Roman Originals Blog

If you are petite or under 5ft 2, it can sometimes be quite challenging to find clothes that suit you. There are however some great ways that you can keep everything in proportion and lengthen your body using the clothes that you wear. As a petite it is advisable to avoid wearing clothes that make you look shorter or wider in any way. 

One of the most important rules of dressing as a petite is to wear fitted clothes and to avoid anything too baggy or chunky. Tailored jackets look great on petites. Clothes that are too baggy will make you look wider and swamp you. Similarly very chunky clothes will make you look bulky and out of proportion.

If you are short, there can be the temptation to add height by wearing very high heel shoes. Apart from the impracticalities of trying to walk in them, they can also sometimes look too much on someone with short legs. A pair of shoes with medium heels is the perfect answer, they are in proportion, easier to walk in and will give a bit of extra height.

There are some styles of clothing that will always flatter a petite figure. These include the three quarter length sleeve, straight leg trousers, skirts that finish just below the knee and empire line dresses. All of these pieces of clothing help to make the body and legs look longer.

Vertical or diagonal lines of any sort will help to lengthen the body. Use stripes, patterns or embellishments jewellery of scarfs for this purpose. Other details like draping, ruffles or frills are also good ways of creating body lengthening vertical or diagonal line. Horizontal lines have the opposite effect, making the body look shorter. You should avoid obvious belts, embellishments and stripes that create horizontal lines across the body as these will make you look shorter (and wider).

 Wearing an outfit in all one colour is also a very flattering way for petites to dress. If you wear  a black dress with black tights and black shoes this will make you look taller. You can add some colour with accessories like a coloured handbag or scarf.

 If you choose to wear patterns, smaller scale patterns usually work best on petites. Think about polka dots, ditsy florals, paisly, animal or abstract prints. Very large florals or geometrics will look out of proportion.

Generally speaking as a petite simple and well fitting clothes look best. If you want to add interest to an outfit, you can do so with a small scale print or statement accessories. Finding the right pair of trousers can be a challenge and often the best way to guarantee a good fit is by getting them altered or doing so yourself if you know how.

Finally, as a petite, you should also dress according to your body shape. So if you have relatively large hips wear boot cut trousers and wide neck tops to balance them out. If you are an hourglass shape you can cinch clothes in at the waist buy choose a belt in the same colour as your clothes.