What Size Am I?
Garment sizing drove Ruth O'Brien crazy. She was the head of the Clothing and Textiles division in the Bureau of Home Economics in the 20th Century and a textile chemist who liked rational systems. She organized large-scale studies measuring Americans in order to create a system of sizing based on the sizes that people actually came in. But it was all for naught. People did not want accurate sizing. Women wanted sizing that told them that their children were tall for their age and that told them that they were smaller around than they actually were. And manufacturers were perfectly willing to humor them. Which is why sizes mean almost nothing today. Unless you are a man and can go by inches. Even so, "comfort fit" and elasticized waistbands mean some men are being humored about their actual waistline measurements.
Here I give you the absurdity of two boatneck women's tops sold by two different garment companies.The turquoise is marked "Medium" while the bright pink is marked "Small." And somewhere Ruth O'Brien is spinning in her grave
