Size guide

Floerns size guide: how to read the chart in the pictures

The letter on the label and the letter you usually buy are two different things here. This is how to close the gap with a tape measure.

Most of the disappointment around this brand comes from one page element that people scroll past. Inside the listing images, usually second from the end, sits a table of measurements in centimetres and inches. That table is the real size chart. The dropdown on the retail page is a generic US letter selector and the two do not agree.

Take three numbers once

You need bust, waist and hip. Do it over a thin top rather than bare skin or a jumper, keep the tape level all the way round, and pull it snug without squeezing.

• Bust: across the fullest part, tape flat across the back.
• Waist: the narrowest part of your torso, usually an inch above the navel.
• Hip: the widest part, which for most people is lower than it feels.

Write them down somewhere you can find them. You will use the same three numbers on every listing, and re measuring each time is how mistakes creep in.

Match the largest, not the average

Compare all three against the chart column by column. If your bust falls in medium and your hip falls in large, the answer is large on anything woven. Fabric cannot be stretched to cover a hip, but a loose waist can be belted, tucked or taken in with a stitch.

The exception is a stretch bodycon with four way give. There the smaller size will still go on and will hold closer, so it becomes a question of how tight you want it rather than whether it fits.

Read the stretch line first

The manufacturer bullet points on this brand are unusually blunt. Phrases like the fabric has no elasticity or slightly thin appear regularly. That single line changes everything about the size decision.

• No elasticity: order to your largest measurement, no rounding down.
• Slight stretch: your measured size is right.
• High stretch or four way stretch: either size works, pick by how close you want it.
• Smocked or elasticated back: forgives roughly one letter in either direction.

Where garments actually go wrong

Across the shoulders

Halter and cami styles are cut narrow through the upper chest. If a top pulls at the armhole it is too small regardless of what the bust number says, and no adjustment fixes it.

At a fixed waist seam

A line dresses with a set waist have one point of failure. Measure where the seam will actually sit on you, which is usually higher than your natural waist on this brand.

Length

The charts give total garment length from shoulder to hem. Hold a tape against yourself from the shoulder point down and see where the number lands. Model photos are shot on someone around five foot nine, and a mini on her is shorter on most people than they expect.

Kids sizes

The childrens line labels by age but sizes by height, and children of the same age vary by half a foot. Use the height column. Between two sizes, take the larger one, because almost everything in that section is elasticated or ties.

Shoes

US numeric, and narrow. Measure your foot flat against a wall in the evening when it is at its largest. If you need a wide fitting, the pointed toe flats in this catalog are not the purchase, and a half size up makes the shoe longer without making it wider.

A short checklist

1. Find the chart image in the listing, not the size dropdown.
2. Compare all three of your numbers to it.
3. Pick the size that covers your largest number.
4. Read the stretch line and adjust only if it says there is give.
5. Check the total length against your own height before ordering a mini.