Ever been called ‘Shorty’?

Are you shorter than average? I’m 5′ 2″ and find it quite hard to get clothes that look good and fit properly in all the right places, without making me look like a bag lady. I’m not trying to look like a model, I just want to look normal. It would be wonderful to buy something off the peg and not check if the fabric is okay to cut at the sleeves and hems, and whether this would make the proportions all wrong. So, aside from making your own clothes, what can you do?

In the UK, there are a number of retailers that carry a collection of clothes for vertically challenged people. They’re not all on the high street so it can be hard to get something a little bit different. I’ve always liked a touch of individuality. Let’s see what I can find…

Additions Direct
Austin Reed – petite collection
Bhs Petite
CC – Petite Shop
Debenhams – petite collection
Dorothy Perkins – petite collection
Elvi – for sizes 16+
Grace Designs Edinburgh – bridal and evening wear for petite ladies
Hawes & Curtis – offers ladies shirts in slim fits and smaller sizes
H&M – gotta LOVE their virtual catwalk show! Check it out!
Karen Gillam – limited edition designs help you appear taller and slimmer
La Petite Salope
Love Me Do Brides – no charge is made for alterations
Marks and Spencer – Petite Collection
Minuet Petite from the Alexon Group
Miss Selfridge Petites
Montage
Next – petite collection (they also do petite wedding dresses)
Orvis – petite collection
Peruvian Connection
Petite Affair
Precis Petite
Principles – Petite range
Reet Petite – includes evening and maternity wear
Talbots – US retailer now in the UK
Wallis – petite collection

Small feet? Check out….

Feet-Petite – online retailer
Little Shoes
Piccolo Shoes
Shoekins
Small Measures
Small Shoes
The Little Shoe Shop

For petite fashion advice, check out the following …

How to Look Good
Petite Fashion Monthly
Reet Petite
Yo Shorty

Visa Swap Shop

Did you catch the bit on TV about a new venture called Visa Swap? You can donate clothing for points, and use these points to ‘buy’ clothes donated by others. Apparently, there are lots of designer pieces being donated. I was intrigued and googled this. Am I glad I did! I found a review from Tinkerbellee ….

What a load of RUBBISH i dropped of £15,000 of almost brand new goods on friday afternoon like many others i was giver over 10,000 visa swap points, i was there at 10am yesterday, and today sunday, there was NO high end designer goods available. I meet several girls/womern on sat and this morning who had all SWAPPED high end goods expecting thesame, the DISSAPOINTMENT that we all felt was walking in to a almost empty room filled with garments i would not give to chaity, Primark, mark 1, new look, etc… dolcis dirty well worn cheap high st,..( NO where on the website does it state that these garments are even accepted, The classify Karen milllen, Reiss etc as high st.) on saturday i questioned the staff about the 60 plus Designer and high end i had swapped, My clothing is very distinctive i would have seen it immediately. I was told they would not be proccessed until tomorrow I felt that something was not right, as all of the well heeled immaculate dressed women i had spoken with had all handed in high end goods, and there was NOTHING available,I went back todayi was there at 10am got talking to a lovely girl feeling the same as I, We went in there and again nothing the same awful cheap clothing and shoes, we spoke with the staff then The apparent DIRECTOR who did not answer our questions and said all of the goods were out, ( well none of mine, nor the other 7/8 people i had spoken to in the 2 days had seen their swapped goods either.) We were then told we had donated our goods to charity for points to swap, actually i and many others thought we were donating to swap with others. I feel TOTALLY cheated and scammed by this whole process i have over 9,300 points on my visa which the security tried to take off me when i asked questions, I never saw a single item of the 60+ I swapped and i was there at the start of both days, I would like to hear from other swappers i have a group on facebook, (visaswap london )

I would have been furious as well. Have you had a similar experience?