This is a story about size charts for jeans, and why looking at them is pointless.Recently, I found out that Levi's has a new line of jeans called CurveID. Apparently they scanned a crazy number of female rear ends and came up with four curve types that supposedly will fit 80% of the population (world or U.S., I can't remember).
The Levi's website has a tool to determine one's curve type. You measure your "hip" (4" below your natural waist), "seat" (widest part of you, the part that I always called hips...), and the widest part of your thigh. My measurements were 35", 40.5" and 23", respectively. I fell into the "demi curve" category. Now, when you find your magic shape, you can shop for jeans in that style. I looked at the size chart, and saw that I'd be a size 10.
I really don't care what size my pants are, as long as they look nice. However, since the bottoms I own are almost exclusively size 6 or 8, I thought this odd. Maybe Levi's just doesn't indulge in vanity sizing. Still, I thought I would investigate further.
I own a pair of Rerock for Express bootcut jeans (bought during a huge sale. I will not pay $98 for pants). Those are them in the picture at the beginning of the post. I know they still fit, because I'm wearing them right now and I've even washed them recently. They are a size 4. I've had them for a little over a year, so it's possible that they've stretched to be a size 6.
My jeans are still on the Express website. The jeans I'm wearing in a size 4. A screen capture of the size chart is below:
According to the hip measurements, I should be a size 10. My waist is 29.5", which should also be a size 10.
Dear Express, why do you have a size chart if it doesn't mean sh*t? I truly have no problem with vanity sizing. If you think it would hurt my feelings to put the number 10 on the tag of my pants, that's fine. You can label sizes however you want, but for goodness' sake, create your size chart accordingly!
Just as a side note, their inseam measurements are spot-on. I'm 5'4", so I should be wearing short pants. My jeans are regulars, because shorts are harder to find in-store. Lo and behold, the inseam is exactly 3" too long for me.
Thank you, jeans manufacturers, for making sure to be perfectly accurate with the ONE measurement that is easy to fix at home, and is the easiest to adjust to with different shoe heights.
-Brianne
