Description:
This online exhibit discusses how "between 1949-1952 the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now NIST) conducted a comprehensive study of women's body measurements to develop a sizing standard for women's ready-to-wear clothing." This standard was withdrawn in 1983. Includes comments on sizing and vanity (as the average woman's body was changing shape, "manufacturers began selling bigger clothes labeled with smaller size numbers") and recent developments. From the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). |