Twenty years ago, the New York Times (specifically writer-and-future-podcast-star Michael Barbaro) reported that prestige American department stores were closing their petite departments. Why? Because the American consumer was tired of shopping dowdy petite offerings and opting to tailor standard size garments instead.
How the fashion has changed. Today, petite pieces are selling like hotcakes, sometimes in dedicated brand sections (ah, the joy of trying on everything in the upstairs petite department of the Century City Mall Anthropologie), but more often from retailers that ship petite offerings direct to consumer. It’s as though we shorties have said, We don’t need your stinking department store floor space, we have petite fashion journos showing us well-fitting options right here on our phone. Yep, petite-friendly clothing brands for women serve those of us under 5’4” with all the style, and none of the pesky trips to the alternation lady.
To prove it, I polled my fellow short-gal editors here at PureWow on their go-to brands for petite women, whether they’re searching for hem-free denim or wedding guest dresses that won’t drag on the dance floor.
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