A SizeUSA Survey of 240 body measurements of 10,000 people in 13 cities across the United States recently came across some new math. SizeUSA results appeared in The New York Times, including the finding that the “average” American woman’s size is now 14, the former size cutoff for what was called Plus-Sized Clothing after World War II, when this type of body survey was last done. Size creep also hit men: the former average size of 40 Regular for men has become 44 lately.Of course, reaction to this new math for “average” apparel sizing all depends on who is asked.
(1) Fashion industry editors working on celebrity fashion spreads?
(2) Queen Latifah as designer of a line of Lingerie and Foundations ?
(3) Men and women drawn from four ethnic/racial groups (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian) between the ages of 35 and 55+ who were measured for the SizeUSA study?
(4) Clothing manufacturers targeting the American market in the past decade; or, perhaps, those apparel marketers who fessed up to a CBS 60 Minutes reporting team?
Before asking contestants one through four, let’s back up to SizeUSA. Study sponsors included clothing and textile companies, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy and several universities. Body measurements (240 from head to toe) were taken with a relentlessly accurate light-pulse 3-D scanner from a sample group of 10,000 American adults in 13 cities spread across all regions.
Variations emerged between ethnic/racial groups (Over 90 percent of all measured adult women were classified as pear-shaped or without a defined waistline, while Black women in the study tended to have larger measurements but were also most likely to have a classic hourglass shape with a defined waist.) and within groups (Black women older than 55 tended to have smaller hips than Black women who were up to ten years younger.). However, the trend line for studied American men and women, across all age and ethnic groups, can be summarized in one word: Bigger.
Back to respondents one through four, above.
(1) The glamorous end of the women’s fashion industry depicts a svelte size 8 with standard measurements 35-27-37. Off the magazine pages, women between the ages of 36 and 45 averaged 41(43)—34(37)—43(46) … with variations in and outside parentheses occurring across ethnic groups. Even the lowest new averages exceed “industry standard” by 6 or 7 inches.
The fashion industry’s 40 Regular for the average man is a traditional 40-34-40 measure. In the real world study, men between 36 and 45 averaged 42(44)—37(38)—41(42). Again, the reality is two-to-four inches off fashion standard.
(2) Queen Latifah leveraged a career as New Orleans female hip-hop artist to film actress to fashion designer and spokeswoman. Before representing sensible diet for a weight loss program or bold eye make up for an upscale line, Queen Latifah designed lingerie and foundations for what she calls big beautiful women. The old fashion industry “standard” size 8 never matched the Queen; and current wholesale demand for Plus Size Apparel and Lingerie has finally caught up, offering more silhouette-slimming body shapers and full-body leotards, modeled after Queen Latifah’s earlier designs.
(3) Of the 10,000 adults scanned and measured for the new SizeUSA average, just over half the men and 38 percent of the women held a self-perception that they were “about the right weight.” Only 21 percent of surveyed women, and even fewer of the men surveyed (10 percent) said they were “quite a bit overweight.” If the new SizeUSA women’s “average” is the old plus-size 14 — and if the new men’s “average” measure is 44 rather than the old traditional 40 — perhaps the survey group’s right weight self-perceptions are not all in self-beholder eyes.
(4) Apparel size labels over the past 10 years got smaller. A CBS 60-Minutes report whose conclusions appeared in the popular press uncovered a tendency of clothing manufacturers the past decade to design and construct larger-sized apparel to match a heavier market, but to label them down from commonly accepted sizes. The shrinkage in printed size labels sewn into larger-cut clothing produced an updated women’s average size 14 that may be closer to the old women’s 18 … clearly in the overweight zone. Those surveyed adults may have distorted self-perceptions of being “about the right weight” and, to protect ego, took mislabeled apparel that was sized down as evidence. The conclusion many drew from the 60-Minutes episode is that clothing designers and manufacturers were also going easy on their customers’ egos by mislabeling clothing sizes and allowing the size creep … mainly to keep their clothing lines marketable.
A more relaxed response to size creep, bigger “average” sizes and mislabeled clothing sizes spins off from the Queen Latifah point of view in number 2, above. That size and body type differences are not deviations from an idealized “norm,” but they are variations that need only be adjusted for health or energy reasons … not to match an airbrushed or youth-obsessed ideal. Some middle-aged women point out that “average” means about at the middle of the measurement scale … or the greatest number under the bell curve peak. Last, the range of designers and lines for plus-size jeans (Lauren Ralph Lauren, Seven7, Baby Phat, Levis Plus-size, Venezia; and Main Street Blues) plus-size retail chains (Evans in the U.K.) and the expansion of men’s apparel (Big and Tall chains, Men’s Work Clothes in plus sizes show a certain comfort level with that formerly untouchable size class.