Feminist, Fat, and Fabulous Blog: Sizing Up The Situation

A few weeks ago it was my sister’s birthday. The sister whose ultimate aspiration is to buy from the front of the clothing racks, rather than the back. I carefully listened to her for months beforehand, to see if she would inadvertently give me a hint as to what she wanted for her birthday. She was buying something for me on ASOS when she noticed a top she really liked. She was going to buy it for herself when she did the pounds to Australian dollars conversion and changed her mind.

‘Ahah!’ I thought, ‘I will buy the top for her birthday!’

Crisis over.

Or so I thought.

The general rule when buying from UK based sites is to size up. So, I sized up. I’ve done it with every item that I’ve bought from UK based sites and they’ve fitted me fine. So I did this with her top.

It arrived. I tried it on. It was too big.

Panic. Attack.

It was supposed to be a corset style top—very fitted and body conscious. The bra cups had underwire and the material was of a thicker fabric than most tops. And it swam on me. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of returning it and getting a smaller size, because I didn’t think it would get back to me in time to give it to her. AND I was worried because of her body issues. She had put on a little bit of weight. Since she started seeing her boyfriend, she has been going out a lot at night for dinner. Mostly takeaway. Whereas he is a naturally slim person, who also exercises a great deal for the fun of it, she is not. She only ever goes to the gym for guilt reasons. Not entirely a healthy way to approach her body issues. So obviously, the scenarios going through my head were not pretty.

I was hearing her accuse me of thinking she was OMG GASP FAT. As if that word was the worst insult in the world. I was seeing her spiralling back (and not that far back, unfortunately) into her self hate and body shame. All because of a top and the number on the tag.

I thought about cutting the tag out, but decided to leave it in, in case it did fit or in case she wanted me to return it for the smaller size. I also thought I could get my mother to alter it for her when she tried it on.

I waited with trepidation on her birthday. I handed over the present. She pulled it out. Looked at it. Said the top looked familiar and recognised the label. Tried it on.

Wonder of wonders, it fit! Slightly too big in the bust area and the arms, but nothing that Master Mum couldn’t alter. My sister didn’t want to go a size down, as she didn’t want anything ‘corset’ fitted.

Crisis averted!

Until Christmas.