--- title: Clothing: Why a Size 8 in the 1950s Would Be a Size 00 Today description: Brands use vanity sizing in order to flatter customers into buying more clothes. And it works. But a size in the 1950s would be a 00 today. canonical: https://time.com/4477888/clothing-vanity-sizing/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-02T16:48:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:45:27.974Z og:title: Why a Size 8 in the 1950s Would Be a Size 00 Today og:description: See vanity sizing over time og:url: https://time.com/4477888/clothing-vanity-sizing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae1968cf68e9cabc/6988a4b32dce0160fb9ea873/sizing-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: sizing-fb og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why a Size 8 in the 1950s Would Be a Size 00 Today twitter:description: See vanity sizing over time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae1968cf68e9cabc/6988a4b32dce0160fb9ea873/sizing-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why a Size 8 in the 1950s Would Be a Size 00 Today > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=aee6d0e5-1227-476d-93c1-5958ab2b526e&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Evolution of Women's Clothing Sizes [Watch (HLS stream): The Evolution of Women's Clothing Sizes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WnDMWIcb.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2016-09-01. Why it's impossible to find women's clothes that fit, and how to fix it. Inside the fight to take back the fitting room._  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Sep 2, 2016 4:48 PM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Sep 2, 2016 4:48 PM UTC [Vanity sizing](http://time.com/how-to-fix-vanity-sizing/) has radically changed the meaning of a size 8 over time, as the chart below shows. Studies have shown that shoppers prefer to buy [clothing](http://time.com/money/4298094/clothing-retailers-sales/) labeled with small sizes because it boosts their confidence. So as the [weight ](http://time.com/4476624/obesity-rates-state-america/)of the average American woman rose, from 140 lb. in 1960 to 168.5 lb. in 2014, brands adjusted their metrics to help more of us squeeze into more-desirable sizes (and get us to buy more clothes), as [TIME reported in a feature this week](http://time.com/how-to-fix-vanity-sizing/). Over time this created an arms race, and retailers went to extremes trying to one-up one another. By the late 2000s, standard sizes had become so forgiving that designers introduced new ones (0, 00) to make up the difference.  Graphic by Lily Chow ## Transcript Clothing sizes are a modern problem. For most of human history, well to do women had their clothes custom made and less fortunate women sewed their own frocks. Ready to wear clothes didn't come to prominence in America until the Depression when few could afford food, let alone fabric The industrial boom of World War II ushered in the rise of factory made clothes and department store and catalogs. Sizes were born. In the late 1950s, the government tried to suggest a universal sizing standard, but it didn't work, because it was based exclusively on the measurements of white women's bodies. And America was becoming more diverse. With no rules to determine sizes, brands began to vanity size. As the weight of the average American woman grows, brands adjusted their metrics to help more customers squeeze into more desirable sizes. A size 8 in 1958 was a size 00 by 2011. This has led to a wide variance in clothing sizes Dresses labeled as a size eight today, can vary in the bust by as much as three inches. And that's just part of the problem. Many brands don't go beyond a size 12. Meaning it's harder for curvier women to find clothes. But that's starting to change thanks in part to new clothing collections. Including ones from celebrities like Sophia Vergara and Melissa McCarthy, which aim to be more inclusive. 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