Clothing size calculator

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Clothing size chart

Clothing size chart

Clothing is an integral attribute of our life, simultaneously performing a protective and decorative function. For the cold season there are sheepskin coats, jackets, coats and fur coats, and for the warm season there are T-shirts, T-shirts and shirts. The latter today are made from a variety of materials, ranging from natural linen, wool and silk, and ending with multi-component synthetics. What materials were used to make clothes in different periods of history, and when did people first start wearing them?

History of clothing

Archaeological excavations indicate that ancient people wore primitive clothing made from animal skins as early as 500,000 years ago. The most ancient sewing needles that have survived to this day were found in South Africa (Sibudu Cave), and in Siberia (Denisova Cave). The age of the first is 60 thousand years, and the second - 50 thousand years. As for flax fibers, the first "plant" material that replaced animal skins, it began to be widely used about 36 thousand years ago.

By 5500 BC, linen was the most common material for tailoring in ancient Egypt. In addition to it, papyrus, palm and reed fibers were also used. The traditional attire for ancient Egyptian men was a skhenti loincloth, and for women - a dress with kalaziris straps. One of these dresses, sewn more than 5100-5600 years ago, has survived to this day, and was found during excavations in the Egyptian Tarkhan in 1913.

The ancient Greeks, in addition to linen, also widely used wool, making peplos, chitons and himations from it. The first were two-meter pieces of fabric that were wrapped around the body, and the second were small woven pieces that served as an undershirt. Himatia can be compared to modern raincoats, and they could not only be worn, but also used as a warm blanket.

First, the Etruscans, and then the Romans, introduced togas - long pieces of fabric in the shape of a semicircle. The length of such a cut could reach 7 meters, and in order to dress it, aristocrats had to resort to the help of servants. According to ancient Roman laws, generals had to wear red and gold togas, and officials wore white. Women of different classes could choose the shades of the tog at their discretion.

Middle Ages and Modern Times

Cloaks and tunics, borrowed from the ancient Romans, remained popular in Europe until the High Middle Ages (11th century AD). Pants were also added to them, initially consisting of two separate parts: the right and left legs, which were fixed on tunics. Because of the constant wars, the daily wardrobe of Europeans also included helmets and chain mail, often decorated with inlays and embossing. The Germans, Burgundians and Goths were especially successful in this skill.

The everyday attire of a commoner during the early Middle Ages remained practically unchanged. These were short tunics and trousers for men, and long tunics with outerwear for women. Serious changes began only in the XIII century, when linen clothes began to be dyed in different colors, and new patterns of clothes were sewn from it. Small sleeves "lanterns" were gradually replaced by very long sleeves covering the hands, and the neckline was replaced with a light corset. By the 17th century, collars began to be decorated with special inserts - cherusks, and in England they invented a short spencer jacket that did not go out of fashion for a long time.

The First World War, the Great Depression in the United States, and then the Second World War greatly influenced the clothing of the early-mid 20th century, making it extremely simple and practical. The men's (and often women's) wardrobe included skinny trousers, a coarse-cut jacket and shoes with wooden soles. Heads were decorated with hats and caps, and skirts were lengthened with hemmed ribbons and frills.

After forced minimalism, an era of wasteful luxury followed. Already in the late 1940s, Christian Dior, a new trendsetter, made himself known, and such elements of clothing as cryolins, fitted bodices and corsets tightening the waist entered the everyday wardrobe of many Europeans and Americans. And the recently ended World War II brought into fashion a short coat with clip-on hoods - the former clothes of the military.

Summing up, we can say that clothing at all times was considered a status attribute, and differed greatly among different castes and classes: both in color and design, and in materials of manufacture. Today, you can buy an ordinary casual shirt or trousers at the most affordable price, but when it comes to an expensive suit or evening dress, only wealthy people can afford it. And the most status items are not available for free sale, and are made only to order for the highest elites, which only confirms the established centuries-old tradition.

Clothing size conversion chart

Clothing size conversion chart

Today, it is most convenient to buy clothes in online stores, but the difficulty lies in the fact that on different sites the sizes can be indicated according to the European, American, Chinese scale. So, the same size can simultaneously correspond to the numbers 36 and 14, as well as the letter designation XXL. Even within the same site, several standards can be used - without indicating their ownership. Therefore, it is important to be able to determine the size of clothes yourself.

How to take measurements to determine the size of clothes

Knowing the exact characteristics of your body, you can buy clothes without fear that they will be small, or vice versa - large. The main parameters to be measured are:

  • Chest. Straighten your back and wrap a flexible measuring tape (centimeter) around your body: at the level of your maximum bust. Fix the measurement with your hands down, without outerwear and underwear. To measure the girth above the chest, draw a centimeter along the prominent line of the shoulder blades.
  • Waist. After exposing your torso, straighten your back and wrap a centimeter around your stomach at the level of your navel. Fix the size after exhalation, but without pulling in the stomach.
  • Hip circumference. Find the widest area of the hips and wrap a centimeter around it. The tape should fit snugly against the skin so that you cannot stick your finger under it.
  • Shoulder width. In this case, the girth around the body at shoulder level is not measured, but the distance between the shoulder centers. On clothes, they correspond to the seams along the line of sewn sleeves. If you have clothes that fit perfectly on the body, take a shoulder measurement from it.
  • Sleeve length. To measure it, stand up straight and bend your arm at the elbow. After that, the centimeter is drawn along the line between the protruding part of the shoulder and the wrist.
  • Armhole Depth. Place the end of the tape measure at the center of the shoulder and draw the measuring tape to the middle of the armpit, then wrap the tape around and lock it. The measurement will be considered accurate if the tape wrapped around the shoulder does not hinder movement when raising and lowering the arm.
  • Full height. One of the easiest measurements. Stand barefoot at the door frame, straighten your back and mark the top point at the top of the head with a pencil.

The main parameters needed to buy clothes are chest, waist and hips. The size is also affected by the degree of completeness, which for men is graded into 5 groups, and for women - into 6. Most size tables have two columns: "M" (man) and "F" (woman). Therefore, even if an item of clothing does not have a visual gender (for example, wide shorts or loose trousers that are suitable for both men and women), it must be specified so as not to be mistaken with the size.

The best way to determine clothing sizes today is online calculators. It is enough to enter the main measurement results to get their compliance with a particular standard. In the online calculator, you can also convert the sizes of different countries, for example, convert XL and XXL to 52 and 54.