When I first watched “The Devil Wears Prada,” I gasped a bit at “Nigel’s” line: “6 is the new 14.” I thought oh gosh, now we’ll start a whole new round of anorexia. On reflection, however, it occurred to me that the line was quite literal. Since the 1980s, the American women’s fashion industry has played a bit of a game with dress sizing to accommodate for rising levels of overweight and obesity. Today’s 6 is in fact yesterday’s 14. So when people comment that Marilyn Monroe was not a little girl–she wore a size 12, we’re told–they should not think that Marilyn was as big as today’s 12, which would have been about a size 18 or 20 in Marilyn’s day.
Marilyn Monroe, often reported to have worn anywhere from a size 12 to a size 16, would probably be about a size 4 by today's standards.
What really brought this home to me was the ridiculousness of my post-Jenny Craig shopping, when I discovered that returning to my college weight meant that I was now a size 4 instead of the quite consistent size 12 of my youth. Finding 12s was always pretty easy when I was young, but few stores carried anything larger than a 14. That was California. I was astonished to see size 22s on the racks of Bergdorf Goodman and Saks in New York in the 70s, because I did not know such a size existed. Those 22s would be relatively “normal” 14s today. I also learned from my multi-talented cousin, who makes fabulous Renaissance gear as well as beautiful street clothes, that sewing pattern sizes have remained stable since the 1950s. Pam says that she wears a 6 off the rack, but that’s a 14 in a pattern.
I understand the motivation of the fashion industry, but I find it astonishing that people are fooled by this. Are there really women my age complacently thinking “I’m still the same size I was at 20” without noticing the extra poundage and inches associated with 6 dress sizes? I suppose the most vulnerable victims of the hoax are young women, who read about Marilyn Monroe but have never actually experienced the traditional sizing scheme. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating body dissatisfaction here, but a little bit of a reality check, especially for those of us who are old enough to understand traditional sizing, might help people face their weight problems in a realistic way.
3 Comments
dmorriso · October 30, 2009 at 9:02 am
Haha I think that is funny and I have noticed that same thing. It is interesting seeing how sizes are changing in clothing. Is that because of the rising obesity rates? You showed us the other day in class how much obesity has spread throughout the United States… That was crazy! Being a Kinesiology major, it makes me realize that I have a lot of work cut out for me in health education. I have always thought that the clothing companies made smaller sizes to fit bigger people for sales purposes. If you are normally a size 8 and then go try on a size 4 or 6 pair of jeans and they fit, it would make you feel better about fitting into those jeans and buy them. I don’t know if that is the reason, or if people just are bigger and don’t fit into those small sizes anymore, but it is definitely interesting to see how it has changed.
Laura Freberg · October 30, 2009 at 10:31 am
I’m interested in the fact that women’s clothing sizes are now “vanity sized,” but men’s are not. Sounds like a senior project to me! I’m sure the rationale is that women will buy more clothes if the label is smaller than larger, but it does mask our increasing obesity problem. My 1970 size 12 is now a size 4 (I weigh the same as in 1970), and where a 12 was a “medium” in 1970, a 4 is now an “extra small” in my latest Lands End catalog. In 1970, if you wore a size larger than an 14 (today’s size 6), you couldn’t shop in a “regular” department store–you would need to go to Lane Bryant, etc. Shows you how the public has changed.
laurenshaber · February 3, 2010 at 9:38 am
The American public is definitely changing with it’s perspective of obesity. If you drive down the street in a major town, you will no doubt see many fast food restaurants. This, along with the everyday acceptance of foods such as french fries and burgers smothered in condiments and whatnot, is definitely making the average size increase majorly. It’s sad to see how our prorities as Americans have changed to food, which affects our size, and further affects our body image and self esteem.
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