Everything must go.

I've started selling some of my old clothes on eBay. I've never really thrown much away and I'm totally overwhelmed with clothes I don't wear any more - or things bought to rework and never transformed. I've been every size from an 8 to a 20 but I've been totally surprised by some of the size labels. One top is a size 24! Now it was always big on me but looked cool oversized - I never even looked at the label!

I'm sat here in a pair of size 12 shorts (with leggings though - I never get my bare legs out!). Now I know I'm nowhere near a size 12 (I usually buy a 16-18) but it still makes me happy I can wear a smaller size. Even though the stretchy jersey shape has obviously been sitting on the sale rail as they're too big for your average size 12, i still get a kick from deluding myself I'm smaller than I am.

The size issue has been in the press recently with more and more stores using vanity sizing to give their customers the same sense of shopping satisfaction. On the high street there is a massive difference in sizes even on the same store. Some of this is due to the stock in any major high street store will have been made in hundreds of different factories around the world. But another factor is that a lot of garments aren't pattern cut particularly well - not enough attention is paid to the different qualities of each fabric, grading between sizes and understanding of different body shapes. We're all familiar with the phrase "One size fits all" but perhaps it should be "one size fits none". With body shape varying much from person to person it is hard to know where to begin.

The high street stores do research into their average customer profile and base their sizes around their results. The idea being that someone shopping for smart business suits at M&S is a different customer than the spangly section of Topshop. Whilst you can see their logic it doesn't make it any easier for those of us with no brand loyalty.

I don't really shop by size - I tend to weigh things up and work out whether they'll fit. I've always worn lots of vintage and you can forget looking at the size on a vintage piece of clothing -it will be a completely different fit. Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 - but nowadays she'd be an M&S size 12!

I always think it doesn't really matter - just try things on. At Me&Yu I make things in S-M-L-XL - I design garments that look good larger or smaller depending how you wear them - and of course we're always on hand to offer a bit of styling advice!