Laura left a fascinating comment on my post Apparent Body Size. I didn’t want anybody to miss it, so here it is:
I think that frame size has a LOT to do with it. I have two sisters who are within an inch of each others’ height and within a few pounds of each others’ weight.Yet one of them is apparently-tiny, and one of them is apparently-strapping. Tiny has a small frame, delicate features, and carries most of her excess weight where it can be easily disguised. Strapping has a broad, strong-looking frame, large hands and bosoms, and some facial softness that makes her look like she’s carrying around a few extra pounds.
It’s not just clothing size that people guess, either. People often perceive Strapping as several inches taller than Tiny. Heck, people perceive *me* as taller than Tiny, and I’m shorter — but like Strapping, I’ve got a broad, solid frame to Tiny’s narrow, delicate one.
Very interesting!
As I’ve said before, it mystifies me why people generally assign me a medium body. I am smaller than both of my daughters and yet, if we were all given shirts for Christmas by the same giver, mine would undoubtedly be a medium and their’s smalls.
Now I’m going to be analyzing everyone’s apparent size by looking at their face. Anybody else?
Thuis mad me remember Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz.
Penelope comes acros as tiny and delicate (in Vanilla Sky she looks like so fragile). Salma seems rather more stocky and heavier built, but actually she is quite small, and if you see them together you’ll see that she is much smaller than Penelope. I’ve also noticed that Salma looks especially bulky in photos, on video she looks better and less stocky (for example in Frida). I think it’s her heavy jawline and big bosom that “increase” her apparent size, while Penelope’s delicate face shape makes her look smaller.
I really think that much of apparent size is in the mind of the beholder, and based both on what the beholder relates to and to how the beholdee is dressed or presents themselves. To many I am tiny. Yet I am not tiny or delicate. I *am* however, most definitely short!!
I have a friend who is my height and 95 pounds. She’s definitely tiny. We wear the same pant size. I am almost 20 pounds heavier, and if you look at us in dresses the difference is easy to see when you compare her calves to my more muscular ones. I also now people close to my height who are perceived as much taller — largely because they almost always wear heels!
Absolutely! I’ve noticed this over and over.
People think I’m smaller than what I am because I carry most of my weight in my hips. Skirts are amazing pieces of clothing for women with big hips. lol