‘Vanity sizing’ is no excuse for not knowing your own body shape

Are we really so stupid that we need a dress label to tell us not to get fat?

Sales rose 0.4 per cent in February, compared to the previous month (PA)

Are your clothes making you fat? A new survey shows that women’s sizing varies so much we have no idea of our true shape.

Marks and Spencer clothing turns out to be bigger than that of many other stores: waist measurements in garments described as size 10 were considered a size 16 elsewhere. According to the National Obesity Forum, this “vanity sizing” promotes delusions about what constitutes a healthy weight.

There is no legal requirement enforcing standard sizes, so manufacturers tend to vary them to reflect their customer base – and a middle-aged woman shopping in M&S will probably be larger than a Dorothy Perkins teenager.

In fact the sizing scandal is even more complicated, because high street clothing is made in factories all over the world. One mega-brand such as Zara has dress sizes which vary depending on where the garment has been manufactured. And Uniqlo, for example, has the shortest sleeves of a high street store.

I vary from size 10 to size 16, but I do know that a second luxury hot cross bun a day will eventually mean that size 18 is on the horizon. Are we that stupid we need a dress label to nudge us about obesity?

The way to stay healthy is not eat too much of anything and be lucky enough to have thin parents. Experts now want children to be weighed from the age of two, just as my generation were – a great idea, but no doubt some will say it infringes a child’s “human rights”.