Finally, the story you’ve likely seen in your feeds this week: Not only is JCrew on the vanguard of preppy chic they are also on the vanguard of what we’ll call innovative sizing. Allow me to introduce you to the new size that you should hate yourself until you can squeeze into, size zero zero zero. Wait…what? Size 000, I suppose in a weird way makes some sense. In a world where women have been convinced, that their self worth is wrapped up in the size pants they wear, the clothing companies who have themselves fed this destructive view then turn around and happily profit off of it by what’s called vanity sizing. You stay the same, but the size on label magically shrinks! In the world of vanity sizing, a size 6 becomes a size 2. A size 4 becomes a size 0. And then after that? Well 00 is already common for folks who previously would have been a size 2 so you can see where this is going. A 000 has to sub in for what used to be a 0. But where does it end? Will my daughter only feel good about herself if she’s a 000 forcing vanity sizes ever lower into absurdities of quadruple and quintuple zeroes. And if you don’t think it could happen. Just take a good hard look at your razor. Do you really need 5 blades? Yes, there is no frontier so absurd that some advertising genius won’t explore it. But you might say, surely with the wealth of information now at our fingertips, young girls will have greater access to realistic body images and models of success that don’t depend on your measurements. They won’t need to be a size 0 to feel good so then clothing companies can gradually return to a more rational sizing scheme. Maybe. But so far our modern culture does not seem to be leading in that positive direction. A new study finds that people with internet access are more likely to find thinner women attractive. What we see matters, and as long as the beauty and fashion industries keep fostering insecurities, they can keep selling us products to soothe those insecurities. Now excuse me while I Google a new diet that will have me in those size 000s in no time.
Krystal Ball