The more female-dominated quarters of the internet are abuzz with excitement today about a new online tool that promises to cut through all those woolly sizing standards on the high street, and match you to the brand(s) that best suit your measurements.
What Size Am I takes your bust, waist and hip measurements in either cm or inches, then plots them on a graph created through painstaking study of the standard sizes sold at a variety of high street and online stores, including ASOS, French Connection, Monsoon and Next. The user is presented with three results, based on closest fit. Its maker, Anna Powell-Smith, is responding to a need that's been out there for ages, and seems to be getting a great response on the app today.
One thing that the tool makes abundantly clear is a fact that most female shoppers have long suspected: that sizes vary wildly from one brand to another. On social networking sites, many women reported telling inconsistences, such as being a size8 in one shop and a 14 in another.
Another, perhaps more surprising result was that quite a lot of men think they would benefit from such a tool as well. @Ked108 tweeted: "any chance of one for the men struggling for size consistency out there?" while @lexicalanalysis said "Crazy statistics on female clothes sizes and deflation. I'm not sure male sizes are much better."
The tool has a few problems that online critics have wasted no time in pointing out: first, it doesn't cater to all extremes of sizes, so if you are above a size 24 or have unusually small hips, for example, you won't get an accurate result. It also fails to take height into account, so if you're a petite or tall size, you can only rely on it to a certain extent. But all scales have to have limits, and I'm sure others will step in to tweak where the app is lacking.
How do you measure up in the What Size Am I tool?
