Are clothes manufacturers to blame for the rise in obesity?

The reason people are overweight or dare I say fat, is mostly because of their diet. Not in all cases I hasten to add, and lifestyle, driving instead of walking etc. Retailers have just adjusted the sizing to the market.

Paperbackwriter, I agree with your thoughts about being brought up as a baby boomer- no cappuchino wherever you go, no prepackaged ready made sandwiches and portion sizes being smaller. I only went in cafes when on holiday, no meals out at all, just mum's home cooked meals and I walked or cycled everywhere. But ..... Despite all that . I used to be fat! No dressing it up - I was fat!

Now I have a cappuchino most days, eat out maybe once a fortnight, drive everywhere then amble around my destination and I am less than 9 stone.

So in my case that theory of the good old days doesn't always stack up. There again, maybe it's just me, I have always been an oddball!

Seriously though, I think it was the daily stodgy sweet home cooking that did it for me and exercise had v little/ no impact.

Nowadays I do minimal exercise ( joint issues) but only have puddings as an occasional treat. I think in general the diet of today is way healthier than that of the 50's.

I have trouble finding size 16s that fit right, but I don't believe manufacturers have control over my weight. Only I have control over that.

With regard to sizes, I agree that there is too much disparity even in a single garment. A dress will invariably be snug around the hip/belly area, and so big on top that it droops over my shoulders. In other words, 'Extra large' at the top and 'Medium' on the bottom. Conversely, I recently purchased a smaller (size 14) dress in a high end store. The dress fits perfectly on both ends and is very figure flattering.

Beware also of mail order shopping (namely from Asia). Blouses and tops have the most problems. Many come with sleeve holes that are too small or collars that are too big. Some garments are ridiculously tiny. I recently bought a size Extra Large (Woman's) sweater and had to return it. The label said XL, yet it was small enough for my 9 year old granddaughter to wear.

Dress size is one thing but there are too many variables. Your weight on the other hand is that indisputable number that shows up on your scale.

Lessismore, if you also have lots of tattoos and piercings, pink hair that has been over processed I think I saw you today.???

Yes it in the 50’s and 60’s it was hard to find a size 8 and sizes 6,4, and 0 didn’t exist.
It’s to do with food, lifestyle and genetics - not clothing labels so yes, YABU.

My current M&S clothes vary between sizes 8 and 12. In the loft I found a lovely M&S summer skirt, maybe from the 1970s? It's a size 10 and nowhere near fits me.

OMG Pam, was that you swigging out a can by the canal? I thought it was a bloke at first.

Pamelaj1, Lessismore ?? I am a size 16, NO ONE will ever see me looking frumpy , so sod that ridiculous idea that curtailing styles in my size will a,tear my looks!

alter my looks !

Grandetante, you're right about how people dressed in years gone by. By your description l could imagine Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. I have a photo from my parents' wedding in 1963 with both sets of my grandparents with my parents. They were in their forties and fifties at the time but appear far older than most of us would today. My two grandmothers are very smartly dressed in the style of the Queen Mother and are actually younger than l am now. They were elderly at fifty and old by sixty. It was the age of the curly perm and shampoo and set. Some people go the opposite way today, though. Not so long ago l saw a woman who was seventy if she was a day sporting a pink baseball cap bearing the legend Sexy Babe. As to the main topic, though, most overweight people have low enough self esteem that making them wear frumpy clothes to shame them into losing weight would be very cruel and counterproductive. An overweight person already knows they are overweight and usually possesses a mirror to confirm the fact. Why should they not enjoy nice clothes in the same way as everybody else? Everyone, whatever their shape or size, deserves to look and feel the best they can.

Marilyn Monroe's clothing fits well on a UK size 8-10 dress form today. The suggestion that she was a size 16 comes from the fact that she had a voluptuous figure, with a small waist and large bosom.

