Fashion Models and Height

@anotherblowhard It wasn’t until I went to a nice shop to buy corporate suits for a new job and I was making faces at the outfits I tried on and saying it doesn’t fit me right, it’s too long, nothing suits my body… and then they came at me with pins and did the hem and took in the waist and pulled up the sleeves. They did free tailoring and explained that everything had to be designed to fit the taller average woman because they don’t get the option to alter outfits to be longer and have more fabric etc. While every other shorter woman can have things adjusted. Total lightbulb moment. Weirdly - catering to the taller woman is how they were being more inclusive.

I now get EVERYTHING altered either by myself or if it seems out of my skill-range I go to an alterations place. It makes a world of difference to know my complete warddrobe fits me. I can wear flats with my long dresses! Getting one thing altered is cheap but getting your whole warddrobe done is costly so I just take items in batches before events I plan to wear them.
 
@dayna Absolutely. I’m tired of trying to make things fit or searching high and low. I find a lot of “petite” clothing doesn’t suit me, too narrow at hips etc, so it’s a constant struggle. If I find something good quality and fits my hips, I’m absolutely getting it tailored
 
@cturtle True! A really nice thing to come out of it is that I managed to stop feeding the fast fashion machine because if i’m taking the time to get something to fit me right, it’s going to be something high quality and beautiful that I hope lasts me forever! Everything looks significantly better when it was literally made to fit you too
 
@anotherblowhard Speaking of fashion and clothes, has anyone else been noticing that sizes in general have been getting larger? I used to be a size small in most stores (didn't have to shop in the "petites" section at all), but recently I found myself having to either stick to a "petite small" or an extra small. Maybe I need to focus on exercises to help grow my shoulder muscles to help fit better into clothes.
 
@mllody No, I agree with you. 20 years ago, I was a small. Now even XS hangs off of me at some stores like Old Navy or Target. It must be vanity sizing.
 
@knicole97 And if it’s looking like a party-ready mid-thigh mini dress on the tall lady, it would be about knee-length on me…May even work at the office!
 
@anotherblowhard Rihanna’s lingerie line is the most inclusive brand I have seen with their models. Commercial modeling is where you see a normal variety in height. And magazines as opposed to runways have more variety in height.
 
@anotherblowhard I guess us petites don’t make a big enough stink about having trouble finding clothes etc. I’m 5ft3” and always think “well it’s not like it’s a huge market, why would they sell 50 pairs of trousers in petite? They’d lose money.”

And then I’m happy with the one pair I randomly found in Hollister 5 years ago (which the sales assistant swore they didn’t even manufacture).
 
@knicole97 I have short legs so I'm always buying petite length trouser or jeans. I shop mostly consignment so Plato's closet is my place to go. Fortunately, I have a long trunk for my height so I like longer length shirts. I can't stand cropped shirts. I'm in my fifties so I'm not showing my midriff.

I just lucked out a few days ago when a neighbor was having a yard give away. She had boxes of clothes and other things that were collected by groups that she belongs to. I went through the two boxes of small clothes that she had and found eight tops and one pair of jeans that I cuff at the bottom to wear. I didn't need jeans since I'm well stocked. I loved getting more tops since I didn't have many long sleeve options and now I do.

I would tell petite people to try to find gently used clothes. They're preshrank. You can find a lot bargains. I filled my closet with long sleeve top for free just because I walked past a house that was having a yard sale (free).
 
@abubu1 That’s smart! I’ll have to start buying more gently used clothes. It’s hard to tell how much a piece of clothing will shrink when buying brand new so it would be helpful if someone else has already washed and dried it before 🙂
 
@anotherblowhard I feeeel youuuuu

Not only clothes, it’s incredibly frustrating trying to find shoes as well. I just came back from the mall (empty handed) went to to three major stores, all of them don’t carry any women’s sizes under 6, so you either have to order them to the store or buy them online. I have been wanting to get a pair of timberlands or doc martens for what feels like forever, and they don’t even have our sizes on their websites!! Not just availability, they don’t make the shoes in size 5 sometimes. I tried all the youth and junior sizes and they’re not nice or comfortable. I wanted to email timberlands and say how is your best selling shoe not available in a size 5 for WOMEN?? Lol
 
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