Nothing ever fits right! Wish I was skinny....

Have lots of you ever thought or said this phrase out loud?

There was a brief time when I was a size four.  I, strangely, started to miss my extra curves, but the shopping experience was AWESOME!  Everything fit!!  And I mean everything.  I just picked up a size four and it fit.  It seems once you wander past that size, everything seems to go wrong doesn't it?

Among the many things I've managed to do in my short time out of college, I worked in a couture fabric store.  I had a friend who was a clothing designer, and I got all kinds of dirt on the manufacturing of clothes.

Ignorance is bliss, except when it comes to women trying on clothes.

Some days this is me:

Then other days it's a total crash landing.....

But let me educate you on the production of clothing in our country and it might make you feel a little better.

As we all know too well (especially with Ralph Lauren being so brazen as to manufacture our Olympic uniforms in China) the majority of our clothes are not made in America.  There are a couple of ways that a company can choose to handle its production.

You see, each race of woman is constructed differently.  We have huge varying degrees of "typical" measurements.  The example I like to use that is easiest to understand is the apex measurement.  The apex measurement is literally from nipple to nipple.

European women tend to have wide apexes, American women tend to be somewhere in between, and Asian woman (surprise!) are the smallest.  If a company does all of its fitting overseas, then they are basing their fit on Asian women.  Now this doesn't mean that there is no cross over between races.  I'm as white as can be my but apex is that of a typical Asian woman, which means I have absolutely no problem finding shirts that fit great.  The hips on the other hand.....

Everyone jokes that there are "black women" stores.  That's for a reason.  Black women also tend to have different typical measurements.  So, in other words, some companies are trying to force all women into an Asian mold and it just ain't gonna happen.

If you move up in value in your clothing a little you will start to find that the fit is better because they do the fittings in America...with American women.  That doesn't mean that everything will fit properly, but you stand a better chance.  

They have to eventually settle on a standard size for clothing, but stores like Express are exploring different body types as lines of clothing.  Nothing fits me better than a pair of Express curvy cut jeans.

So now you know.  So when you freak out over clothes not fitting in a store, leave that store.  All of their measurements are going to be based on the same fit model, and if that fit model doesn't fit you then don't waste your time.  The key is to find a store that you like that has your typical body measurements down to a science and stick with it.

Just one more weapon for shopping......other than an emotional cup of ice cream at the end of it all to make it all better.