Buying clothes should not feel like a trick question. UCLA students already deal with enough of those during finals.

Vanity sizing is the practice of labeling clothes with smaller sizes than their actual measurements. This practice began in the mid-20th-century, when brands realized adjusting sizes downward would appeal to women.

What started as a marketing tactic has become industry standard. Sizing in most stores has come to bear no consistent meaning.

Vanity sizing reinforces the idea that worth is tied to size. This message disproportionately affects young women. For UCLA students, this adds doubt to an environment already defined by pressure.

Through educating themselves on vanity sizing, UCLA students can gain agency over their shopping experience and advocate for brands to increase transparency.

“I think it’s easy for people to think that their weight is fluctuating when it’s really not,” said Sophia Pham, a second-year psychobiology student. “It’s just based on the store size.”

Some people can make the separation between changes in weight and inconsistent sizing, but those who can’t face negative consequences.

As a city shaped by the entertainment industry, Los Angeles further promotes narrow and unrealistic body standards that students absorb daily.

“The entertainment industry tends to set impossible standards, body standards,” said A. Janet Tomiyama, a psychology professor.

The LA weather only intensifies this issue. With a warm climate year-round, clothing tends to be more revealing. This can amplify insecurity and make students feel as if their peers judge them all year long.

Tomiyama added that UCLA students do not have winter parkas to hide in, unlike many other university campuses in colder states.

Vanity sizing not only mislabels clothing. It reinforces the environment of LA, which puts body image under scrutiny every single day.

Aaryn Coleman, a third-year communications, computing specializations and dance student as well as the executive director of events for Fashion and Student Trends at UCLA, said that having to wear such drastically different sizes makes sizing feel arbitrary.

Some argue that it is difficult to completely change a practice so embedded in the fashion industry of the United States. Still, it should be something we start taking steps towards fixing and at the very least opening the discussion.

The fashion industry has adapted before, from expanding size ranges to responding to sustainability demands. It is – and should – capable of change. Transparency in measurements would be an impactful first step.

Educating students about vanity sizing will also lower its impact. When equipped with information, the UCLA community can distinguish inconsistent labels from self-worth.

In a campus culture that already feels intense, vanity sizing adds another level of insecurity.

Clothes should be something made to fit you, not the other way around.