@Blackorchid — I’ve read she was around a size 12.

You guys never buy vintage clothing, do you?

lol the sizing has changed A LOT

I’m (honestly) 110 pounds and only 5 foot 4 – and I often have to wear a size 10 or 12 from my local vintage boutique. People in the 50s and 60s were much, much tinier – not just weight – height and bone.

she had ups and downs in her weight, but she would never be considered tiny by today’s standards. She wouldn’t be considered big either…

From what I can see her dress sizes woudl have ranged from a 4 to an 8 in today’s sizes, and was around 5’5… No way she would have made it in today’s Hollywood without being considered large.

Sizes really have changed a lot. The women in the ads look like they might be a size 6 or 8 in today’s sizing, and they all have incredibly tiny waists. So what they’re really advertising is that you should have round hips and larger breasts, and a small waist – or actual curves and a little bit of padding and roundness instead of aiming for overweight. They’re hardly “spilling out of their jeans,” or “fat.” Think, going from a size 0 to a 6 in today’s sizing, not a size 6 to a size 12. A size 12 in today’s sizes would have looked decidedly large a few decades ago.

I second what Sarahh said. I think this article might be misunderstanding what they mean by ‘skinny’. Look at the add comparing the ‘skinny’ girl to the ‘curvy’ girl. Their arms are exactly the same size, one is just flat chested and narrow. Despite what most of us are force-fed, I think curves by the standards shown in these adds are still generally considered ideal. Perhaps not much in the media, but in every day life for sure. I’m 5’8” and even post baby I weigh maybe 110 and I get TONS of ‘too skinny’ comments. Despite what we’re all told, trust me, being built like twiggy doesn’t necessarily mean no more self consciousness over your figure and tons of compliments left and right. Sizing definitely varies by clothing line and time period. I wear a 00-2 at stores like old navy but when I shop at a higher end store or vintage it goes up to the 2-6 range. I think it has to do with brands assumptions about their target markets. Stores like walmart have me shopping in the kids section in my 20′s (for me and my daughter!) because of the assumption that the income range that shops at walmart must be overweight. Which is quite sad, really. To be honest if I were a 1950′s gal I’d probably be lapping up these curvy supplements like a champ :)

I think they was just telling them they was to skinny and wanted them to gain weight because they didn’t like boney woman back then=]

right now i’m a giant pregnant person, but before that i was a modern day 2/4 and a vintage 10 or even 12 is about the same as that. also i think that a lot of girls and women still hope for that tiny waist and big breasts and butt!

Marilyn was a 36D and had 36″ hips…but a 23″ waist. So she was curvy but not skinny nor was she fat…but in today’s society those curves would have still been considered big. However those ads seem to want curves to land specifically in the boob area…so even back then, men and women were obsessed with the size of women’s breasts! :)

I think that “skinny” is a euphemism for “flat-chested” in these ads.

Every woman is beautiful. No matter what shape you are there is 15 men within a 5mi radius who wanna “hit that”. Women are beautiful without the desire of men, though beauty is designed for attracting a mate. A number doesnt make you fate or thin, its entirely up to how confident YOU are. Take it from a dominatrix, You are not over/underweight unless You say so.
I agree sizes expand and contract, I have a size 14 dress made in 1956 that measures to the average size 12 today. Food was not scarce back then, exercise and work is scarce today.

LIZ you are right. At just about any size (I am an 18 now, have been everything from 8 up), I find there is no shortage of willing men if you are smiling, confident, and can project a sexy vibe. As Katherine Hepburn (I think) said, back in the day, “the average man is more interested in a woman who is interested in him then he is in a woman with beautiful legs.”

Alas I was born in the wrong era, but hey at least I get to do more than cleaning when I choose not to do it for a day that is. And my husband has given up on the idea of dinner actually being ready when he gets home unless it’s pizza hut LOL

Coming from a woman who didn’t really get her curves until her mid-twenties (after having three kids), ads like these would just cause the “skinny and scrawny” girls to have the same issues for having no curves, as many girls do today for having “too many” curves. We need to teach young girls, and guys alike, that God has made you, and you are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. God doesn’t make anything that’s worth-less. Don’t get your value from others or even from within (emotions change like the wind); your value comes from the Lord. He alone provides true self-esteem and purpose. (Psalm 139)