Going to London!

My husband and I will be heading to London for our honeymoon (we're going to Paris, too).  London has a few petite-friendly stores (at least petite in height - many places start at a UK size 6P, which is more or less a really big 0P/small 2P) other than Top Shop (which I will definitely check out, of course) and will post about them on this blog.  Also, look for restaurant write ups and other things over at DelectablyChic!

Great Petite Pieces from ASOS

While petite sizes a from ASOS are only available in house brands, there are a few pieces that would be of interest to younger petites. These include:

PETITE High Waist Tab Front Pencil Skirt

PETITE Zip Front Tweed Pencil Skirt

PETITE Twill Kick Flare

PETITE Quilt Section Leather Jacket

PETITE V Backless Pencil Dress

ASOS delivers outside of the UK and the cost is not that bad.

For UK readers: Interesting pieces from Next

I lived in the UK for a couple of months back in 2001 when I was studying abroad. During that time, I discovered that the UK had more to choose from when it came to petite clothes - 2001 was just before Banana Republic launched its petite line, which would remain unavailable in Canadian stores until 2004. As I've said in earlier posts, the UK seems to have more choice when it comes to younger petites - many more stores seem to sell ungrandmotherly clothes. Next, like Banana and Ann Taylor Loft, seem to be the most appropriate for a twentysomething woman who has an office job.

Here are a few of outfits that I like from their latest collection:

Ponte Dress

Green Mac

Blouse and pencil skirt

Origami blouse and grey stripe trousers

Watercolour print occasion dress

Cotton belted printed tunic (this looks a tad bit like something from BCBG though)

Next is also good news for petites looking for pants at a shorter length. Typical petite Next pants (ummm, I mean trousers) have an inseam of 27 1/2". This means that many petites may be looking at regular length pants if they are wearing heels. As for sizing, don't forget to subtract four numbers to get North American sizes.

Leg Lengthening Surgery Revisited

According to this article, 29-year-old British lawyer, Sara Vornamen had leg extension surgery to maker her taller. She was, like many petites, tired of not being taken seriously at work. This surgery increased her from a petite 5' even to 5'3". With an addition of only three inches, she is still petite, though not as short as she was at her "natural height." She still doesn't fit into clothes properly, though her legs may be long enough for "regular" length pants. Do you think it was worth it? I'm not so sure it is. First of all, she's still on the short side, and secondly, this surgery is not only expensive, but also painful and risky. Who wants screws in one's legs for months? And the scaring. Besides, most countries won't perform this surgery for cosmetic reasons. Sara had to travel to Russia for the procedure.

BREAKING NEWS: UK's Shortbred now available in North America!

Faye Clements' t-shirt line, Shortbred now delivers to the North American side of the Atlantic! These t-shirts, which have clever, quirky sayings about being petite, are a hit in the United Kingdom. These shirts now deliver to North America and retail at around $40-50 and come in a US 2-4 to 8-10. To order, please go to the Shortbred website by clicking the link or the image above.

As Seen on Screen

I found this online store via Serafina when they interviewed Vikki Taylor of Yo-Shorty. As Seen on Screen (aka ASOS) is an online store similar to YOOX or eLuxury. Unlike YOOX and eLuxury, ASOS actually has a petite line. The petite sizes are for women 5'3" or shorter and long pants (or as they say in the UK, trousers) have an inseam (inside leg) of 29". Sizes range from a UK 6 to UK 16. It seems that the sizes are cut quite small, too, as a size 6 according to their size chart has a 30 1/4 chest, 23 1/4 waist and 33 1/4 hips. The 6 is therefore closer to a 0 or 00 US than a size 2. Clothes are also based on celebrity styles. In the left hand side of the screen, you have a list of celebs to choose from. Celebs include Kate Moss, the Olsens, Nicole Richie, Posh and many more. The petite selection is pretty big if you look at it from a house brand perspective (ASOS also sells other brands, brands that don't make petite sizes) and include dresses (evening and day), work clothes and coats.

