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I'm 68 years old, 5' 1" and size 12-14 petite, but not the Alfred Dunner or Sag Harbor type. I get most of my clothing from Travelsmith, which carries a lot of petites. They specialize in easy-care travel clothing. They're not cheap, but their garments are better quality than most department store junk and have a forgiving fit that works well for us shorties who are not stick-thin.
I am the opposite of petite, and the woes of a Brunhilde are similar to yours, for the same reasons -proportion and selection.
My sister say that large women pay a premium for being that way, since they must pay full price to snap up anything desirable in their size before other do. Although the average size of a woman in the U.S. is a size 14, this does not faze designers, who do not want to make clothes for this size and up. However, I lost 60 pounds after I retired, and can now wear a size 14 easily (This is down from a size 22), so I can buy nice basics from Costco (the large sizes fly of the rack first), and I shop at Orvis, LL Bean and the like (they have oetite sizes also). I can shop at the Military Exchanges, but seldom do so, because I noticed that the quality of clothing has declined, I tried JJill, but what they sent was almost gauze.....
Regarding sizing, formerly there was a bit more standardization, but now, one must try everything on, even from the same manufacturer. I am sure that there is a great deal of waste in the clothing industry. I propose that the government (or industry) should get together to develop a standard sizing as a reference point. The government had something called tariff sizing that indicated how many of which size should be made for a given population, and the sizes were calculated according to body measurements of of the population ranges. These sizes could then be posted on a Talbot's size 10, (but in reality tariff size 12) with the annotation TS 12 equivalent.
Try being a petite (4'9", used to be 4'10.5", so much for short women not losing height) plus-size.
I am 61 and a 4'9" size 16. I used to laugh at my mother who was similarly built and say everything she wore had the same look. Now I know why. There is exactly ONE place I can buy pants -- the Woman Within catalog. They are the ONLY place to get size 16 pants with a 27" inseam. Now that I have lost height, even THAT is too long, so sometimes I look for crop pants with a 25" or 26" inseam. J. Jill sometimes has them. For tops, I look for things in the Indian stores for summer and buy long-sleeve stuff at J. Jill during their sales.
It is my mother's revenge, I tell ya.
"Petite" now no longer means just shorter. It means shorter and slimmer. In most stores, petite sizes go only up to a size 12, and I can see that everything is cut a lot smaller, including armholes. So I don't know why they even bother going to size 12.
When you go to stores after Christmas, the clearance racks are full of sizes 2, 4, 6, 8...but you can't find a 14 or 16 to save your life. So...if the smaller sizes are what they have left, why do they persist in buying more stock in smaller sizes???
I like bodenusa.com. They have petites in many styles. I also find petites on Zappos sometimes. I have partially solved the problem of pants by just not wearing them. Tunic and leggings are kind of a go-to, because it's the easiest thing to make fit. Certain brands of dresses also fit well in non-petite, and I just keep ordering those brands. Basically, non-petites will fit in some brands, and you just have to find out which brands they are. I don't bother with department stores; much better selection online.
"Petite" now no longer means just shorter. It means shorter and slimmer.
This. Drives me nuts.
I have the same complaints as some have already mentioned - pant legs are too short in the petite size (I can only imagine what they would look like after a couple washings when they inevitably shrink some more), and the assumption that your body in general is smaller or shaped differently in all directions than a "regular" size. Also, shirts are always too short - and I'm shortwaisted to begin with, so I find this baffling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johngolf
My wife was a petite and I always told her you are just going to have things altered. She did and looked great.
Same here. I'm 5'3" and I almost never buy petite sizes. I buy regular sizes and get altered as needed. Virtually all of my pants have been hemmed after purchase.
When you go to stores after Christmas, the clearance racks are full of sizes 2, 4, 6, 8...but you can't find a 14 or 16 to save your life. So...if the smaller sizes are what they have left, why do they persist in buying more stock in smaller sizes???
Because the clothing manufacturers do not think strategically - why should they? They design for a season, and probably use some outdated size tariff (quantity of items for each size) based on bygone days when everyone was much thinner. Department stores follow suit - they do not stock strategically, they undoubtedly use an old stock guide. If we did not have seasons and fashion changes, someone might eventually look at the waste and lost sales revenue. Notice that men do not complain about this.
....favorite places to shop? Pet peeves about petite fashions. Any feedback and information is welcome.
I am a happy 5'3" and a size 4. My peeve? OLD LADY CLOTHES!!!!
I dress fashionably, and many people (designers, buyers, etc) assume "petite" means 95 years old.
They are wrong. In fact, after menopause, all things being equal, petite women do NOT lose height the way taller (5'6" and over) woman do.
Personally, I don't need "petite" for leg length. My legs are long in proportion to my body, and my waist is rather high. I was a dancer and cheerleader and I remain in good shape.
Junior clothes once worked well for me - but now the styles are too juvenile. They have gotten worse over the years. More tacky and less classic and chic.
Any suggestions? Feed back, griping and everything else is welcome!
I hate how the waist on jeans is way too loose for me. I have to sew the waist in on all my jeans.
Well I am proportioned in a way that petite clothes don't work for me. But my petite friends go for J.Crew, Banana and Ann Taylor.
But I'll plug a shop i mentioned in another thread: eShakti. The clothing is mostly basics and vintage inspired stuff with an expanding range. But the prices are not too expensive and everything can be custom sized from your measurements for about $10 extra. The clothes are handmade in India. I got a great fitting cotton knit dress for about $40 in my last order. They have lots of fabrics and styles and it is great for tall, short, busty, petite and whoever. Check it out.
Um, nobody caters to the 5'8" and over crowd. It might seem that way to some of you from way down there, but in reality, there's not ONE store for us, not even in NYC. Except for the rare long-inseam pants in some stores, everything that requires length must be bought through catalogs/online, and the selection is very limited
I'm just being sarcastic. Some of my best friends are short people, and while it seems to me that you guys could just much more easily shorten things than I can make fabric appear when it isn't there, I know it doesn't always work that way proportion-wise.
My old dear friend, now gone, was 4'11". She used to have some beautiful suits and well-tailored clothing in her size. I think she would go to Just Petites. Sorry you aren't finding what you need, either. That is very odd that they seem to think that short means old and dowdy.
PREACH!
I am only 5'10 ish but the notion that the decline in clothing quality is some how limited to petites is ludicrous. Denim is thin on women's jeans period. Clothes are easily made for juniors who want bare midriffs or my mom.
Shorts that cover an appropriate amount of leg are hard to find, I am short waisted and I still can't get t-shirts that don't come up when I move. Oh, and all of the cute shoes, are in sub size 6 and rarely found in size 9 (or god forbid above).
At least petites have a department, tall girls, especially those who are not plus sized, do not have as many options. And don't even get me started on how being even slightly busty while being tall makes it impossible to find sweaters, blouses, etc. UGH!
I'm 5'1" and I envy anyone who has a size. I have shirts in everything from small to extra large and in between.
My pants range from 4 to 10.
Pants, esp jeans, are rough. I'm short waisted, so I prefer low-rise as it's mid-rise on me. Most pants are SO tight on the legs! I have large legs. But my waist isn't too huge, so pants are too big in the waist and small in the legs. It's frustrating. Then because most jeans are stretch, I have to constantly pull them up because they are stretching out, but legs are always too tight.
I don't really buy clothes; I go to Kohl's and can find a few things, maybe JCP, but it's hard to build a decent wardrobe.
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