Skirt Cafe is an on-line community dedicated to exploring, promoting and advocating skirts and kilts as a fashion choice for men, formerly known as men in skirts. We do this in the context of men's fashion freedom --- an expansion of choices beyond those commonly available for men to include kilts, skirts and other garments. We recognize a diversity of styles our members feel comfortable wearing, and do not exclude any potential choices. Continuing dialog on gender is encouraged in the context of fashion freedom for men. See here for more details.
I think women in general do have shorter arms than men, but that's no excuse for the Incredible Shrinking Garment. I've found there's a kind of dividing line in "you get what you pay for"; cheap-and-shoddy always lets you down, but sometimes expensive-and-badly-made does too. I think the consumer has to be really careful about what he/she buys; and we generally have to keep in mind that if it's priced too well to be good, it likely isn't any good at all.
I've found recently that vanity sizing has extended to shoes as well. For years I was a size 6 in everything, but a couple of years ago, I went off on an expedition to find shoes and discovered that size 6 is now a centimetre (about half an inch) longer than it used to be! My feet haven't shrunk in length, so obviously "size 6" has grown; but it's nearly impossible to find a size 5 1/2 in anything but ugly-looking shoes. They have size 5 1/2 at Payless (which we have here in Canada now), but they're very much "you get what you pay for"; I have found their merchandise to be of low quality, seldom comfortable, and not lasting more than a few months. Guess I'll have to put my feet on a rack and stretch them...
I've found that the only way to get a proper fit is to try on the clothes. The size you may think you are may be a size higher or lower depending on the manufacturer and the style. I've found the only fashion lind that remains (so far) true to size throughout all styles is Susan Graver on QVC.com In fact a lot of the lines stay true to size
Regarding shoes, I've found that in high school, I wore a size 7A. Whith all of the damage I've done to my feet, along with expanding bunions, my most comfortable pair of shoes is now a 9 1/2 EEE with custom orthotics. My feet aren't fat, but the bone structure has become deformed.
Also a number of years ago, I got down to a size 10 dress/jeans size. While that made me happy, the size 10 I wore in high school hung off my body and had to be taken in.
All I can offer is try on the clothing/shoes.
Moderation is for monks. To enjoy life, take big bites.
-------Lazarus Long
Most skirts with non-elastic wasitband are meant to sit somewhere "on" the hips --- above the widest point of the hips, but below the waist. Since women's bodies vary so much between the waist and hips, it's relatively easy to make a skirt that will fit on the hips in this way without falling down. If it's a big big or small, that will just (minorly) affect how high the skirt fits.
Not so with men's bodies. We have much smaller tolerance between waist and hips. The skirts have to fit much more exactly.
And for anyone's body where the waist is LARGER than the hips --- that creates its own set of problems.
Generally i wear skirts in a size 14 (that's a UK 14 not the different USA 14!) but I have found that the actual waist band on a size 14 can vary from 29 inches up to 35 inches. Partly this is because as others have pointed out these size numbers are a little imprecise and partly it depends on whether the skirt is designed to fit right in to the waist at the narrowest part or to sit lower on the hips.
With skirts designed to sit low on the hips i have got a better fit with a 12.
When buying skirts from e-bay I always ask the seller to let me know the actual waistband measurement before I put in a bid.
In shops it is best to try on before buying, all charity shops are happy to let you try on skirts and i have tried on skirts in British Homes Stores and Marks & Spencer with no problem. The difficulty comes in Womens only shops like Dorothy Perkins which only have ladies changing rooms.
Despite being a 14 in skirts, if i buy a jumper or a T-shirt originally sized for sale to ladies I seem to need a size 18.
