The average female mannequin is 6 ft. tall and wears a size 2-4; the average American woman is 5 ft. 6 in. tall and wears a size 12-14. Get the picture? Our European cousins have, and now it's against the law in Spain, Italy and Romania to have rail thin mannequins. Now England, Australia and Ireland have joined the fray and are beginning to phase out size 2-4 mannequins in favor of 6-8 size mannequins. Far from the ideal, but at least a step in the right direction.
American mannequin manufacturers are for the most part ostriches with their heads in the sand. They seldom produce anything but a size 2 female. If they do, they certainly do not advertise or promote it, in any credible way. It’s remanded to the back of the catalog with the slur, “plus.” In truth, they’re not plus, they're average, to remain consistent, size 2-6 should be identified as "minus." Mannequin manufacturers, like the retailers they sell to, have convinced themselves that what the public wants to see is something beautiful, glamorous and attractive, and none of that comes in a size 12. In truth, customers want to see fair representation, that’s why the Dove “real beauty” ads remain so successful. That’s why Kristie Ally and Valerie Bertinelli dominate TV commercials with their Jenny Craig commercials. Neither are size 2 waifs, nor desire to be. That’s why men’s magazines are stuffed with articles on big booties. The world’s great beauties are seldom a size 2. Real beauty comes in all sizes.
The history of sizing is an interesting one; Macy’s is credited with implementing standardizing sizing in 1934. Up until that point, it was pretty much catch as catch can. The war years soon followed, and the government needed to make millions of uniforms, and it's there that sizing as we know it came from. Women, unlike men, the government surmised, with their curves above and below, were placed into general categories 2-4, 6-8 and so on, this way they didn’t need to cut so many patterns or risk running out of a size. So sizing as we know it is a carry over from the 1940s. Unfortunately, the average woman and man in the '40s was shorter, and thinner than the average person today. In fact, since 1960, men and women are roughly 25 pounds heavier and almost an inch or two taller. Due to the alarming rise in obesity, that trend will continue to escalate. But it’s not just weight, our body types have changed, as nearly every food we ingest is fortified with some sort of hormone, supplement, vitamin and nutrient. Thus creating a sort of uber person.
Jeans, for example's sake, are the most common form of garment produced and worn. The average woman owns eight to 10 pairs of jeans. The average woman needs to try on 12-14 pairs of jeans before she will find a pair that fits adequately, or up to 140 pairs of jeans. No man would stand for that laborious routine. The average American male owns up to seven pairs of jeans, and needs to try on just three pairs prior to finding an adequate fit--21 pairs compared to women’s 140. You do the math. If I were a denim retailer, I’d want my customer to purchase the first pair they tried on, not the 13th. Why doesn’t women’s sizing simply model itself after men’s sizing in inches/centimeters? Reduce labels to a succinct 36 in., 24 in., 38 in., or in a 42 in., 34 in., 36 in.
I too get frustrated. In an effort to fully disclose my bias, yes it’s true, I work for a company that specializes in producing forms--our women’s forms come in size 2 to 28, men in size 36 to 50, and every size in-between, just like real people. Maybe one day we will all rise to find a new day has dawned and our clothing actually fit us.
--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger
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New Year's marks a time of beginnings. It's also a time when most of us make resolutions we have no intention of ever keeping (much like my 2008 resolution to stop eating chocolate!). In reality, resolutions are false promises made in a spirit of hope, and often inebriation. Borders, however, has the perfect answer to our need to start the new year off with resolutions we will most likely never stick to. In fact, Borders is hoping that with their new program, running throughout the month of January, they'll be able to get us all to keep our New Year's resolutions.
