Oh, knickers — size doesn’t matter now

As well as being the anniversary of Hillary and Tenzing’s first summitting of Everest, May 29 is the date of another great moment in New Zealand history. On this day in 1947, Mabel Howard became New Zealand’s first female Cabinet Minister.

Howard is famed for causing a fuss in September 1954 when she lit up a lacklustre debate on the Merchandise Marks bill by waving two pairs of her OS bloomers to an astonished House.

She was pointing out that clothing sizes were supposed to be standardised and correctly labelled but, in practice, there was much variation. The knickers worked, and standardisation was legislated.

One can only wonder what Howard, who died in June 1972, would make of the growing trend towards “inclusive sizing”. To avoid offending people formerly known as “plussized” (no longer considered polite) some companies are becoming “size inclusive”.

Size inclusive means no matter how a person looks — short, tall, big, small, athletic, curvy, flat — they will not be discriminated against. The item must fit for both small and plussize (oops, soz) individuals alike, and patterns must be graded well for every size. Also, to avoid discrimination, all sizes are displayed on the same racks, no more tucking the items for larger folks down the back of the store.

Traditional terms for sizes are also on the outer for the same reason, no more OS, XL or XXXL, which are being replaced with non-judgmental numbers. Sadly, that means nononsense Howard’s over-sized undies may now just be a meaningless 28. Sorry, Mabel.