small, strong and stylish: petite dressing!

Today I got an email from Anthropologie promoting their new "petites line". Hooray I thought, finally clothes that won't look like I've borrowed from a giant or from my mom! Contrary to what a lot of people think, petite does not mean celery eating skinny. Petite sizing has nothing to do with weight, instead it has everything to do with the length of your clothes and your proportion. Regular sized clothing is designed for women who are over 1.65m tall, so a ton of clothes  might not fit us smaller girls (I'm 1.59m). It has happened to me a ton of times, mostly at Zara: I try on a top and it just fits weird, no matter if I go up or down a size, it just doesn't hang right on me. That's because their clothes are designed with european women's proportions in mind.

All of these girls are 1.57m and shorter, photos via Pinterest and Anthropologie.com

How do you know if you're petite? A couple of tips:

1. You're 1.63m or shorter, and wear giant heels almost everywhere! Except to the beach. I hope your legs fall off if you wear heels on sand.

2. Your sleeves are always cuffed. Button downs, blazers... you always roll your sleeves. You do it not only because you like the style, but because they're always too long.

3. Your shoulder seams fit a little (or a lot) past your shoulders.

4. Jeans/pants are almost always too long.

Tips for petites:

1. If something doesn't fit off the rack, try taking it to a tailor. Here in El Salvador, I recommend fix n fit. It's not exactly cheap ($10 for hemming pants, $6 for a zipper, etc), but I've had the best results with them. You might be tempted to have your clothes fixed at Zara when you buy them, but they have THE WORST TAILOR EVER. This has happened to me TWICE: I've bought jeans and paid to have them hemmed there (it's $3), only to have them return the jeans to me with one leg a lot shorter than the other.

2. Most brands here in El Salvador do not carry petite sizing. However, you can find petite clothing at Siman. They've improved their selection a lot and they do carry stuff that doesn't look like it should belong in your grandmother's closet. I like their formal trousers a lot, they come in basic colors and make great formal office wear. 

3. Like I've said before, one of the brands that give me the most problems is Zara. However, their skinny jeans area AWESOME. They have just the right amount of stretch and the length is perfect. 

4. Avoid bulky garments! Stay away from bulky or highly textured fabrics, they make you look broader instead of taller. 

5. Look for pants and skirts that fit higher on your natural waist or higher. This will elongate your legs making you look taller! Try tucking in your blouse and adding belts.

Giant P.S.:

So I hadn't been around here for a few days! Truth is, I've been debating whether to keep on blogging or not. Last week I had a serious case of writer's block, and the days kept going by and I was feeling zero, nada of inspiration. I even shut down bloom's facebook page. I guess this is what's hard about blogging, keep going at it and having something to put out there almost every day. I've been swamped at my day job and have started going to the gym again (pilates, hooray!), so with my every day a lot busier than before, I've decided to downsize the blog instead of quitting. I.hate.quitters. If you want to follow the blog, check out the side bar on your left and subscribe to our mailing list! Pinkie swear that the list is private and will be used only to share blog posts. I've reopened bloom's facebook page, but it will be lighter on content, pinterest is still going strong!