Henrietta Pertuz: Petite and Classically Fashionable

Like most petite women, Henrietta Pertuz has had a great deal of difficulty finding clothing which fit her 5'2" figure. Regular clothing was just not cut properly, and alterations were not always possible without paying a great deal for reconstruction. Getting tired of the difficulty, she left her job as an advertising executive to launch her line of clothing which is made to fit women 5'4" or below. The line, which features simple dresses, tops and and pants, are great to pair up with other existing pieces in a woman's wardrobe.


Being a petite designer, there have been many challenges for Henrietta. Just finding the right models can be hard. Agencies don't usually have women who're the right size - Henrietta's clothes fit women 5'4" or below. Even a "short" model most agencies have are too tall for her clothes. Some agencies are even surprised at her requests. Luckily, Henrietta has Carolyn, a 5'4" fitness model. Recently, she also did a shoot with some America's Next Top Model Cycle 13 (petite cycle) contestants (though they were a little bit taller than her other models). There have been other challenges as well. First and foremost, it is convincing women that they are petite. Many people are still under the belief that "petite" not only means short, but also small framed. They do not think that someone who is, say, 5'2" tall and a size 10 is petite. That is completely incorrect. In fact, the line ranges from 0P to 12P (and will expand to 00P and 14P in the fall).

(Left: Denim trousers; Right: Molly dresses featuring ANTM Cycle 13's Laura and Jennifer)

Henrietta's line has received some press recently. In a world that is full of tall skinny women, and now, a few tall, not-so-skinny women, it is very difficult for petite designers to even get a wee bit of notice. However, last week, Glamour.com published a post about the line. She has also received press on petite blogs like Extra Petite and The Good Girl Gone Blog. Where would Henrietta like to be in five years? Definitely in more stores! She would also love to dress petite celebrities, including Eva Longoria, Kristen Bell, Kristen Chenoweth and Carrie Underwood. Currently, Henrietta Pertuz is available online via her website and in these stores, with price points similar to Banana Republic and J.Crew.

Also posted in Prospere Magazine

February Poll Results!

Last month, we asked you what type of petite clothes you buy most often:

37% said that you mostly buy pants/bottoms

7% buy tops

10% buy dresses

33% buy EVERYTHING in petites!

13% of you don't purchase petites (I'm assuming you're of average height or taller??)

0% chose other

Fernanda Carneiro Update: E-Shop and Media Buzz

Shorty Stories readers: Fernanda Carneiro, which we covered for Petite Fashionista Presents has gotten a lot of media buzz as of late. Read this Prospere Magazine article for more info, including how you can get a discount on your first Fernanda Carneiro online purchase!

Lovely Petite Dresses at Anthropologie

I don't normally write about Anthropologie. Though they have petites (and they deliver internationally), I usually find their selection small. Very small, in fact. The entire petite collection is only four pages, consisting of dresses, pants and a skirt (yes, you heard me correctly. A SKIRT. ONE. Compared to many in "regular" sizes.) However, I do have a few favourites from this collection. They include:

Hosta Leaf Dress

Star Grass Dress

Albers Shirt Dress (comes in both green and navy)

Another dress I liked was the Bluebell Wood Dress, but it's completely sold out. The dresses here seem to go pretty quickly. Not all sizes are available in the other dresses I listed either.

Petite sizes at Anthropologie run from 0P to 12P.

Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft - Great for petites!

Whenever I go to the US, I always make a stop at Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft. The clothes are, especially at Ann Taylor Loft, very affordable, and great for work. Not only do they have non-granny petite sizes, but they also have a bigger range than Banana Republic. At Banana, petite sizes only go up to 12P while Ann Taylor sells petites, especially online, up to a 16P. It's really too bad that people outside of the US can't possibly purchase any of their items unless they make a trip - like the GAP Inc. stores, they do not take cards with foreign billing addresses.

Some of my favourites are:

Ann Taylor:

Averie Double V-Neck Dress
Petite Plaid Flippy Skirt
Silk Cross-over Top w/ waist tie
Triacetate 3 Button Jacket
Audrey Wool Cashmere Pants

Petite Ann Taylor pants have an inseam of 30"

Ann Taylor Loft:

Textured One Button Cardigan
Ebony Wash Skirt w/ back pleat
Tweed Pleat Skirt Dress
Marisa Wide Leg Cuffed Chain Belt Pants
Velvet Jacket with Satin Trim

Petite pants at Ann Taylor Loft have an inseam of 29" or 29 1/2"

I have found that at the stores, the very small sizes tend to run out very quickly. Size 00P isn't even available at many Ann Taylor stores, not even the big flagship at Madison and 60th in Manhattan. Ann Taylor Loft is another story. I was in New York back in August, and was able to find a good selection of XXS and 00Ps at the Ann Taylor Loft store near Times Square. However, medium framed petites will have an excellent time at these stores. Usually, there's lots of sizes 4-10.

