Wedding-gown sizes cause brides to have fits

The quirky sizing system is being altered to reduce emotional trauma.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- The tears streaming down a bride's face the first time she puts on her wedding gown should be tears of joy.
Thanks to the quirky sizing system used by many bridal designers, however, she might be crying over the blow to her self-esteem.
"If you think you're a size 6, you're at least an 8 and probably a 10," says Jeff Moore, senior vice president of merchandising and product development at retailer David's Bridal.
Gown designers and salons stress that size is just a number, nothing to worry about, but in the next breath they'll often advise buying a few sizes bigger than the bride is used to for jeans, skirts or cocktail dresses.
Bridal sizing goes back to a scale established during World War II that used data intended for making uniforms, Moore explains. The scale also was used for ready-to-wear clothes, but over time, sportswear adapted its sizes to reflect changing body shapes, while bridal, for the most part, didn't.
In addition, many bridal salons are small, independent shops that don't keep stock of all sizes. A woman who is a size 2 may try on the same actual dress as a woman who is a 12. A salesperson will fasten the smaller woman's gown with what are essentially jumbo paper clips, and use stretchy strips of elastic across the back of a larger woman.
Starting point
Once the bride decides on the style of her gown, the salon orders the dress according to her measurements -- and that's another sticking point.
The order is based on the woman's largest measurement: bust, hips or waist. If her hips and waist are an 8 but her bust a 10, she gets the 10; if her bust and waist are 12 but her hips 14, she gets the 14.
Why? In alterations, it's much harder to make a gown bigger than it is to make it smaller.
Designers have a couture mind-set on bridal gowns: They will be fitted to the individual bride's shape through alterations, explains Amsale Aberra, creative director for the high-end Amsale, Kenneth Pool and Christos lines. The size of the original gown is just a starting-off point.
But, she acknowledges, the bride probably isn't thinking that far ahead -- and the number on the tag can be a roadblock. It can "affect your confidence level. A wedding is when a bride wants to be her thinnest," Aberra says.
Moore agrees: "This has led to a lot of emotional trauma -- it's not what most retailers and manufacturers are going for."
His company, for one, has abandoned both the old size scale and the practice of having one sample dress for all to try on.
Out of proportion
Part of the change was to make the process a little less confusing to brides, Moore says. David's Bridal surveyed thousands of them and found that the old sizing guidelines simply didn't resemble America's brides today. Not only have the numbers changed, but so have proportions and body types.
A handful of other gown-makers also have gone to a "true-size system," says Kathleen Murray, deputy editor of TheKnot.com, but she doesn't expect the entire industry to switch over.
"You just have to get over the size thing. You can't look at that number," she says.
"Most of the time, the tailoring and alterations are what make the dress gorgeous."
Brides expect that their gown will need to be altered, and many even figure in a line item for alterations when planning their budget, Murray says. (TheKnot.com recommends 500.)
Extra expense
The bigger shock can come to bridesmaids, she says, who also are often subject to the unfamiliar sizing system. They probably didn't think when they signed on for the job about the extra 100- 200 it will cost to have the dress fitted.
Murray advises brides to encourage off-the-rack bridesmaids' dresses, even if they're not designated "bridesmaids' dresses."
"You want the girls to be happy in what they're wearing," she says.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.