Petite Jeans: Dress for Your Height

For years petites have had to take their ready-to-wear clothes to the tailor. Problems with petite jeans usually consist of too long an inseam or too much gaping at the waist. Since many mainstream designers didn’t focus on their petite jeans, the stress of finding appropriate jeans for petites was extreme. There are now many more options in the market and petite jeans are thankfully not as rare as they once were.

Petites should keep a few basic fit concepts in mind to keep them from looking stumpy or childlike. Petite jean styles should not be too baggy (avoid extreme flares or wide leg jeans), which can make you look like you’re swimming in fabric. Instead choose trouser, straight-leg or even skinny petite jeans with the correct inseam (most petites have around a 29” inseam, unlike the standard 33-35” inseams found in most stores in similar sizes). All of these styles look great with heels, another way to elongate the figure and look taller.

Petite jean styles should not include anything that is cuffed, cropped or flood (a high-rise ankle look) because it makes the leg appear shorter and ill-proportioned. Capri petite jeans also have this affect on the petite’s legs. On the other hand, petite jeans should not bunch around the ankles either, which makes the legs look too short. The perfect length for petite jeans are when they just touch the top of your shoes, making you look taller and well-proportioned.

Now, with all the different styles and washes, it’s easier than ever to find a flattering petite jean in a style you like. There may still be some tailoring or customizing to get the perfect fit, but by remembering what works best, petite jean shopping should become less of a dilemma.

posted by: evan on October 14, 2010 at 2:11 pm
filed under: Fit JeaniousDenim 101 | comments (1)
TAGS:

Back to blog home

On 10-26-2010, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said

i think it depends on the person comfortable wearing them but the heels certainly fix a lot of problems!