What? A little girl-esque dress in petite sizes?

Just received the November J.Crew catalog a few days ago. As usual, the selection for petite sizes is low-ish, though it looks like it's improving. But there's one dress I totally thought was inapprorpiate, especially for petite women like us. It looks like a little girl's dress, a VERY LITTLE GIRL'S DRESS. Five year olds probably wouldn't want to wear that. Why did they even make that dress in petite sizes? Come to think of it, it's not that great on average or tall women either. It looks like a clown outfit. The dress comes in a different version, which is a little less clown-like, but of course, still has that collar. But making a dress like that is just....wrong (at least those dotted and solid ruffly shirts don't come in petite.)

I have to say though, that ugly dress aside, most other choices in the November catalog aren't that bad.

Work-related clothes I like:

Pembroke tweed Mandy jacket
Felted wool Adrian skirt * (though not every colour is a favourite of mine.)
Cashmere shawl collar sweater (A more affordable alternative is the New Dream shawl-collar at $88 US.)
Super 120 Suiting Dress * (A little different. J.Crew's suit dresses are usually shifts.)

The suits aren't bad either, but they usually look very similar from season to season (the Super 120 dress aside) Party dresses, however, are different. J.Crew's bridal/holiday party collection is usually pretty good compared to work and casual clothing. J.Crew seems to do best with pants and going-out/party dresses when it comes to petites. There are 21 pant styles (including the denim. Jeans aren't sized petite, but short, so I'm not sure if it counts) and 20 going-out dresses (22 dresses in total, including the clown dress (which I don't consider as "going out"/"party" and the suit dress.) Compare that to 8 coats, 7 jackets, 5 (casual/work) skirts and 5 shirts.

Petite dresses I like * (some of these are already on sale):

Silk Chiffon Sophia Dress
Sophia Long Silk Dress (I also like the short one)
Sarah Cotton Cady Dress
Cady Dress

These dresses make excellent bridesmaid dresses too!

* available in petite sizes

Petite Dresses at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)

Cynthia C. at Roy Thomson Hall after the Gala premiere of Sleuth

"So, who are you wearing?" OK, no one asked me that last night when I went to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)'s Sleuth (a movie starring Jude Law and Michael Caine....and yes, they were in town for the showing...along with director Kenneth Branaugh) gala last night at Roy Thomson Hall. But if anyone did, I would have said "House of Hsueh." Benita's unique "mod wearable" styles are clean, stylish and, best of all, age-appropriate. Thanks, once again, Benita, for this gorgeous dress!

To find out more about where you can get House of Hsueh, go to her website and then click "shop."

Petite Length Tops/dresses and the Final Installment of the Outlet Series

Many more clothing stores seem to be more accomodating to petite length legs than to other parts of the body. Non-petite stores which carry short length jeans include American Eagle (30")and Abercrombie and Fitch (website does not indicate, but I'm guessing that it is 30"). But what about tops? Why is it that the legs are sometimes given attention to (albiet casual/weekend pants, such as jeans, and not "work" clothes (maybe they believe that the only people who wear shorter lengths are teenagers who haven't reached their full height??)), but not tops? Short women have short torsos too. Petite women with "regular" length torsos and shorter legs are likely to find 30" inseam pants too long.

Really, the only places where petite women can find tops in the correct length are stores with petite sections. Even there, the selection is slim. Especially if you are at an outlet. Most of the petite tops I saw at the Ann Taylor Factory Store were very basic shirts that one might wear under a suit jacket (though I *KNOW* that AT's top collection is much, much better than, say, J.Crew, where the selection is currently limited to button down shirts.) While the shirt below is somewhat "regular" looking, it also not as "plain" as some button-down shirts one wears for work. It looks great with black pants, capris or regular length.

Petite dresses are also impossible to find, even though many dresses are difficult to alter. This is especially the case for more casual petite dresses. I was lucky to find the dress below at AT.

By the way, I wasn't able to find a map to Woodbury Common, other than the one posted on their site (not the map I'm lookin for), so I won't be able to post it. I *DID* get an e-mail from Premium Outlets, letting me know that they list the stores based on the store's sign. But that wasn't what I was talking about. I recalled the map pointing out stores that sell plus-sized clothes, even if the store didn't say that it did. Not the same for petites--the Ann Taylor Factory store, for example, sells petites sizes, and indicated that on its window. Premium Outlets DID agree with me that they wished that more brands focus on petite sizes and I am very happy that they do! :) Let's just hope that retailers and manufacturers read this and listen.