Shadowing Practice: Why women’s clothing sizes don’t make sense - Learn English Speaking with Video
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46 sentences
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Look at this note. It's from the Blue Book Modeling Agency in 1945.
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It says Norma Jean, who you might also know as Marilyn Monroe, was in fact, a size 12.
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LYNN BOORADY: She was.
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but back in the 50s, a size 12 was very thin.
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That was a model.
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You know, a size 12 then would be about a size 6 now.
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Well, to be exact, she would be a size 8 at Topshop, 6 at Zara, and 4 to 6 at American Apparel.
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..to actually show you the inconsistencies, I went shopping.
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I bought 3 jeans at 3 different stores, all in the same size.
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We’re already off to a bad start.
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These all look different.
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This is not a 4.
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This one is the one in the middle.
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This one fits!
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Hold up. It won’t zip.
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I give up. Let’s wind back a little bit.
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It was the Napoleonic wars and later the Civil War in the US that demanded a sizing system for the mass production of clothing for the first time.
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It was for men’s uniforms.
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After that, men’s suit sizes were based on the chest measurement and the rest was calculated accordingly, assuming that their bodies were in proportion.
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The demands for mass production of uniforms escalated and ready-made clothing became really popular.
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By the end of the nineteenth century, most people were wearing ready-made clothes.
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In 1939, the US government funded statisticians to collect the weight and 58 measurements of 15,000 women.
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LYNN BOORADY: They only used white women, even though they took measurements of women of color, they didn’t include them in the study or the calculations.
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The women who would’ve turned out for these studies were the poor women because they would be paid.
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So the data set even back then was possibly malnourished women, certainly poor women, and not very diverse group of women… and that’s what we started with.
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They were looking for key measurements that could predict the sizes of other parts of the body, the way chest sizes had for men.
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But women’s bodies, with variable breast and hip sizes, were much harder to summarize with a single number.
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So, the data was used to create a system in 1958 with sizes from 8 to 42, an arbitrary number based on bust size, combined with a letter for height and a plus or minus for hips.
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The sizing chart was really unpopular, so they made some updates, but finally in 1983 it was completely withdrawn.
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In the 1970s and 80s, companies started labeling the sizes down, and adding lower numbers like 2, zero and now even double zero.
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So the waist measurement that used to be a size 12 became an 8.
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LYNN BOORADY: Vanity sizing specifically, is when the size on the label is lowered artificially, in order to tempt to get somebody to buy the garment.
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So you’re appealing to the person’s vanity.
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Sizing has become a marketing tool.
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LYNN BOORADY: I think it’s done because the women are getting bigger, we’re just addressing that.
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When the first standardizing chart came out in 1958 it was mostly built out of malnourished, white women.
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Now, that there’s such a wide group of people to cover, the retailers are picking a certain group of people to sell to, honing in what works with that group and what doesn’t.
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LYNN BOORADY: I think we’re more aiming for our own target markets.
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So, when Abercrombie & Fitch does their sizing, they’re sizing to their target market not to me.
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We kept tweaking that information until we sold more garments and could lower the return rate.
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That means, even brands owned by the same company will have inconsistent sizes.
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A size 8 at Banana Republic will have the same hip size as a size 2 at the Gap.
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So if you get frustrated while shopping….
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LYNN BOORADY: It’s not you, it’s the industry, it’s not women’s bodies, we’re fine the way we are.
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They are just random numbers, they don’t mean anything.
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And if you don’t like your size just cut it out of your clothes.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why women’s clothing sizes don’t make sense”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: size, Boorady, sizing, lynn, measurement. This video has 46 sentences and 662 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:17. The speaker talks at a natural 155 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| measurement noun | /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/ | The act of measuring. |
| malnourished adjective | Suffering from malnutrition. | |
| garment noun | /ˈɡɑɹmənt/ | A single article of clothing. |
| vanity noun | /ˈvænəti/ | That which is vain, futile, or worthless; that which is of no value, use or profit. |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| artificially adverb | In an artificial manner. | |
| escalate verb | /ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/ | To increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up. |
| frustrate verb | /ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪt/ | To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired. |
| inconsistency noun | /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənsi/ | The state of being inconsistent. |
| standardize verb | /ˈstæn.də.daɪz/ | American and Oxford British standard spelling of standardise. |
| statistician noun | /ˌstætɪsˈtɪʃn̩/ | A person who compiles, interprets, or studies statistics. |
| summarize verb | /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ | To prepare a summary of (something). |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| unpopular adjective | Lacking popularity. | |
| retailer noun | /ˈɹiteɪlɚ/ | A retail sales company or salesman. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come out in verb | to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body) | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| hold up verb | To wait or delay. | |
| wind back verb | /waɪnd ˈbæk/ | To wind (a tape, cassette, or film, etc) towards the beginning; to rewind. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 12 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: cloth /klɒθ/, nineteenth /ˌnaɪnˈtiːnθ/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, statistician /ˌstætɪsˈtɪʃn̩/, calculation /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/, proportion /pɹəˈpɔɹʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: inconsistency /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənsi/, inconsistent /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənt/, arbitrary /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi/, accordingly /əˈkɔɹ.dɪŋ.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like measurement, malnourished, garment.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.