Size queens

I often complain that I don't buy clothes that fit. I think part of the reason is the difficulty in knowing what size I am. That may sound crazy to men, but I think you women know exactly what I'm saying - we don't know our size because sizes for womens clothing change constantly.

As a vintage clothes lover, I believe that I'm either a US size 4 or 6 in women's clothes from the 1950s and 1940s. These days, I think that's a US size 0 to 2! I weigh the same and have the same measurements (unfortunately for my cup size, or lack thereof), so how could that be? And how come men's sizes haven't changed like this?

I think this is one of those mysteries we never really understand. My own theory, based upon the understanding that there are two kinds of people in the world - size queens and liars, is that somewhere between the 1970s and today, women with money wanted to stop lying and designers and manufacturers accomodated them. I'd be happy to hear other theories on this.

And as someone who finds the concept of imaginary and negative numbers difficult to grasp, I wonder how I'll feel when I have to ask for a negative size 2 or an imaginery size 3.