Dear Fancy Hudson Valley Shop: One Size Does NOT Fit All

Where did this whole one size fits all thing come from anyway? Look around at the world. It’s obvious that it is not true. How can one size fit all? What company came up with the idea that we’ll just make a loose, flowey dress and call it one size fits all? It’s one of the stupidest ideas ever.

I’m tiny.  Five feet tall on my best day, and I have a thin build. How can a dress that fits a woman who is 5’8’ and 160 pounds fit me? It can’t. I will look lost in a dress that fits a much bigger person, and a dress that fits me surely will be too tight and short for that bigger person. Nope, one size does not fit all.

But you know when I really hate the one size fits all thing? When I’m in a pricey store, the dresses are between 200 and 700 dollars. And they are all one size fits all. If I’m going to spend that much money on a simple dress, it had better fit me like it was made for me. And this scenario actually happened the other day. 

I was with a friend visiting one of my favorite antique stores in a quaint little eastern Dutchess County town, and on a whim we decided to go into what we knew would be an expensive clothing store. What we didn’t know is that it would be expensive and nothing would fit us. I saw some really cute clothes, but they were all over 300 dollars and all one size fits all. What it should have said was one size fits all if you're over 5’ 8’ with long legs and arms. 

Maybe a few hundred dollars doesn’t seem like a lot of money to you, but it’s more than a lot to me. Especially for a dress. And to spend that kind of money on a dress that doesn’t fit me would be ridiculous. The clothes were cute, but that expensive store is catering to one size, and it’s not a size that fits the average woman, especially a small framed one like me. Then again, those aren’t prices for the average woman either, so…