So you’re in the dressing room. You’ve brought in a few cute jeans that claim to be your normal size. You expect them to fit because your size in one store should be the same size in another.
Wrong.
When you take the first pair off the hanger and stick your feet in, it goes on pretty effortlessly. You’re hopeful. However, once it reaches the thigh territory, all has gone to hell. You pull and tug and jump and twist, yet somehow the constricting fabric won’t make it over your gloriously thick thighs, even though it’s your “normal” go-to size. “What the f*ck?” you may exclaim. It’s been a rough week already, and now your jeans won’t even fit. This realization makes you hot and flustered, which certainly doesn’t help.
You start questioning yourself. Have I gained weight? Are these the right size? Should I lose weight to be able to fit into these? What’s wrong with me? Why do all jeans hate me?
You may start looking something like this…
Image via Giphy
We’re all guilty of blaming ourselves more than we should. And this, my friend, is one of the most common scenarios where us women find ourselves blaming our bodies for something entirely out of our control. All we want are jeans that fit to our bodies. That is all. Clothing companies across the world have figured out how to trick women into going up or down in sizes because they have a particular image of what their ideal customer should fit into. How encouraging.
Let’s take H&M for example. This clothing company is known for ridiculously small-running jeans. If you’re normally a size 8 in jeans, you’ll end up having to go up to a 10. Then a 12. Then a 14. Until finally, you’re able to squeeze into a size 16. Forget about having any sense of body confidence or self-esteem. At that point, you don’t even want to look at another pair of jeans ever again.
Women have it hard enough trying to remain positive about their body shape and weight, especially with the countless images we scroll through on social media and the pressure we feel in day to day life. It’s exhausting, draining and unnecessary. I hope that clothing companies will get the message and go back to good ol’ normal sizing; where a medium means a medium or a size 10 means a size 10. It may even increase their sales because people won’t be getting frustrated spending hours trying to find the right size, only to end up leaving empty-handed.
So next time you find yourself in this situation, remember that it isn’t your body’s fault for not being able to fit into certain sizes. Nobody sees the number anyway; they only see how great you look in your new jeans. There is no “right” size you must fit into, and it shouldn’t feel like you just attempted to run a marathon and got nowhere. All bodies, of all shapes and sizes, deserve to have jeans that fit them. It’s as simple as that. Embrace your curves, your thick thighs or skinny thighs, your waist, big or small; and once you finally find those perfect jeans, wear them like it’s nobody’s business!
Image via Giphy