Damn that Coco Chanel

We often talk about chubby women being desirable in the past, but I tend to think of the nudes in Ruben paintings, not the 20th century. I sometimes forget that in the first half of the 1900's, women built like Olive Oyl were teased for looking like boys. Angelina collects vintage sewing patterns and has noticed a striking difference in the sizing changes over the past decades. It's no secret that vanity sizing has come into play, with size 0 being the size 6 or 8 of yesteryear, but she also makes a fantastic point:

So if a body measuring 36-30-39 is a size fourteen today, why on earth would any woman consider herself overweight at that size? ... If Jean Harlow were alive today she would not have fit in a size two dress. Today we would call her a plus sized gal. But back then women were desperate to have her figure. But not quite as desperate as men were.

You're not a bad person because you're a size 18, you were just born 100 years too late. We're totally retro.