Shopping isn’t always fun when you’re small. Jeans are too long, there’s not enough small sizes available or coats are just too wide at the shoulders. And so, to help you with this, here’s some advice on how to dress stylishly and fashionably, even when you’re under 5ft 3in.
Discover our latest podcast
How to make yourself stand out
There are multiple ways to make yourself stand out and look great when you’re small. You should always go for trousers and jeans that have a short cutthat roughly goes down to your ankle so you don’t need to turn up the bottom of your trousers.
When it comes to clothes, you can either go for long or short lengths, but you should make sure that they are tailored to your size and shape and fit right. It’s also important to bear in mind that vertical stripes or colourful patterns tend to make you look taller. In terms of coats, you should go for short styles that just go over your bottom.
What you need to remember is that, in general, tight-fitting clothes and short styles need to be tailored to you specifically to highlight your figure as much as you can.
The right shoes
It’s not that easy to find the right shoes when you’re little either. In order to prevent your shoes from making you look even smaller than you are, you should go for pointy styles. The same goes for ankle boots with heels and you should always go for shoes that don’t make your legs look too short.
In terms of ankle boots, you should choosestyles that go up to your ankles as they will elongate your figure. And of course, any pair of trainers will be fine!
What to avoid
When you’re quite small, there are some things that you should avoid wearing, and the same goes for tall people too. The following rules specifically apply to us little folk:
- Avoid layers
- Long items of clothing can make you look shorter or just drown you out completely
- Horizontal stripes make you look wider
- Thick or square heels and round or square shoe tips make you look heavier
- Wide trousers can make you look either smaller or wider
- Trousers that sit around your hips make you look smaller, but high-waisted trousers make you look taller
The advantages of being small
Of course, being small also has its advantages. For example, you can wear clothes from the kids department, which tend to be much cheaper. In addition, more and more brands are offering so-called ‘petite' collections with styles and models that are perfect for us short people. And you can wear heels as high as you want! In short, being small is great (if you excuse the pun)!