Today’s “Fashion Friday” should be a very useful one for some of you ladies. Last week, I met the lovely Clare Watson of Miss Dress. Clare is a personal stylist, and has worked with a number of you AGs.
We began brainstorming on some of the trickiest issues that us Americans have while shopping in London, and I thought it would be very helpful for Clare to do a guest post about UK sizing. So, here you go….
As a thorough bred Brit I have shopped around the world and I still think Britain has the best high street in terms of value for money and choice. But having lived and worked in the States and as a hardened shopper even I find re-calculating sizes between continents a pain. Mental arithmetic is not what I want to be doing when a bargain is to be had! So why is it in this country we have a very different sizing system- and more to the point, why is an M&S size 12 completely different to a Monsoon 12?
Well, (short history lesson coming up); In 1982 the British Standards Institute produced a table for women’s dress sizes but like most things English, tradition is key! So whilst the rest of the modern world has moved into metric, we are still using the old imperial system. Coupled onto that there is no regulator to enforce this old sizing system, so whilst women have got bigger, shops have been baying to ‘vanity sizing’ hence why one dress size between shops varies so much.
In case you have not yet figured it out, the general rule of thumb for converting your American size into British is go up 2.
That is all very well if you happen to be above a size 2 as I am sure you have discovered our clothing sizes start at 6. Why? As one Tweeter asked me; nope I haven’t the foggiest either. Perhaps the men sitting around the table at The BSI in 1982 liked the number 6?!
Fortunately the introduction of many European brands onto our high street have made it easier for both petite and plus size women alike to find more choice and variety but of course this then throws up a whole new set of sizing problems as you have to do a whole a whole load more converting and calculating to find out your British size to then work out your American size. I know, I hear you; Tedious!
So rather than babble on any further and help you get a handle on this clothes conundrum, here is my simple table for working out which size you really are.
Dress Size Conversion Table
|
U.S
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
8
|
10
|
12
|
14
|
16
|
18
|
20
|
|
UK & Ireland
|
–
|
6
|
8
|
10
|
12
|
14
|
16
|
18
|
20
|
22
|
24
|
|
France, Spain & Portugal
|
32
|
34
|
36
|
38
|
40
|
42
|
44
|
46
|
48
|
–
|
–
|
|
Italy
|
36
|
38
|
40
|
42
|
44
|
46
|
48
|
50
|
52
|
–
|
–
|
|
Germany & Scandinavia
|
30
|
32
|
34
|
36
|
38
|
40
|
42
|
44
|
46
|
48
|
50
|
|
Australia
|
–
|
6
|
8
|
10
|
12
|
14
|
16
|
18
|
20
|
22
|
24
|
|
Japan
|
1
|
3
|
5
|
7
|
9
|
11
|
15
|
17
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
|
S-XL
|
XXS
|
XXS
|
XS
|
S
|
M
|
M/L
|
L
|
XL
|
XXL
|
XXXL
|
XXXL
|
Shoe Size Conversion Table
|
U.S
|
5
|
5.5
|
6
|
6.5
|
7
|
7.5
|
8
|
8.5
|
9
|
9.5
|
10
|
10.5
|
11
|
11.5
|
12
|
|
UK & Ireland
|
2
|
2.5
|
3
|
3.5
|
4
|
4.5
|
5
|
5.5
|
6
|
6.5
|
7
|
7.5
|
8
|
8.5
|
9
|
|
France/Spain/Italy
|
35
|
35.5
|
36
|
36.5
|
37
|
37.5
|
38
|
38.5
|
39
|
39.5
|
40
|
40.5
|
41
|
41.5
|
42
|
Just a heads up if anyone goes down under, this conversion table is incorrect for Australia. Australia is another size up, so a US 6, while its a UK 8, it's an Australian 10.
I absolutely hate how we have to convert everything but then again you feel like you got a size smaller if you head to the US 🙂