So let's talk vanity sizing. You know, when you walk into a store knowing full well you're a size 8 everywhere else, only to find yourself blissed out in the change room squeezing into a size 4!
Vanity sizing may culminate in confused shopping trips, where your number ultimately depends on the label in a given store. But more than that, vanity sizing is a genius retailing coup d'etat, tricking you into believing you are thinner than you are. (And hey—rhetorical question—who doesn't want to shop more in a place where they fit into a 4 versus an 8?)
In an article on Huffington Post, hip hop artist Kinnie Starr recalls when she first became cognizant of the vanity sizing phenomenon. She questions the motives of retailers who shrink their sizes, deluding us into thinking we are thinner than we really are.
"It seems like all these forces combine to convince women to expend well-earned capital on dieting tricks and fads in combination with the push to become smaller for a minute according to a tag on a garment," Starr writes.
"As the number on the tag gets smaller, the doorway to 'treating oneself' for getting 'smaller' is opened, and our dollars fly out the window."
Spill it. Does vanity sizing bother you, or are you more inclined to shop at store that flatters you with a smaller size?
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