Steve & Barry's Shopping Adventure: That Size Eight Is SOOO Fat.

Yesterday I trekked over the Beverly Connection shopping complex over on La Cienega Blvd and Third. I went to the new Steve and Barry's shop over there. You've never heard of Steve and Barry's? Yeah, me either. At least not until I was sitting in my hairdresser's chair on Saturday, reading "O" magazine while getting some of my hair chopped off. This month's "O" (as in "Oprah") has a spread of Sarah Jessica Parker's new clothing line, Bitten, and it's available at Steve and Barry's.

Now, I'm not, as a whole, a big fan of SJP. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've only seen "Sex and the City" twice in my whole life. I wasn't particularly impressed with the show and I've always wondered how frequently the concept of STDs was discussed. But maybe that's just me and my germ-phobia. Or, HIV phobia, whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, SJP's clothes at Steve and Barry's are pretty cute. And, major shocker here, the prices are dirt cheap. How cheap? Well, right now I'm wearing a pair of jeans I got for $14. Yeah, that cheap. This is not another overpriced celebrity clothing line with logos all on the outside of the clothes. That's quite a relief. We'll see if the jeans fall apart in the washer, but in the meantime, they're pretty fly. And did I mention already that they were $14?

Now, to get to this one pair of jeans, I had to try on at least seven or eight different pairs. You just never know how the sizing is going to work out with a new line of clothing, and there are so many different cuts to choose from. Skinny jean. Boyfriend jean. Low rise, also known as ass-crack jeans. Ultra low rise, also known as "You'd better forget about sitting down" jeans. High waist. Bootcut.

I made it easy on myself and ruled out the ultra low rise and skinny jeans. Both are just ridiculous and I'm sure millions of women the world over can't wait for them to go out of style.

So, I'm in the dressing room, almost finished trying on my armfuls of jeans when I overhear the mother/daughter pair in the dressing room next to mine. This mother says to her daughter, "What size are those?"

The daughter replied back, "An eight. Do they look too tight?"

"No, they look fine but they're an eight. You should be wearing a four, or at the most, a six. What's happening to you? We're going to have to get you to a gym or you need to stop eating or something because you're just blowing up!"

I was absolutely horrified by this conversation and immediately found myself thinking about how if I had a daughter, this is exactly the kind of ridiculousness I'd have to protect her from. I know childhood obesity is a problem in America, but a size eight is fat? Maybe if you're five feet tall or something, but come on, regardless, I was so shocked by this conversation. This mom was single handedly ruining my Steve and Barry's shopping experience. And killing her daughter's self-esteem.

"I mean, don't you know they do vanity sizing all the time and an eight is really a ten? Do you want to be a size ten?"

The daughter mumbled, "No," and tried to protest a little by saying, "But I think these clothes run a little small."

"It doesn't matter. You should be wearing the six, not an eight."

I hung out in my dressing room till they opened the door to theirs. I wanted to get a look at this mom and daughter. The daughter was about 5' 8" or so, and looked totally healthy, totally normal. The mom had that super-skinny tanorexic, LA plastic surgery look to her. She looked mean.

The conversation made me not want to get my jeans at all. It made me think about all the actresses, SJP included, that diet down to nothingness and then become the norm for body size. I'm no advocate for being overweight, especially if it's negatively affecting your health, but I'm not trying to look like I just spend two months on a deserted island. Although, if I did look like that, I'm sure there are those folks who'd say, "Oh wow! You look sooo good!"

So, yeah, you already know I got my jeans. Like I said, $14...I couldn't resist. And I don't care what size they were. I just wanted them to fit and look good on me.

I wish that teenage girl had a mom who felt the same.