As if the normal quirks associated with clothing sizing standards weren't enough I've discovered a new (and immensely irritating as it's so easy to solve) issue. When I ran into it the first time I muttered under my breath...when it happened again, I got mad. The problem? American stores that sell European clothing labeled as either a 1, 2, or 3...

Incident #1...

I visited the US boutique of a French clothing line...after "hello" the first words out of the sales assistant's mouth were part of a long (obviously pre-memorized) spiel going into great detail about why everything was labeled either a 1, 2, or 3...what that translated to...and (I'm pretty sure) injunctions not to panic over something so obviously insane as a piece of clothing labeled "1". Okay...I made up the last one...but I haven't received such detailed instructions about anything in a very long time. Even after explaining that I actually am European and have numerous articles of clothing that use this sizing method hanging in my closet I was treated like a size-challenged nincompoop. Needless to say, I left soon after...empty-handed.

Incident #2...

Happened yesterday. I had ordered Rika's Lou leopard blouse online...after being smitten by Rika's Fall/Winter lookbook...and, as you know, lusting after a little leopard. The sizes listed on the website were US and a note was made that the style ran "true to size". All well and good...until the blouse arrived. I'd ordered a size 8...I'd usually have bought a 6 but I wanted it slightly over-sized. What arrived was a European 3 (i.e. a US 10)...and a massively large 3 at that...had they listed it as 1, 2, 3 I would have ordered my normal size, a 2. Needless to say, the shirt is being returned...not exchanged, as I wasn't massively keen on the quality of the fabric.

I can't help but wonder though why US stores treat the Euro 1, 2, 3 this way. So many labels size in this manner...consumers are becoming more, not less, savvy...why treat them like idiots? In the two scenarios above both issues were related to information...way too much in #1...and too little in #2. I don't want to sound like Goldilocks but surely there's a way of getting it "just right".