I'm Petite. When Should I Buy Petite Clothing and When Should I Buy Standard Sizes and Have Pieces Tailored?

As a personal stylist for women everywhere, I’ve spent over a decade working with hundreds of women to harness their style. At a Poplin client event a few years ago, we took a group photo. It wasn’t until looking at the photo that I realized how many of my clients are petite. Of course, it makes sense. Finding pieces that fit your body is an essential component to feeling amazing in your clothing. And whenever retailers and brands make that process difficult, the result is often negative self talk and always frustration. This can happen thanks to the limited number of pieces available in certain size ranges- petite, tall, plus and especially petite plus.

Whether or not you are petite, defined in the US as 5’4” or below, you’ll find some real gems in this blog post. (As an added bonus, this post also features petite Poplin clients so you can dive into each woman’s style and see the magic of great fitting clothing and hear her perspective on working with Poplin.)

Before we begin, it’s helpful to truly understand the impact that having limited options has on a woman’s approach to personal style. Over the years, I’ve discovered that when a woman is limited to a small selection of pieces because of her size, she has often closed herself off to the idea of truly wearing what she wants. (This can also happen for women who don’t have access to desired retailers or brands because of their location or Trans women who are new to women’s clothing altogether.) Regardless of the reason, when a woman can’t even SEE the clothes she is interested in available to her, she an easily internalize that those styles aren’t for her. So, when I ask her to think aspirationally, if she could have any style without concerns about budget or lifestyle, she has no idea how to answer.

This is only one of the many reasons that fashion’s more inclusive approach to showing models of all body types and sizes is extraordinarily beneficial. Of course, there’s a long road ahead. But, we’re absolutely seeing progress.

Now, back to our original question: Should I buy petite clothing or buy standard sizes and have things tailored? The answer is: it depends or both, depending on who you are. Let’s dive in!

Introducing Two New Style Packages

Guest Post: What's it REALLY Like to Work with Poplin. One Client's Perspective

As a personal stylist for women, there is SO much variety in my daily life. One day I’m running around Bellevue Square on the hunt for the perfect pieces for my client’s shopping trip, another I’m climbing all over her bedroom to take outfit photos and still another I’m in my office scouring the interwebs to create the Uber Wishlist of dreams. Just because I’m doing another Closet Edit doesn’t mean that the experience is the same. After all, every one of my clients is her own person. She has a picture in her mind of her ideal, stylish self. She faces unique struggles and a lifetime of self talk around clothing and her body.

There is one thing that all (if not nearly all) of my clients have in common: they know Poplin. Thanks to the generous clients who have come before, there are endless online reviews about the experience. In fact, right now on Yelp, there are 47 “recommended reviews” with another 15 “not recommended.” I know. Right? So many feelings about those not recommended reviews. I digress…..

Whether she has delved into the Client Stories Page, checked out Google, Facebook, Yelp or been a part of the Poplin community via the newsletter, this blog and/or Instagram, she knows what she is getting into. Very often, she identifies with one or more story.

"I was sick of taking 30 minutes every morning to find something to wear and still ending up feeling frumpy.”

-Ashley