Other items ASOS sells:

Shoes (some shoes come as small as a US 4!)
Lingerie
Accessories
Sunglasses
Beauty products
Jewellery
Swimwear
Loungewear



The good news is that ASOS delivers internationally and prices for their own brand name are quite reasonable, averaging around £ 25 (approximately $50) for clothes. Of course, luxury brands like Rock and Republic, dVb by Victoria Beckham and so forth cost more.

The Laden Showroom sells clothes by independent designers.

Celebrating Petiteness with Shortbred

Petite Personal Shopper is introducing a new petite line from the UK called Shortbred, an online store selling t-shirts with petite-centric slogans. The line of clothing was started by British five-footer, Faye, who is on a "petite mission to make the fashion industry take serious notice of us shorties, and Shortbred plans to be at the forefront of this petite revolution." Faye's t-shirts are available at her online boutique and sell for £20-25 (approximately $40-50 US). Unfortunately, the shirts only deliver to UK addresses at the moment. Perhaps it'll come to this side of the pond soon?

Kate Moss for Top Shop...Small Frame Friendly

Jeans from Kate Moss for Top Shop

Kate Moss for Topshop finally launched at Holt Renfrew in Canada this Tuesday (in the US, the line is available at Barneys) and the sizes are great for those of us who are tiny-framed, since it IS Kate Moss, after all (smallest size is a 2, and only available in jeans when I went to Holt's yesterday. It looks like the numbers are the same as Zara and H&M, so no zero here. But size 2 is like a 0 or even 00.) Also, with the exception of dress pants, the clothes seem to be pretty petite friendly (even if the prices are inflated....the same pair of pants that cost say, £50 in the UK may cost you $140 in Canada. Without the inflated prices, we'd be paying $100.) Selection was also pretty slim compared to what's on the Top Shop website, with many pieces seen online not available at Holt's. Unlike Sienna and Savannah Miller's line Twenty8Twelve (also available at Holt Renfrew), I'm pretty happy with Kate Moss for Top Shop. Just wish the prices were not inflated and more choice was available.

p.s. H&M fans, Roberto Cavalli for H&M is TODAY! And most likely, ONE DAY ONLY!

Fashion Era

Fashion Era, based out of the UK, is a site that "looks at women's costume and fashion history and analyses the mood of an era" such as changes in culture, technology and values. The site traces fashion, cosmetics and costume back approximately 200 years, from the Regency period to today in detail, analyzing all types of clothes, from children to adult, every day to formal, social class, etc. Fashion Era also has a page especially for petites, which includes commentary on what "petite" is, why petite sizes are needed, plus-petite problems as well as examples of "on the edge of petite," which the writer, Pauline, uses her 5'9" niece and herself as examples. Her niece, who would normally shop at tall stores, has a very short arms (for her height, especially) and narrow shoulders. She buys petite tops. Pauline, who is borderline petite-average (just under 5'4") has super-long legs. She says she often shops for longer length pants (I guess pants in the UK are shorter? I define "long" as 36"...someone who is 5'4" with a 35"-36" inseam would be really out of proportion) because they fit better at the knees, even if she has to take an inch off of them. She also advises that one needs to understand her body and figure, and in order to do so, one needs to try on a wide variety of styles.

Fashion Era is a great site not only for advice on what's in and what's out, regardless of size, but also for those of us involved in theatre who're looking for costume advice as well as those in history or sociology, looking at how fashion impacted history and culture (or how history and culture impacted fashion...totally a chicken and egg situation here.)

More good news for UK Petites...

The cool, stylish UK store, Monsoon now has a petite range, but I'm sure British petite ladies who are "in the know" would have learned about this a long time ago. Selection is slim (for example, there are only two trouser styles available in petites, and most of the dresses are plain in colour), but it is similar to outfits available in "regular" sizes and is cut to fit women 5'3" or shorter and sizes range from 8-18 UK (sizes 4-14 US). Trouser inseam (or as the British call it, "inside leg") is 29", which is one inch shorter than many stores on the other side of the Atlantic. What I do find it interesting that according to their size chart, REGULAR sizes start at a UK 6, but petites start at an 8. Ummm, aren't shorter women more likely to be smaller-framed? I realize that size 6 isn't available with ALL Monsoon items and that petite clothes are slightly narrower, but a petite 8 is still wider than a regular 6. Hmmm...something to think about here.

