Spain gets women's measurements down
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MADRID: Some Spanish women are pear-shaped, some look like cylinders and some are curvy as an hourglass. But 6-foot-tall waifs they are not, according to a government-sponsored report aimed at determining their true shape and size.
The yearlong study, which used laser beams to measure more than 10,000 women aged from 12 to 70, claims that 4 out of 10 have trouble finding clothes that fit them, mainly because sizes are inconsistent from one outlet to another and because what is on the racks is too small.
For Maite Vaquero, 25, a slender, self-described hourglass who was shopping with friends in the center of Madrid on Monday, the study confirmed what she already knew. "Try going into a regular store and finding clothes that actually fit you," she said. "Tops are always too short and pants are way too long, even if you are tall."
A size that fitted at one retailer would be too small at another, she said. Different retailers targeted differently shaped women. "Zara has clothes for women with hips. Blanco and Mango make them for waifs," she said, referring to Spanish fashion chains.
The study says Spanish women fall into three categories: "cylinders," whose chest, waist and hips are more or less the same size; "hourglasses," with smaller waists; and "bells," or pear-shapes, whose hips are wider than their chests and waists. Many who start out life as cylinders or hourglasses end up as bells, it says.
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According to the study, 56 percent of Spanish women have a normal body mass index - the ratio of weight to height - while 25 percent are slightly overweight. Just over 12 percent are obese and 1.4 percent are thin or very thin. In the 31-to-40 age range, 47.1 percent have hourglass figures, 22.2 percent are pear-shaped and 30.8 are cylindrical. By the time women reach the 61-to-70 age group, that shifts to 30.2 percent hourglass, 38.2 percent pear-shaped and 31.6 percent cylindrical.
Armed with the new data, the government hopes to overhaul the sizing system used by the Spanish fashion industry for 35 years and eliminate the skinny stereotype that it says encourages eating disorders.
"Forget the sizes we use now," Bernat Soria, the health minister, said last week, adding, "We are moving toward a new system, which I hope will better reflect women's real measurements."
Soria said he planned to do a similar survey of men - assuming the Socialist government wins the March 9 general election - and to propose that the European Union adopt a common standard.
A committee of government officials and members of the fashion industry must now set about designing the new size program, which would incorporate women's height, chest, waist and hip measurements. It would be phased in over five years and be voluntary.
Spanish retailers including Inditex, Cortefiel and Corte Inglés, as well as several fashion industry associations supported the proposal when it was announced last year, but said this week it was too early to comment on how it would work. Sonia Prada, partner of Compañia Arónica, a small fashion designer based in Barcelona, said the project was "absurd."
"The Spanish textile industry is going through a tough time," she said by telephone. "The consumer doesn't have money to go out and buy a pair of trousers in the sales. Small businesses are closing. And now they want to make our lives more difficult."
The government's latest foray into the world of style comes as a hoard of slim, beautiful women descends on the Spanish capital for international fashion week. Spain shook the fashion world in fall 2006, when the Madrid government said models would be barred from strutting its catwalks unless their body-mass index was above a certain level. Three British models have been banned this year because of low BMI.
In a world of global retailers, trying to decode a garment size can be frustrating and demoralizing, several female shoppers said Monday. For example, a "small" sweater in Mango, which a shop assistant said corresponded to a Spanish size 36 to 38, was marked as a German "VS," an Italian "S," a U.S. "XS," a Mexican "P" and a British "S." Add to that the fact that there is no uniformity among Spanish retailers and your head spins, shoppers said.
"I don't even go into these modern shops. It's hopeless," said Jovita Valsera, a coiffed 63-year-old. Valsera said she shopped at the Corte Inglés, the ubiquitous Spanish department store, because they stock sizes above a Spanish 46 and adjust clothes on the spot.
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