Yesterday I Was a Size 12 or Lies My Size Tag Told Me

Behold your latest fabulous vintage find- you want it,

you need it, it just has to fit . . .

Yes! It's your size, see, look at the

tag!

So you buy it, you get it, you try it . . .

you swear.

It's not even close.

So what happened?

When did a size 12 become not a size 12?

The 1950's.

And again in the 1970's. And again in the 90's.

I know, I know, you are saying impatiently, vintage sizes run smaller-ish, which is the standard vague answer you've been told a million times.

You DO need to know more, but we'll get to why in a minute.

Once upon a time, prior to 1950 to be exact, a size 12 was small. Very small. In fact, weensy.

A size 12 in 1936 was actually the smallest dress measurement - sizes ranged from 12 to 46.
A size 12 in 1936 measured 30 in the bust, 23 1/2 in the waist, and 32 1/2 in the hips.

Flash forward to late 1970's.
By 1978 a size 12 measured close to 35 bust, 26 in the waist, and 37 in the hips.

Translation:
You can wear a size 4 , a size 5/6 in 70's vintage, a size 8/9 in 50's/60's vintage and a size 12 in 30's/40's, all on the same day without eating your weight in Haagen Daz.

And that's not all.
Dresses were categorized in Misses, Juniors or Women's. Both Misses and Juniors typically ran size 22 and under, the Juniors were the odd sizes like 5, 7, 9, and Misses the 4, 6, 8's, etc. Women's sizes usually started with 34, and had larger waist and hips than the Misses or Juniors. Now this part is important for 2 reasons:

1. Women's sizes after the 30's/40's do not reflect the bust size. In other words, a size 34 does not mean it has a size 34 bust, a very common mistake.
2. If you are lucky enough to be a curvy girl, this means you have a second set of size numbers you can wear.
   

Lordy, Lordy you're thinking. Why do I need to know all this when shopping? I'll just check the measurements or try it on.

Here's the thing.

You, my friend, have already missed out on scoring the most fabulous dress ever because of the size tag.

That's right. The slinky satin Jean Harlowe Glam 30's Bias Cut Gown? You walked right on by because you knew it would never fit your size 6 body - it was marked " large" or "Size 16" due to it's tag. And in 1930's, a size 16 measures approximately the same as today's size 6 and would have fit you like a dream ...

or you - Curvy Girl! You never even SAW that spectacular Viva Las Vegas Dress online, because you were searching for size 18 or large, and didn't think to look for a Size 36 . . .

or, even worse, you DID see that Ceil Chapman Most Adorable Dress In The Whole Universe but passed on it because it said size 36 right in the title and you, my friend, are a 39" bust.
You assumed it meant bust size when the seller pulled that number off the size tag. And in 1962, a Women's size 36 had, you guessed it, a 39" bust.

What's a girl to do?

SHOP BY CUTENESS, NOT BY SIZE. Ignore every single size label and tag UNTIL you can confirm bust size and waist measurements against your own. Remember that dresses may have been altered from their original tag. Comb fanatically all the racks in a vintage store and spend the time to look in all the sections of a store online-click on EVERY dress you love -don't pass on anything until you know for sure.

Get to know what size you are in different decades. If you learn approximately what size tags to look for, you will have a better advantage when searching for that perfect dress, especially if you are buying on auction sites like Ebay or at estates sales and antique malls where you can't try items on. Understand not every seller is familiar with vintage and can make mistakes.

Remember that sweaters and jackets are sized by the bust and don't match up with dress sizes! You can wear a size 36 dress and need a size 40 sweater-it's easy to assume they should match, and if the items were sold as separates they won't. When you see a set with 2 conflicting numbers it is not a mistake.

Don't forget to check if a dress can be altered-even if you don't sew, your drycleaner should have a tailor who can easily adjust a simple dart or waistline.

And finally, here are actual guides - one from 1936, one from 1962, and one from 1978.
This should give you a good balanced idea of where you land in the 30's/40's range, the 50's/60's range, and the 70's/80's range.

click here for
charts