Isn't that the truth! When I bought my wedding gown last Thanksgiving, I was in between a 10 and a 12 in street clothes, but I just did squeeze into a size 14 wedding gown. (Mind you, I had to get it taken in 3 times before the wedding in May.) That just doesn't make sense to me -- it's the most expensive piece of clothing most of us will ever wear, and bride types are generally stressed enough already from fighting with our moms about the dress, and then the manufacturers have to go and make us feel FAT too?!?!

I wouldn't necessarily say that sizes have changed that much from 10 years ago, though. I had saved several nice dresses from my teenage years, when I wore a size 8 at 125 lbs and later a size 12 at 140. I dragged them all back out when I started losing weight, and the old sizes seemed to track pretty closely with the new sizes (e.g. new clothes in a size 8 fit about the same as the old ones). Of course, my size has changed a lot -- I'm in a farily loose size 6 now, although I weigh 133. Just goes to show what Atkins will do for your body fat, as opposed to your weight!

Also, my understanding about the size 0s and 1s in stores like the Gap and Abercrombie and Fitch is because their customer base has gotten younger, with tween girls increasingly shopping in the "grown-up" stores. So yes, their customers are smaller, but only because they're still little girls!