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On a scale from 1 to 10: How bummed are you when you see something you absolutely LOVE in the store… but …

they don’t have your size.

UGHHHH!

The discouragement and despair seep in.

So, as you can imagine, I'm a full scale 10. Especially when you are already having a tough time finding a skirt that’s classy and modest. Or you are looking for a cute ‘special occasion dress’ that doesn’t have the neckline plunging... or for a shoe that fits your foot comfortably.

Sometimes... you and I have to do crazy things with our wardrobe just to “make it work”.

Let me share with you a funny story. In Catholic high school, my school uniform skirts were cut SO terribly. It was a high waisted skirt. Typically, I’m ALL about that, but this one would bulge with pleats RIGHT on top of my hips in a stiff wool fabric. So to say the least, it was COMPLETELY unflattering.

I'm all for modest skirts... but this one made every girl so so so bad... I was like...

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When we had our "uniform sale" in the school library, I remember trying on my size and WRITHING in anxiety as it was so uncomfortable. It was tight in all the wrong places, and it made me feel like the worst version of myself.

And I had to wear a skirt like this every day...

Even though the skirt size technically "fit" me, it didn't fit me the way I wanted to look.

It made me want to rip it off and take a shower. I may have almost cried a few times when wearing it... LOL (i know, it's justttttttt clothes - I'm still working on it!!).

Well... I wasn't going to allow this awful skirt ruin my Junior year of HS. So... I had an idea to fix it. I bought a size that was about 12 sizes bigger than I typically was (stay with me) and hemmed a good 2 feet off of it, so that it sat at on my hips and hit just above my knee.

A voila! I had a perfectly modest skirt that ALSO felt and looked great on me.

The moral of the story: Sometimes it really doesn’t matter what the SIZE TAG SAYS. Rather, what is important is what it says ON YOUR BODY. You just can't care about it!

We have to wear our clothes a little ‘differently’ to make it work for us… which includes- the size tag.

Therefore, I’ve come to 4 realizations:

Realization #1 Brands cut differently for different body shape

Brands that have an athletic woman market will deftly cut for a body that has more muscle.

A jacket in this brand could be looser on you if you’re typically a smaller woman. And vice versa and so on...

Realization #2 Brands use flattery sizes

Every brand is different and some want you to have the feeling that you're size tag is a smaller number (to ultimately put you in a better mood and you buy the garment). So, you really have to wiggle between 2-3 sizes. Yes, it takes a little time to first find your brand (I talk about how to do this for jeans in another article - you can read it by clicking here) and then you've got to find your sizes.

Realization #3 Garment making is human

Fabric is first cut in a large stack. By the time the giant blade gets through 100 pieces of fabric, it shifts and wobbles, thus some pieces are off the lines. Then it's given to a person to sew, and well... humans aren't perfect! So your garment can easily come out of the factory a different size than you think.

Realization #4 The particular fit of the garment has to be for yourrrrr shape.

As much as the garment fits… how does it affect the shape of your other body parts? Sometimes it’s great to create Illusions with our clothes by wearing it bigger or tighter to highlight our other features.

When you round up all of those factors, it makes it easy to see that a lot of times the size doesn’t matter! Buy what feels good, not what the number says!!