This thread prompted a family discussion

All think most were stronger, healthier overall in the 50's-

My one son said he thinks that women perhaps had a lot of

silent angst going on, all things considered, and that they had

to "work it off" which kept them busy and driven lol ..

He showed me old footage somebody uploaded from the

20's of daily life in a city nearby- We couldn't get over the

strength of the older men and women- They looked like they

could work circles around most of today's young ones-

In the fifties few people had cars and many had to walk to work or school - and a number of different shops in the days before supermarkets. Less' angst' I think than having to carry around heavy bags up and down hills several times a week if you didn't have a fridge! Children 'played out' a lot more for hours at a time with their friends in the days before television and other screens and greater fears for their safety.And everything we ate was made from scratch in our kitchen at home.Except sweets, which were a once a week treat.

However, as the mother of a now middle aged daughter who is still very slender (today's size 10) I would say there have been some biological changes - she, like her friends, has a larger waist size (26" from the age of 18, as opposed to my 22" at the same age). And on average, I think girls are taller. I can't think of many of my generation of women who grew to 5'10" or over, whereas this is by no means unusual these days.
Manufacturers do change sizing. I remember being very cross when they lengthened dresses between shoulder to waist in 1976! I could never again buy one that fitted perfectly...

I do not bother what weight anyone is. If you need to lose weight for health reasons, then that is down to the individual. Being someone who has a medical condition that puts weight on you and also the treatment for the condition puts weight on you. I know what it is like to be judged on appearance, by people who dont have a clue what I am going through or how I feel. There are many reasons for weight gain and it is not just down to eating too much.

No.
Fatties came first then manufacturers had to cater for them.

Define fattie, if you please.

Sheesh Gabriella and I thought I might have ruffled a few feathers!!

I think the clothing industry has had to adapt to the changes in female/Male bodies.

The inhabitants of the western world are physically bigger, whether that be over eating, lack of exercise or medication/physical illness.

Anyone who is fat/more than a little overweight/obese from overeating.
Dress it up all you like but fat is fat.

There have been a lot of studies showing how women;s shapes have changed since 1950. We are taller and have thicker waists, not necessarily because of weight gain but our figures have become less curvaceous. Here is a reference to one www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-a-size-12-to-a-16-how-women-have-changed-shape-546959.html

Are women stupid enough to fall for the inflation of dresses sizes. I doubt it. I weigh much as I did at 18, but I am 2 1/2 inches shorter. Do I believe when I comfortably get into a pair of trousers 2 sizes smaller than I wore then that I am slimmer than I was at 18, of course I don't and I do not think any other woman does either.

I’m convinced that sizing has changed! I was always a size 12 and I’m now a 10!

But doesn’t it give you a boost when that happens dirgni?
I bought a dress recently, I started at 14 as it was a little figure hugging, then 12. Then they had to find me a 10!

Yippee do - I felt soooo good. Hasn’t happened since but I do have a soft spot for that shop.

No, the pleasure comes when you drop a size because you have lost weight and then whether you drop from size 22 to 20, 16 to 14 or 10 to 8 is immaterial.

I bought a 1960s Jaeger dress in a charity shop. It is size 14, and is a squeeze to do up. To get a dress that fits as this one does on me, I would need to buy a size 10 these days. Compared with the '60s, I am 2.5 inches shorter and half a stone less, so not much change.

Monica, I take pleasure where I can?

Aha! The Jaeger fit! Their clothes were always better cut than your average high street stuff, I used to try and explain it as being more 3 dimensional - certainly more cut for curves than some of the modern stuff. I could get away with a size 14 even a 12 on a good day and it would actually flatter. Well cut clothes are always better on and I must admit I despair when I see a gorgeous young skinny miss who has poured herself into a skinny fitted dress that makes her look positively plump, and dare I say it, just a bit cheap, when a better cut one would do wonders.....once again cheap clothing is not such a bargain for us or the planet. I bet that Jaeger dress is still going strong!