Supersize Me
I went to the mall this weekend with K and my mom, which I admittedly don't do too often, but which was nice, because I got a pair of shorts and a green leather purse marked down to $17. I guess I don't get out too much, or at least out of the city, for I didn't realize how much bigger people have gotten. Big husbands, big wives, big babies, big grandmothers. The odd thing was that all the clothes in the stores went up to size 16 maybe, although most sizes in stock were actually 6, 8, and 10. (The average size for women now is 12.) Now, I'm comfortable in a 14, even though I'm still trying to lose some of the weight I've gained since college, but I just wondered who the clothes on the racks were actually for, since most of the women in their late twenties/early thirties at the mall were so much bigger than me. I mean, where were they buying their clothes? And don't tell me the women's section, either, because those clothes looked like something you'd wear lounging out in the retirement home. I guess what I'm saying is I don't understand why, if people have changed so much in the last twenty-five years, then why haven't the clothes sizes?
posted by Jen @ 8:28 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I've noticed this, too, anytime we get away from the city (where people actually walk places.) I keep wondering whether it has always been this way, and I'm just now noticing, or whether the combo of low fat-high sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and the chemicals in diet soda have wreaked indelible havoc on us.
... should have said "a low-fat/high sugar diet..." like we all succumbed to in the 90s (How many boxes of Snackwells did I eat? Too many. They're low fat!)
My friend in Chicago told me that all the sizes were moved down two notches. Has this been universal in the States?
I did read an article years ago about how Walmart clothes come only in the most garish colours, while more money gives you the freedom to buy subtlety.
Your thoughts?
Yes, crumb, I am truly amazed at how willfully ignorant of the food chain I was in college. Thankfully, a healthy appetite for cigarettes kept me a lean, green (in pallor) machine back then. Those Snackwells are good, though. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to chocolate, so I worry much more about diabetes as I get older than obesity.
Maktaaq, from a consumer standpoint I concur that cheaper clothes are available in more garish colors, most likely because of the cheaper fabrics and dyes. Of course, bright colors are in this spring, so everyone will have pop, regardless of their monetary punch. I have always been a mute color person, greys and browns, and black, and probably always will be.
Weekend before last I went to the local cineplex and noticed all these very very heavy people all around me. Now, the last year or so I have put on some pounds, it's true, but these people were definitely on the much larger side.
But I've noticed all the tiny clothes in stores too and also wonder who they're for.
All I have to say, though (as a fellow chocoholic) is that I really, really miss the days when I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. The last couple of years, I have definitely noticed that I can't eat what I used to -- right now I'm as heavy as I've ever been, and that's not cool. So at some point soon, I gotta get back to the gym on a regular basis.
Maktaaq- I've read the same thing. Sizes in the U.S. have been "adjusted" to meet our growing size. What was a 10, is now an 8. And so on. In Europe the sizes are as they were.
From a male point of view, Walmart's the best place to go for clothes that are just cheesy. Good for halloween.
Heb, I like the Value Village also, although the last Halloween costume I got was from Sunny's (girl scout uniform to be a ghoul scout).
That's it! I am going to be a ghoul scout for this upcoming Halloween!!!
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