I’d like to meet anyone who says that they enjoy being in a dressing room. From the unflattering lights to the tiny space, shopping is made less fun when most of us step into a dressing room. I don’t know about you but I have yet to find someone who likes this tiny space of judgment.
What makes a dressing room even more of a nightmare is the fact that most of us struggle to find the right size. We go into one shop and a size ten is the right one for us. We go into another and size ten jeans get stuck on our hips. We go to another one and we fit into a size 8. It gets confusing and we’re never sure of anything, except one thing — we’ll always go back to the place were a size 8 fits us.
As one writer put it, “men have to deal with small, medium, or large, [while] it seems like women's clothing uses a variety of different measurements that don't really seem to match up between brands.” And it’s true. If it wasn't, we would always fit into a size 10 or 12 or whatever size fits us, without the stress of jumping from one size to the other.
This is what one Instagram user has tried to point out with one photo. Katy posted a photo of herself in a dressing room. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, the lighting is so bad in there for everything, let alone Instagram shots.
Bad lighting aside, Katy wanted to prove a point. She posted two side by side photos of herself. In one photo, she has managed to button up a pair of denim leggings. In another, the leggings are stuck on her hip area.
According to Katy, clothing sizes vary. But not just from one brand to another. This happens even when the clothing pieces are made by the same brand.
Together with the photo, Katy wrote a long caption to prove a point about clothing sizes. She said, “LOL sizing is SUCH bullshit[.] These are both a size 10 short from express [sic] in their low rise leggings. Literally the same store, cut, size, etc.”
“The one was a hair too big & the other didn't even go over my thighs like WHAAAT?! My reason for sharing is...If you ever find yourself in a fitting room ready to burst into tears when something doesn't fit (we've all been there, myself included...millions of times...ask my mom) REMEMBER THIS PIC!”
“There are times I'm a small, times I can’t even muscle into a large, times a 10 falls off my hips & times, like this, it doesn't even get past my thighs. Sizing is silly...no one will know if you had to bump up or down because of the cut, style, or likely completely wrong sizing on the store's part. You mean so much more than fitting into the smallest size you can. Our value should never come from a number...on the scale or in our clothes."
The photo and the caption resonated with many people on Instagram. The post got over 8,000 likes. Moreover, people flooded the comments section to express their thoughts on this common frustration.
“Omg,” one user commented. “That is quite the eye opener...I never try clothes on in store and definitely not same sizes so I would never notice. So crazy! Thanks for sharing!”
“Thank you so much for pointing this out,” another user wrote. “I have found myself many times in a dressing room crying my eyes out because of the size of my clothes. I wear a 7 in one brand of jeans and a 14 in another. It's absolutely ridiculous.”
“Same thing has happened to me at Express,” one user added. “Sometimes they mislabel jeans too bc I've tried on pairs there that were my usual size that didn't fit at all and grabbed another pair of the exact same jeans in that same size that do fit. Totally wacky.”
“Amen,” another wrote. “Its hard not to get discouraged shopping sometimes but this a good reminder to look at ALL THE SIZES!! I have all the way to 2x in my closet.... at one time that would have devastated me! Now I'm like, who tf cares? It's cute.”
Then there was this woman, who couldn’t have said it better: “My mom taught me YEARS ago (bc of all the tears that you mentioned, above) that if the number on the tag really messes with your head THAT much, grab some scissors and cut it off, honey.” Um, YES!