Italian Sizing for Women — What the Numbers Actually Mean
Almost everything in an Italian designer wardrobe is cut to Italian sizing, and the numbers look nothing like the ones you are used to. An IT42 is not a size 42. It is a UK 10.
Here is the conversion, and then the part that actually matters — where it stops being reliable.
The conversion
| Italian | UK | US | Usually called |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT36 | 4 | 0 | XXS |
| IT38 | 6 | 2 | XS |
| IT40 | 8 | 4 | S |
| IT42 | 10 | 6 | M |
| IT44 | 12 | 8 | L |
| IT46 | 14 | 10 | XL |
| IT48 | 16 | 12 | XXL |
| IT50 | 18 | 14 | 3XL |
| IT52 | 20 | 16 | 4XL |
| IT54 | 22 | 18 | 5XL |
The arithmetic is simple once you see it: Italian size minus 32 gives you the UK size. IT42 − 32 = UK 10. It holds the whole way up the range.
On our product pages you will see both together — IT42 | M — so you never have to do the sum yourself.
Where it stops being reliable
The table above is the standard. Individual houses are not obliged to follow it, and the ones with a strong house silhouette often do not.
- Houses that cut close — fitted tailoring, body-conscious dresses, structured jackets. If you are between sizes, or the piece is a jacket you intend to wear over knitwear, take the larger size.
- Houses that cut generous — oversized knitwear, relaxed outerwear, anything described as a boxy or drop-shoulder fit. These run roomy by design, and sizing up produces a garment that looks borrowed rather than intentional.
- Knitwear generally is the most forgiving category and the least worth agonising over. Tailoring is the least forgiving.
Denim is sized differently
Women's jeans are sized by the waist in inches, not on the Italian scale. You will see these as W24 through W33. If you know your usual denim waist, order it — it does not convert to an Italian number reliably, because denim is cut to the body rather than to a garment scale.
Some pieces carry only a letter
Where a house supplies no Italian number — common on knitwear, jersey and loungewear — the size reads simply S, M or L. Use the letter column above to place yourself.
If you are between two sizes
The question worth asking is what the garment has to do. A coat has to close over whatever you wear under it — size up. A silk dress has nothing underneath it and nothing to accommodate — take your true size. A knit will move with you either way.