12 as big as a 14 had been some other retailers have quietly increased the sizes of their clothes without revealing this on labelselizabeth fox assistant director of the british clothing industry association said some larger retailers have adjusted their sizes women tend to be a little vain so a size 12 is now bigger than 20 years agothe survey is the first coordinated attempt to pull together measurements using technology that captures the shape of the entire body the data are already being used to change standard sizes to give more room for larger stomachs necks and upper armsretailers will be able to become even more sophisticated in their labelling of clothing sizes could vary according to the age or socioeconomic group that clothes are aimed atthe changing shape of women since the 1950s is typified by pamela johnson 58 an accountant and her daughter mira a computer programmer from north londonthe fact that mira was not the same shape and size as me became apparent a few years back when bellbottom fashions came back again said pamela when mira tried them on they were too short and she couldnt zip them up i think its down to the fact that diets are a lot different nowadays mira 24 said im taller and have bigger hips than my mum but apart from that were pretty much the same when i stand next to my grandmother i look like a giantthe survey has also for the first time provided a guide to mens body shapes the average man is 5ft 9 and a half inches tall with a 37in waist his chest is 42in and his hips are 40 and a half inches the average weight is 12 stone 6lbanecdotal evidence suggests that todays sunday men are bigger than the previous generation daniel douglas 27 a bank clerk from glasgow said from the photos ive seen of dad when he was my age he was a lot thinner and less toned than i am according to him i eat a lot more than he did and thats why im more beefy im sure its because of nutritional reasons that ive more height and bulk than himthe research revealed that both sexes are at their tallest between the ages of 25 and 34 with women reaching an average 5ft5in and men 5ft10in people put on weight from 25 until their mid to late fifties and then start to shrinkthe heaviest women were aged between 45 and 54 averaging 10stone 12lb while men peaked between 55 and 64 at 12stone 13lb about 35 of those scanned were overweight the sunday times london