Stretching the Truth...or Why You're Suddenly Size 2!

A recent New York Times article detailing how vanity sizing is sweeping the nation had many women chattering about how they shimmy into size 4s at one store while wriggling into 12s at another. Generally speaking, the more mass-market lines tend to skew smaller—that is, you may be a 4 at Old Navy but at Prada you'll be a 10 or 12.

While the forces behind the sizing may involve the changing waistlines of Americans and a perverse capitalization on many people's rather tortured relationships with their bodies (Read: the smaller the digit on the label, no matter the reality of the proportions, the better we feel!), I think it also comes down on to word. With apologies to "The Graduate", the one word: Lycra.

Think about it. Rifle through your closet. Read the labels. How many garments do you own that contain NO Lycra? Especially when it comes to jeans and other pants. A touch of stretch is pretty much standard in almost every fashion brand from couture to Kmart, and in terms of making clothes move with your body and hug one's curves, these fibers can't be beat. But with all those stretchy fabrics, it's a lot easier to gain 5 or 10 pounds and not have to change sizes—or even unbutton your pants.

And have you ever tried on the clothes of yesteryear—i.e. anything you'd find in a vintage boutique—and find yourself struggling to pull on those 40s tweed pants or that 60s polyester shift? Before elastane, Lycra, Spandex, Supplex, and all the other rubbery fibers, clothes were certainly less forgiving. Personally, I'll admit that I rarely wear a garment that doesn't have something stretchy in it and when I do, I am uncomfortable all day—literally bursting at the seams. And heck, all of my Lycra-laced jeans are so accommodating, I actually can get away with a size smaller than I'd wear in a pair of the exact same measurements.

So there you have it. My one-word take on the state of American fashion and our physical selves: blame/thank Spandex!

Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Still happily clinging to those few stretch-free garments or are you similarly hooked on newer fabrics?