How Might the Fit of Clothes Impact Women’s Body Satisfaction?
How does it make you feel if you cannot fit into clothes in your usual size? Interview data suggest that many of us monitor our weight by seeing how our clothes fit, and tighter clothes have been linked with body dissatisfaction. What about when retailers do not stock clothes in your size? New research suggests that availability of well-fitting clothes may impact on our body satisfaction. Clothing fit and body image UK and US women have reported that tightness of clothes is a motivator to lose weight. In many cases, clothes fit was more important than looking at themselves in mirrors or weighing themselves in prompting dieting. The fit of close-fitting garments (such as jeans) was used by many women to judge whether they had gained weight. This pattern was seen in women in a wide range of ages as seen in these quotes from participants in UK interviews (Grogan, 2021): “I don't look in the mirror to see how fat I am. And when I put on clothes that are tight around the waist