Pant rant

[owlectomy]

The trouble with buying pants online is that many of the size charts bear almost no relationship to the actual size of the pants. My current best-fitting pants are clearly too large for me, but the next size down (if I trust the size chart) is three inches smaller than my actual waist.

The trouble with buying pants anywhere else but online is that Lane Bryant stopped stocking tall pants. Plenty of clothing stores stock up to my size in regular-height pants, but not in talls.

The trouble with trying on regular-height pants in the store, and then ordering the corresponding tall size online, is that I'm long-waisted rather than long-legged, and that tends to throw off the whole fit.

Companies that make pants! I am not asking you to flatter me. I am not asking you to deceive me regarding the width of my waist. I am asking to be able to use a tape measure to determine which size of pants I ought to buy!

Comments

[meaghansketch]

argh I feel (much of) your pain...

Acknowledging my straight-size privilege, it is still tough to find tall sizes in stores, and I am not sure who size charts are made for, but certainly not for me or anyone I know. Recently I was in a store and there was a dress I liked in (what I thought was) a ridiculous size, but it was the only size so I tried it on. Bizarrely it fit. Then I tried on a pair of pants in my normal size, four sizes larger (or is that 2 sizes? The number was 4 more. I don't understand womens' sizing) and they were too small. How is this even possible? Same store, same size chart. Good thing I didn't try to order them online :/

[meaghansketch]

OH AND ANOTHER THING (though not pants-related, this is size-chart-madness-related)
(sorry, I could really rant on and on)
(this is also a striking display of thin privilege, or whatever you want to call it)

I was trying on bridesmaid dresses not too long ago, and by the chart on their site, I would be a 12. OK, no problem. I try on the sample size (they only have one size for each dress in the store). It is an 8. It fits perfectly. They measured me but ordered me the 8. Now, if I had not been the sample size, they would have just looked at the chart and ordered me the 12, and I would have had to pay a lot more to get the dress altered. I have heard of this happening to a lot of people- where the dress is blindly ordered off the size chart (how else do you do it, if there is only one dress?) and ends up being way off. I DO NOT understand how these size charts get made, or who they are made for.

[brigid]

I made the HUGE mistake of ordering clothing from "Woman Within" and used a measuring tape and their sizing chart and everything I ordered was either too large or way too large wtf this is ridiculous. So! For people who are above the size limits of "regular" plus size clothing that is a possible option! But for people who want to order pants that fit... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (several months later, and I'm STILL waiting for a refund for the clothing I returned. UGH THIS COMPANY.)

[firecat]

Word. I had to give up and start ordering pants made to my own measurements.

[meaghansketch]

I just remembered this thing now exists:
http://me-ality.com/
I really want to try it out.

[jjhoutman.livejournal.com]

I hear you. I could never find pants with a long enough inseam--until I started shopping in the Men's department. And as a bonus, most of them are no-iron and many are stain-resistant. And they have functional pockets so I can put my phone and keys in my pockets without them falling out when I sit down.