Another Clothing-Fit Thread (but more vertical than horizontal)
At 5'10", I usually think of myself as pretty tall, especially for a woman. However my jeans length is usually "Regular" and my shirt length is always "Regular" (not petite, not tall). (Also, if it matters, I do a lot of my shopping at Old Navy, and their Tall/Longs make me look like I'm an 8 year old playing dress-up.)
I hear people talking about being "long-legged" or "long-waisted". It seems like if I'm 5'10" something in there must be longer than usual, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Is clothing cut overly long for the average height person so it can be hemmed to the right height? Am I just not as tall as I think I am? Is my head weirdly long?
This isn't a pressing issue I guess; I should probably just be happy clothes fit me! But as I get thinner I find myself trying to better figure out what fits and flatters, what doesn't, what my body shape is, etc, and odd questions like these start to bubble up.
Hi there! Your post got me thinking because I have a weird body, I mean, I´m only 5´7 but my legs and arms are really long, specially my arms. I swear I´m closer to monkeys than humans in arms´ length, and coats, jackets, parkas, etc always are short on me... weird, and I know I was no help to you, but just wanted to share my “weirdness”!
People are all different shapes. It can be hard to say why you fit into the clothing you do.
I'm 5'3" and I can't wear petite pants (or even short ones). They end up too short on me and always seem like they're never cut for someone of my shape. I am supposed to be able to wear petites and shorts at my height, but it just doesn't work that way.
Yet regular pants are always slightly too long, which is why I love skinny jeans. No hemming required!
I've actually found though that the larger girls' pants are the PERFECT length for me, so sometimes I run into the kids department.
I am also 5'10 and also normally find the long sizes at stores to be way too long.
I think they are designed so that a tall girl can wear heels with them. Alot of women have 2 different sets of pants, one set tailored so that they can wear heels and another set for flats.
On a semi-related note, I get frustrated because my work polos (with the company logo) are tailored weird and are a hair too short on me. I wear a "trendy top" with them, so that I have the layered look and my stomach doesn't show. This helps a little. Standing straight up with the shirt pulled down they look fine, but I feel self-conscious.
I'm only 5'6", but my legs are longer than my torso/upper body. I find that if I find pants that are the right length, they're way too wide. And if they're the correct width, they're more like capris.
I settle by wearing skirts and shorts. I may hate my 25" (each) thighs, but I buy my shorts a size or two larger to make the legs appear a bit smaller. Nice knee length skirts are good though.
I work in retail and specifically with petite clothes. Clothes are cut with the expectation that everyone's size/shape is perfectly proportionate to their height. The average woman is 5'4" and so most 'Regular' clothing is cut to fit a 5'4" woman who is fairly slim (but not super small), and not overweight. As the clothing size goes up, the pants and sleeves get longer, because it is assumed that if you are a larger person, you are taller and just have the slightly fuller frame to match. This is why if you are short and by a larger size due to your weight, your pants are too long or shirts cling to your problem areas but drown you in other places. Regular short pants attempt to remedy this problem somewhat by acknowledging you're not a bigger size due to height but due to frame/weight. So they take off those extra height inches. On the flip size, regular tall pants give thinner people the extra inches of length, without making them go up a size to get them (therefore making them wear clothes that are too large.) Even with the short and long cuts compensating for weight, there are still people who just have long legs for their frame or long a long torso.
Petite clothes are made for women under 5'4" and often times the clothes are also cut closer to the body, since it's assumed smaller people also have smaller frames (which is usually true, even if you are overweight.) Petite pants are cut even shorter than Regular short pants. And further, there are also petite short pants to compensate for the height to size/weight thing like in regular cut clothes. So if you are over 5'4", you do not need to be in the petite section, since the clothes will likely fall too short for you. I get so many returns from women saying the clothes are too small and I look at them thinking, "Well yeah, you're about 5'7"! Way too tall to be shopping over here!"
Another Clothing-Fit Thread (but more vertical than horizontal)
