Joanna Lo).

People change with the times and although yes, it's true that people have gotten fatter, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is overweight (ahem, bust size has increased in the past few years... people have also gotten taller). In actuality, when combined with modern standards, a size zero for an average sized person is indicative of an eating disorder.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, mens pants sizes haven't changed because guys have always used the military standard i.e. 32'', 32 long. Also guys aren't overly obsessive about clothes and appearance which eliminates vanity sizing... you know in most cases you can't even get them to throw out their old jeans with holes in them and buy another pair.

Anyway that was random. Just saying, again.

catch a falling star & sell it on ebay <3