It may seem insignificant to some, but that little number stitched onto a garment tag can have an enormous impact on a woman's psyche. Keen to this, select designers and retailers have learned to tweak their sizing charts on a curvy woman's curve. The result is the mental equivalent of a slimming fun house mirror. It's called vanity sizing and, on this Sunday afternoon, I'm cursing the designers who haven't converted to the concept.

After trying on enough designer dresses at Saks Fifth Avenue to fill a red carpet, I discover the high fashion world thinks very "big" of me. Normally I would take it as a compliment but today it's preventing me from zipping past my hips. A Moschino dress that resembles something Monet took his paintbrush to, calculates my measurements at a cringe-worthy 46, the highest number I'll see all day.

Dolce & Gabbana, notorious for overdoing the undersize, takes me down a notch to 44. The silk dress looks like meringue and flatters every inch of skin that drove the size up so I almost forgive the designing duo, until I head over to Miu Miu.

Here, I find a flowing white sundress in a size 40 that begs me to overdraw my credit card. Is it the dress itself or the fact I've just shrunk a size? Unsure, I pass on the dress and walk across Fashion Show mall to Neiman Marcus where I stumble upon the feminine works of Stella McCartney. A floral fall frock by the British designer, in a 42, has me looking ready for a weight loss "after" shot. The bust bunches and the sides sag. My self-esteem makes a cameo for the first time and decides to stay a while when I make my way over to the Donna Karan section.

The American designer, who also happens to be a woman, has a tendency toward the lenient fabrics. I snag a couple jersey knit dresses off the rack and give them a go. The verdict: medium. Not a small, not a large, but the ever-so-happy medium. Of course, Ms. Karan also starts her sizes with a generous extra small, which allows for women like me to garner "medium" status in the hyper image-conscious designer world.

"People are bigger in America and American designers don't want everyone to feel bad about themselves when they shop," Berlin said. "They vanity size for a reason. It changes the way you see yourself when you wear a smaller size."

After my stint with high fashion, I schlep over to the other side of the retail tracks into Old Navy and Target. The former fitting room is comprised of city shorts and summer dresses. The latter is nothing but dresses a la Isaac Mizrahi, who paved the way for diffused designer fashion with his Target collection. The transition from the runways to budget retail changed more than the numbers on his price tags. Both him and Old Navy like to think of me as a good, solid 8.

As I leave the Target dressing room, I find myself going back to the Mizrahi section and plucking three more dresses off the rack. Donna Karan and Stella McCartney may have managed to make a girl blush but Mizrahi flatters me without forcing me to reach deep into my wallet. And that's a numbers game I'm always willing to play.

Contact interim editor Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477.