Anyway, these outfits look wonderful, and is a welcome change, as the clothes don't look too formal officey (though the clothes ARE work-appropriate), too granny OR too young (did you hear that, TopShop?) . Let's hope that other stores will follow suit and launch petite ranges!

Petite Fit Modeling....would you do it?

In the August edition of Petite Personal Shopper, a notice was posted in the Fashion News section that UK clothing brand, Dorothy Perkins is looking for a fit model for their petite range. Keep in mind that this isn't a glamourous opportunity to become the first truly petite supermodel (supermodels don't really exist today, at least not to the extent they did in the 80s and 90s anyway), but a fit opportunity. A fit model tries on clothes so that designers/design technicians can fix any imperfections. The catch is that you have to have perfect proportions for a given size, which in the case of Dorothy Perkins is a UK 12 (US 8). While it isn't listed on Petite Personal Shopper, it's probably expected that you be a certain height (probably 5'2" or so). You also have to be very patient and be able to stand very still for long periods of time. Would this be something that you'd ever do, if given the opportunity? I would. Who knows, maybe I'll launch my own clothing line out of this, like Paige Adams-Geller's Paige Premium Denim!

Cool British Petite Clothes (part one million)

OK...I want to move to the UK...as I've said before, they seem to have much more choice! Top Shop, Next, a variety of brands from Marks & Spencer (including Per Una, which will launch its petite line very soon) and Petite Affair, an online store started by a woman who is 5'1". According to the site, they test clothes on real petite women (which they define as 5'3" or shorter, one inch less than the American definition) and if it doesn't look right, they'll just change it. Their sizes start at a UK 6 and go up to UK 18 in some brands (most go up to a UK 16). The clothes, which range from work clothes to casual to "occassion" certainly don't look granny and they seem to have a decent choice. I have to say that I LOOOOOVVEEEE the yellow dress on their main page (though it probably isn't the best colour for me)!

In addition to their own private label, Petite Affair also sells other brands, such as Almost Famous and Turnover. Petite Affair's dress pants inseams come in both 27" and 29" and jeans come in three sizes: 28", 29" and 30".

It's interesting to read in the FAQs that some believe that the choices are limited. It really isn't that bad. At least they go beyond basics.

UK's Dorothy Perkins is having a Petite Day

According to the news section at Petite Personal Shopper, this British retailer is looking for petite women of all sizes (UK 6-18) to go in to their headquarters to try on clothes and to give feedback. Have any US based stores done this? Because if they haven't, they should! The UK seems to be much more petite friendly (and not to mention, fashion-forward), even though the average height there is pretty much the same as that in the US and Canada. Maybe British women are less likely to accept that things need to be altered? North American stores really need to be more like their UK counter-parts. Maybe we need to be louder...

Good News for Petites in the UK

According to The Chic Petite, Per Una, a clothing line sold in the UK's Marks & Spencer will be launching a petite line. I'm not too sure how to feel about this line, since I've never really seen it up close (not even the two months I was in the UK for school (back in 2001) and actually shopped there), but it's joint venture between M&S and George Davies, the founder Next. Next has a pretty good line for petites. While choice, especially for young petites, is just as limited in the UK, I actually find that UK brands have better-looking petite sizes and more items that are stylish and young-looking. Even Top Shop has a petite range that is more than pants. In North America, especially Canada, the choice is very limited. I don't know how tired I am of non-petite women telling me how they're "so jealous" of me being petite because I get to wear "the cutest clothes." Um, hello? Do you really think those granny clothes at Sears or The Bay are "cute"?

BTW, "petite" in the UK is 5'3" and under. Inseam (or inside leg, as they call it in the UK) at TopShop is 29" and at Next, it's 27 1/2" (a REGULAR is 29"!!!!!)!

The Telegraph's Per Una Petite Range announcement