When your waist and hip point at different sizes

Size charts assume a single body shape and then print one row per size. Real waist to hip ratios spread out much further than a five-row table can hold, so a mismatch of one size between your two numbers is ordinary rather than a sign that something is wrong with you or with the chart.

On trousers, follow the hip

The hip is the widest point the fabric has to get over, and there is no adjustment for it once the garment is sewn. A waistband can be pulled in with a tie, taken in at a tailor, or simply sit a little loose. A hip that does not fit does not fit.

This is why the fit finder here keeps a piece only when both numbers land inside the same row. Matching on the waist alone would hand you trousers you cannot pull past your thighs.

On a fixed waistband, follow the waist

The exception is a piece with a rigid waist and no drawstring, which for us mostly means the tailored capris and a few of the wide leg cuts. There, a waist band that is too small is the thing you cannot wear, and the hip usually has more ease than the chart implies.

Where to hold the tape

Waist at the narrowest part of your torso, which is generally an inch or so above the navel and not where your jeans sit. Hip at the fullest part of the seat, feet together, tape parallel to the floor. Both measurements over the underwear you will actually be wearing.

Two people measuring the same body can differ by an inch just from tape tension. Pull it snug enough that it does not slide, loose enough that it does not press in.