shopping tips for petite ladies: where I find my favorites.

top. jeans. similar jacket. Tory Burch bag. loafers. necklace. sunglasses.

You guys want to know something freaking awesome?  I didn’t have to do a single thing to this outfit to make it fit me properly.

Yes.  You read that right.  No hemming of the pants, no fudging of the shirt, no shortening of the jacket sleeves.  Everything fit me, just as I wanted it to, right off the rack.

It’s taken me years to hone my ninja petite shopper skills and today, I’m going to spill my secrets.

This is for all you petites ladies out there, just trying to get through life finding pants that are short enough.

(regular height ladies, feel free to read-on and snicker at the shenanigans it takes to find a decent fitting outfit sometimes…)

Tips for buying jeans:

Find denim that is “cropped.”  Cropped jeans are a huge trend now, and praise the heavens, because you know what that means?  All those super cropped jeans are the perfect ankle length jeans for us shorties.  Just forget about trying the cropped trend, (unless you want to go down the alterations path) cause it’s not happening for us.   My favorite places to find cropped styles are: American Eagle’s artist crop jeans, WhiteHouse BlackMarket cropped jeans (in short or petite length), Rag and Bone cropped denim.

You know how you see all this cute knee rip denim out there, and then the first thought is, “there’s no way those will work for me, the knee rip will be way too low.”  One of my tricks is to look for jeans where the knee rip is a bit higher, up in the thigh, because those will actually hit at the knee. (see above.)

Find your dream pair but the knee is ripped in the wrong place?  Grab some scissors and get a little fearless by adding another rip in the right spot.  It’ll make the original hole look better and give you a proper knee rip.

Tips for finding good tops:

Find your favorite petite brands and stick to them like glue.  My die-hard favorite petites are: Loft, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, J.Crew and J.Crew Factory.  And of course, Nordstrom’s petite section is LEGIT.  Lots of the same stuff and all scaled down to fit people like yours truly.  See shirt below.

If you love a top and it doesn’t come in petites, work with it.  Add a front tuck, roll the sleeves.  Make it look styled and intentional and it won’t matter that it’s a little roomy.  After all, oversized is on trend right now.

Tips for finding good jackets/coats.

This is the trickiest thing to do by far, but it is possible!

Stick to the same brands as above they can be counted all for great petite outerwear as well.

Try the kids section.  I know it sounds silly, but this cute faux leather moto jacket is, in fact from the kid’s section.  Several of my jackets are, and the fit is really good.  So don’t be afraid or embarrassed and try out the kids section, you might be surprised how fruitful it can be and the prices are better.

Tips for finding small shoes:

I have one basic piece of advice and that is, Nordstrom.

That’s it.  I don’t know any other store that consistently carries sizes 4.5-5.5 in shoes, and the selection is amazing.  I feel like almost every pair of shoes I own are from Nordstrom and that’s fine by me.  The quality is always awesome.

So there you have it!  Do you have any tricks for shopping for your body?  Petite or not??

Happy Friday everyone!