I'm the grand height if 4'10" and for anyone who stands above the (roughly) 5'3" mark will proberbly not know or have to share my struggle in finding decent clothes that fit properly and don't look as if they were designed for a ten year old. Over the years I've put together a mental list in my mind of the best places to shop when it comes to finding decent clothes for petite girls and I decided to share my wisdom as I'm not the only vertically challenged individual out there and I know just how hard it can be to find the perfect pair of jeans for example when you're no bigger than a human fairy.
Tops & T-Shirts | I find that these are the easiest things to find as most places nowadays have hopped on the petite bandwagon and are selling size 6/8 tops, t-shirts, blouses and everything in between. Just a simple trip to Primark or a look online at Forever 21 (or any other shop for that matter) and having a rummage through the clothing rails will have you sorted in no time.
Coats | Coats can be surprisingly tricky due to the fact that they tend to be rather long which can result in looking as if I've raided my Mum's wardrobe and pulled out the biggest (to me) thing possible. Over the years I've found that if it's snitched in at the waist slightly it not only gives you the illusion of curves but it can flatter your body quite nicely as it goes from being something that just goes straight down your body to drawing attention to one percific part of your body. I've become quite the lover of the cropped jacket now as it makes life a whole lot simpler for me and they be make them waterproof which I swear they never used to before. Some of the best places that I've come across for coats over the years are Next, Topshop Petite, Zara and River Island (smaller sizes of corse!)
Jeans, Trousers, Leggings, ect. | Dressing the bottom half of my body is the absolute bain of my life! Everything is either too wide around the waist of the legs have to be taken up so far that I end up with half the original trousers missing. I find that different places work for different types of trousers. For simple things like leggings then it's off for a mooch around Primark (again) as I've found that their choices in leggings and become shorter in the leg, has anyone else noticed that? Maybe it's just my local shop.
However when I want a decent pair of jeans then I've found that Topshop is an absolute god send. I've yet to find another shop that makes jeans in my size, 24 waist/28 leg for any of you wondering. I've also noticed with my beady eyes that Miss Selfridge have some lovely patterned jeans in smaller sizes too but I'm still trying to save up towards buying them.
On the matter of shorts and skirts I tend to find that most places are acomidating as less fabric is involved, hence I don't have the issue of too much material for my short legs. I usually get these from various places such as New Look, Primark, H&M - the usual suspects really.
Dresses | Dresses are pretty much hit and miss as it really depends on how that perticualr shop inturpprites the sizing. For example I've bought a dress from one shop that's fitted perfectly but when I bought a similar (pretty much identical) dress in the same size from another it looked as if I were molding a potatoe sack. I've recently noticed that Primark seem to be making their dresses a lot longer, where they would once hit just above my knew the hem now comes to rest half way down my shin - maybe I'm just shrinking how knows!
As we head further into the Summer months I've found myself buying dresses from the likes of ASOS (their petite dresses are amazing!) New Look, Forever 21 and I've also found a few stunning Boden dresses that I've picked up from charity shops along the way.
Shoes | As I've said before I have incredibly tiny feet - size one Incase you didn't know so this will be short and sweet as I'm sure 99.9% of you have 'normal sized feet and therefore you don't have to share my pain. 195 at New Look, Zara Kids, River Island (kids) and Converse are my life savers. For all you lucky people who have size 3 feet and bigger than every shop down the high street sells shoes that will fit, you lucky people!
