After at over a decade long fascination with the now forgotten category of half sizes, I think I’ve said my last on the topic. My colleague Carmen Keist and I recently published an article that traces the history of this phenomenon from its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise at the end of the 20th century. If you would like to read the pdf, contact me at americanagefashion@gmail.com and I will send you a link.
Initially conceived as an alternative to the standard size range taking shape at the beginning of the twentieth century, the developers of half sizes argued that most women were neither as tall nor as thin as designers and manufactures assumed. But instead of replacing old measurements, half sizes quickly became linked to older women. Ads like the one above from 1934 were common, implying that half sizes would make an older body shape look young.
Even efforts to produce celebrity brands by Gloria Swanson and Molly Goldberg in the 1950s only brought a temporary upswing in sales.
In the late 1980s, when the garment industry undertook a major renumbering of the sizing system, half sizes were eliminated from most brands altogether.
Should we mourn their passing? I think so. Their design included features like a higher and wider waist that fit the post-menopausal body better. These days, though, our sizing system is so confused that numbers and categories have little common meaning. My advice, as always, is to sew your own clothes!
