25 May 2007

Size ain't nothin' but a number- - - and it is a dumb and irrelevant number, at that.

While there has been quite a bit happening politically that interests me, I've been more in the mood to mostly write personal posts this week. This post will be no exception. But hello, Congress, passing a 100 billion (yep, that's billion with a B) piece of legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Um, Uncle Sam? Where is this money going to come from? Oh, that's right. My tax dollars. Sigh. With such a stellar example from the government, is it any wonder that the average Joe has thousands of dollars in personal credit card debt? Rhetorical questions all. Back to the point of this post.

Last weekend, DH and I popped in to Target after our Sunday morning out-to-breakfast ritual. He loves to cruise through a handful of stores after taking a peek at the Sunday ads (just about the only worthwhile part of our local paper). Personally, I prefer to lounge around and read, or do a few small projects around the house, or do nothing at all on Sundays, but every now and then I tag along with him.

He went off in the direction of whatever he wanted to look at from the ad, and I wandered into the clothing section. I vastly prefer Target to, say, Wal-Mart. The ranting and raving about Wally's will have to wait for another day, but let's just say that I had to study quite a lot about them in business school (my University degree is in business, FYI) and their business practices SUCK! {end rant}

I am pretty fond of Isaac Mizrahi and Target's Merona brand, and the Mossimo line. But I haven't purchased any clothing for myself since around this time last year, when K drug me out looking for something to wear to a work event she had to go to. I don't like looking at my rolls in the mirror, and am disgusted at the size I need to purchase to fit myself. Or, rather, I had been up until Sunday.

Almost nothing in my closet fits me right now. Almost everything is so large that it either needs taken in at the waist or it just billows out around me, making me look pregnant or like I'm a little girl dressing up out of mommy's closet. I can't believe that I'm bitching about this when it is an obvious good sign of progress, but, I'm still annoyed that I haven't lost all the weight that I want to lose. I realize this isn't too rational, but y'know, I'm not entirely sane. Nothing fits, it is all too big, and it irritates the crap out of me. Especially when getting dressed for work in the morning, I'm trying on an average of 3 different outfits every day, attempting to find ANYTHING that fits to wear to work.

Some perverse instinct made me keep a very few of my business suits in smaller sizes when I gained weight, so there are about 2 suits that fit. Both of them wool and heavily lined. Not exactly springtime wear, eh? Since I work in a very professional environment, I can't just wear the sweats and other comfy stuff that does fit, I actually do need clothes that fit to wear to work.

I haven't wanted to go out and buy an all-new wardrobe because I have no intentions of staying this size. And because it would be expensive. My stated goal is to lose about another 30-40 pounds, making the weight loss a grand total of about 70 pounds. That's where I ought to be according to the info on the height/weight charts, but that doesn't really matter to me. My reason for that weight is that's where I felt pretty comfortable, and with the muscle definition I should have by that time, I'll be looking darn fabu. (Ego? Me? Naaaaah.)

But I found a bunch of things in Target that I liked on the clearance racks and I picked up a few things to try on, disappearing into the dressing room for about a half hour. (DH searched the entire store for me during this time, even going out to the car to see if I was waiting there. Which kind of cracks me up.)

I had chosen things in a smaller size than I've worn in years, a 10. Just an idle, and hopeful, guess. Three brands, Merona, Issac, and Mossimo, and don't you know that the 10 in Issac's stuff fit, the Merona did not, and the Mossimo skirt did, but the pants did not. W.T.F.? Why aren't there standards ACROSS THE INDUSTRY for clothing sizes? There are for the guys....a pair of men's trousers that are 32x32 from Levi's are going to be the EXACT SAME SIZE as a pair of trousers from Brooks Brothers.

Ladies, why on EARTH do we put up with this? Think about the collected time that you've WASTED in dressing rooms over the years, agonized that the size {{whatever}} you picked up off the rack didn't fit. Or guessing, when trying on something made by a clothing line that you've never heard of, what size might fit, and having to go back and try 3 or 4 more of whatever it is on to find your size. What a pain!

I'm going to make an attempt to stop giving a damn about that number on the tag. If it fits, wear it. If it doesn't, who cares. But wouldn't it be nice to have some standardization, so that a 10 is a 10 is a 10? I'm just sayin'.

HEY! CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS! I'M TALKING TO YOU! HOW ABOUT MAKING STUFF THAT FITS REAL WOMEN, WHO HAVE HIPS AND THIGHS, WHO AREN'T THE OLSEN TWINS AND STILL WANT TO LOOK GOOD? OH, AND WHAT ABOUT MAKING THINGS THAT ACTUALLY HAVE AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF WHAT SIZE IT IS ON THE TAG? WOULD IT KILL YA?

By the way, I ended up buying a black & white sheath dress, a black suit jacket, and a pair of black trousers. With tax, a grand total of about $47. As I said, some of the stuff I took back to try on didn't fit, so I grabbed a larger size of the trousers off the rack on the way home, and ended up having to go back to exchange them, because the pair two sizes larger was huge. When I exchanged the trousers, I picked up a black and white skirt too, ($14) so I ended up with 3 outfits for less than $100. Not bad. Not bad at all.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I SO feel your pain!!! I'm a 14 at Old Navy, an 18 at American Eagle (if you can even FIND anything in 18 there), and don't even get me started in a variety of other places.

I suck it up the odd time and venture to a "fat chick" store to try on some pants... and their smallest sizes fit my over-sized posterior (oh yeah, I just squeed), but as for shirts, fohgettabahtit, too big, and yet, anywhere else other than Old Navy and sport stores... I'm too big. O_o

National standards MY ASS! I cannot buy anything without trying it on first.

Lucy Arin said...

And don't EVEN get me started on the stuff that I do buy that sorta fits but still needs altered in some way. Every single pair of jeans I've bought in the last ten years. Nearly every pair of dress trousers. If I was just about 3 inches taller, it wouldn't be a problem, but if I don't have things shortened up, I'm dragging the cuffs on the ground. Grrr.

Shoulda been born rich, then I could have stuff custom-made to actually FIT me. ;p

Anonymous said...

You could just take up sewing...

(I say this with no less than four started-and-never-will-I-ever-finish-them projects sitting next to my sewing machine. Sigh.)

~mm

Lucy Arin said...

You mean like the 3 knitting projects that I've got started and not finished? *sighs*

I don't have a sewing machine...and so not going to do that by hand!!! But it IS a good thought.

Anonymous said...

I thought about taking up sewing just to alter/design my own clothing... and then I realized that I'd be gung-ho about it for, oh, a month and then the sewing machine would do little more than gather dust. LOL!