On Tuesday, my loving and devoted Yeti went out to run a few last minute errands before we leave tomorrow for our big trip to the Crescent City. One of those things just happened to be a costume, one of three, that I’m bringing down with us since we will be celebrating Halloween while we're there. (Side note: Yes, I know I only need one but hopefully we will be attending a few costumed events during our trip.) During our daily afternoon phone call, my dear husband informed that he did in fact pick up the costume,Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls to be specific, and that it was a size "Medium/Large". This filled me with rage. My own husband just bought me something with the word "large" attached to it. I felt awesome about myself, let me tell ya. But I couldn't get too angry. Yeti is smart and got what he thought was right. It's not his fault the costumes are sized Small/Medium and Medium/Large. “What ever happened to the days of small, medium or large?” I wondered. All I could do at this point was suck it up and come to the realization that I was a size LARGE. I know. The worlds smallest violin is playing just for me at this point. FYI, there is NOT A DAMN THING WRONG with being a size large but i'm gonna get to that in a minute.
I came home later that night to face my foe: size large. I walked into the bedroom and there it was staring at me. I opened the package, pulled out the pink and black Lycra dress and braced myself to be faced with a stretchy, behemoth-sized circus tent. As I unfolded it and held it up by the straps I noticed something: This garment was not a size "Medium/Large". I tilted my head to one side like the confused kitten I was. Yeti looked at me and said “Now you see why I bought you the bigger size!” Was it mislabeled? I checked the package one more time, then checked the label on the inside and both said “Medium/Large”. I tried it on and it fit. Not perfectly well, but it fit. I kept looking at it perplexed. How in the world am I just barely fitting in a “Medium/Large”? I knew it had been at least a week and a half since i'd been to the gym, but I never thought I had ballooned up past “Large”. I proceeded to measure the dress. It averaged 30” around the waist and 30” long. I knew in my head that those were not the measurements of a “large” garment. I spent the rest of the night kind of bummed out, but tried not to think about it. I kept trying to figure out how they could justify that in the large category. I even went so far as to say “I guess fat chicks need not apply to be a PowerPuff Girl!”. (See, I told you that would make sense later on.) Later on I got a chance to look at the "small/medium" size of this costume. It looked big enough to fit a 12-year-old girl!
This morning, while I was getting ready for work, I happened to look at my pretty blue vintage dress that I wore on my wedding day which was hanging up to dry. I thought about how just two month prior that dress fit like a glove and it was a size small. Now look where I was: Barely fitting into a medium/large and wondering what the hell happened between now and then. But then it hit me! My wedding dress and my Blossom costume were about the same length. It also looked to be about the same width around as well! I quickly dug out the costume and laid the two side-by-side and even on top of each other to see if they matched up. They were identical! Granted my wedding dress is a stiffer material then the Lycra costume, but it was still the same! The stiffer material should be a more ACCURATE representation of a size small right? I took some pics so you can see the similarities for yourself:
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(P.S. Don't mind my shitty cell phone photography skills and my lack of ironing. I took these at 7 a.m., lol. )
I don't know about you guys but this is maddening to me! I'm trying to figure out if the vintage "small" dress is today's equivalent of a large? Or is it that today's equivalent of a "large" isn't large at all? This costume is clearly not designed for anyone with any kind of curves! I don't know who this costume company is marketing to but it's clearly not women with any meat on their bones. I understand the Halloween holiday discourages bigger girls from wearing sexy costumes, but this is RIDICULOUS! There's a difference between being grossly obese and wearing lycra and being a little thick and wearing lycra! I'm not trying to say the creators of this costume are intentionally trying to promote an unhealthy view of what a healthy, beautiful woman should be shaped like but I think this is a more a reflection of what society's view on the matter is. This is what happens when we teach young girls that being stick skinny is the "norm" and how everyone should look. This is what happens when we give them unrealistic expectations to live up to. We get clothing like this that does not accurately reflect what size they actually are. If God forbid a teenager had tried this costume on and the "large" label was too small for her, I can't imagine what that would do mentally. Actually I can. Because it STILL bothered me at age 29.
If this costume is however a reflection of today's "large", then so be it. I guess I'm a large girl. I like meat. I like ice cream, I like cheese and I LOOOOOVE cupcakes. But I also love fruits, veggies, cooking with fresh ingredients and going to the gym. If liking all those things is "unhealthy" and makes me a little bit bigger in the process, then fine. At least i'll be "fat and happy".
Rant over.
If this costume is however a reflection of today's "large", then so be it. I guess I'm a large girl. I like meat. I like ice cream, I like cheese and I LOOOOOVE cupcakes. But I also love fruits, veggies, cooking with fresh ingredients and going to the gym. If liking all those things is "unhealthy" and makes me a little bit bigger in the process, then fine. At least i'll be "fat and happy".
Rant over.
