Fashion can be tricky, especially if you are a petite woman. Finding the right fit in a world where you aren’t the ‘normal’ size can be tricky and it requires a bit of careful planning and looking around. If you want to enjoy trends and look your best at all times, check out these top clothing tips for petite women.
What is a petite size?
Before we get to the tips and ideas, it’s important to understand what petite size means in the fashion world. The term doesn’t just refer to short and skinny women, as petite women do come is different shapes and sizes. The term only refers to the height, generally a petite woman is someone under 5’4. So, you could be a size 16 or 2 and still be a petite woman.
Understand your body shape
You need to know your body shape, not just the length of your frame, in order to find the right items. If you are a bit bustier or you have a voluptuous body, you don’t want to make it look wrong by wearing tight clothing or the wrong prints. If you learn to compliment the right aspects of your frame, you can find the right clothing as well.
Shop with specialists
Petite women don’t need to pray to the retail gods in order to find something suitable from the normal selection anymore. There are plenty of brands and clothing shops that offer a specialist petite collection – often in a number of different shapes and sizes as well.
We recommend checking retailers like Banana Republic, Lands’ End and Wallis and score decent discounts with coupons from Frugaa. All of these retailers have a great selection of petite-specific items to cover your wardrobe needs.
Elongate your frame
You can use clever ways to elongate your frame. One of the easiest is to avoid pairing certain colored shoes with a different color bottom. So, if you are wearing black shoes, you can elongate your legs by opting for black tights, for example. If you are wearing see-through tights, opt for shoes in nude color or the color that’s the closest to your skin type.
You can also lengthen your torso by wearing a fitted shirt under a cropped one. Pick a cropped sweater from Miss Selfridge and wear a fitted top in a plain color underneath it. This adds contrast and makes your body look longer.
If you love wearing maxi clothing or dresses, then opt for things with slimmer silhouette. The pattern should also focus on vertical detailing, instead of horizontal – this will add length to your frame immediately.
Learn to layer
Sometimes you can opt for an ill-fitting item and make it look good when combined with other pieces. This is especially fitting in terms of basic shirts. You could purchase any type of loosely fitting shirt and simply make it look better with a perfectly fitting blazer. This is because you can tuck the shirt in your pants, covering the fact that it might be too long. If the sleeves look too long, wear the blazer and roll up the sleeves – you’ll look trendy in an instant.
Furthermore, you can even use this trick with blouses and tunics. If your tunic looks more like a dress, then just pair it with thick stockings from OneHanesPlace and a tight-fitting cardigan or a blazer. This won’t look odd and you’ll have a fashionable dress to wear outdoors.
Don’t be afraid of children’s clothing
Fashion has become accessible for all and designers don’t just focus on women’s clothing anymore. This means that children’s fashion is just as trendy as adults and this could be good news for shorter gals. If you are petite, you shouldn’t be afraid of checking out the children’s collection. You can actually find great basic items and accessories like shoes from kids’ collections. You just need to opt for the bigger sizes in most cases. If you can’t seem to find the right clothing from adult stores, then have a sneak peak at the children’s collections in places like Mango and OshKoshBgosh. You could find pretty stunning options to fill up your wardrobe.
Start altering your items
Sometimes you don’t need to make big changes to the normal sized clothing. In fact, it can be annoying having to leave an item on the rack just because the sleeve was an inch too long. The solution is to learn some basic DIY alterations. You don’t need to be a professional fashion designer in order to do this. The internet is full of great DIY videos that can help you slightly adjust your clothing to create that perfect fit.
The above fashion tips should help you find the right petite clothing and to dress up in a trendy way. Just spend enough time getting a good grasp of your size and in finding the shops that have the perfect items for your body shape. Then it is all about knowing these little tricks to ensuring you match the right items to create stunning outfits for your petite figure.
