Fashion or Foe: The Great Shorts Debate

'Jorts' (c) PipPepPop

     I'm heading to a warm climate for a spring break trip, and I'm trying on my summer clothes in the middle of a blizzard. It's moved way past odd timing, since we just got an extra hour of daylight about 2 days ago. I'm officially in a summer shopping binge. As I mentioned last week, it's tough enough to shop for petite fashions, but even more so when they're made to be short. I've encountered shorts problems  most notoriously involving the length. The classic above-knee Bermuda short usually comes below my knee, making it more conservative than your standard 3" inseam 'Daisy Duke' short, but somewhere in-between a short and a capri.

     So where do I continue my shorts struggle? One of the bizarre trends I've noticed on fashion retail websites is the pairing of a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt or long sleeve top. This seems to be a trend per my Google search, possibly made popular by the breezy lake fashions of Dawson's Creek. You can spot Katie Holes in the season 1 credits here, sporting a tied dress shirt top and shorts. I have tried this, but never left the house intentionally in this outfit. The reason for this is that there is never a time when I'm going to be be outside where my legs and arms are not equally cold. I'm definitely not going to pair a sweater with my shorts, as suggested by Ann Taylor Loft and other retailers.  If I'm going to wear a sleeved and shorts, I'm just going to save myself the complaining and put on longer pants to stay warm.

     My other conundrum when it comes to shorts is the style. In an ideal world, you would have a few pairs in different colors, prints and possibly even shapes. I love the idea of classy black or white shorts that can be paired with a cute (short length) tank. I even fancy printed shorts that can be paire with a solid top. In reality, I usually end up searching for a pair of dark blue jean shorts (jorts). Then when washing, I pray the blue doesn't run if it's a particularly hot day. In New Orleans, a brand new pair of blue jean shorts bled all over my fabric bag from sheer sweat!

     In the quest for the perfect pair of denim shorts, there are two types, frayed and finished. While I own some frayed pairs, I'm not a fan. They end up looking too worn soon after the first wash. I'm all for something that I could wear to a picnic or amusement park and not worry about getting dirty, but I shouldn't have to pick off split threads  after each time I wear them. The frayed pair is usually marketed as a cutoff, like you took for favorite pair of jeans and shortened the length. More often than not, I find the shorts are made different from my favorite pair of jeans, either roomier in the leg or gaping around my tailbone. Is there a perfect pair out there? I'll keep looking until I find it.

My ideal pair would have to be:

• A minimum 5" inseam (even as a teenager I didn't want my butt hanging out)
• Evenly finished at the bottom
• Tight enough around my waist that I don't need a belt (#NoBelts) (#NoBoyfriendFit)
• Casual, but could  be dressed up

Fashion or Foe: It's Not Easy Being Petite

   In honor of International Women's day, I'm tackling an issue dear to my heart: petite fashion!

Sometimes getting dressed is like this Clueless scene. GIF from Tumblr. 

This is not how a maxi dress should fit!
Image from Pintrest

     I enjoy shopping for clothes as much as the next gal, but I sometimes find the task insurmountable because of my size. I am 5 feet tall, and I am a petite size. You must be thinking now, is this girl complaining about being small? How dare she? For the record, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I often feel like I'm a child playing dress-up in my dad's work shirts. Unlike in Rom-coms, it is not a cute look. I also had a maxi dress that made me look like Kirsten the American Girl (left) in her Christmas robe. As an investment in my sanity, I have found a delightful tailor that knows my shape and has saved countless garments from return or the Goodwill pile.



     I've taken to online shopping, sight unseen, to find the most petite options. In recent months, Express, Gap and Old Navy have all launched online petite collections. I enjoyed the petite fit of The Limited, but as mentioned in a previous post, that is no longer an option. Part of the frustration in petite shopping is that these stores have the audacity to carry the items only in their warehouses. They're doing you a "favor" by creating shorter length pants (still not short enough if you ask me), but you have to use a picture of a model to guess the fit. It says the pants are made for a 5'4" size and under, but those cropped jeans will still hit me at the ankle. The size chart is often not helpful enough in determining fit. Some petite sizes are just less long than the regular, or give a general size like 4-6, which is neither a 4 or a 6. These retailers need to size clothing accordingly and address common problems like the butt/waistband gap issue. (For this problem, I am now wearing petite curvy jeans). In a nutshell, you have no idea how they really fit, and they make you pay to ship the items to your house. You may order two sizes, and you end up spending a lot of time dealing with returns because a blousy petite small tank is still about 2 sizes too big for some reason.

     If you can brave out the petite section of a store, god bless! I took a stroll through my local Macy's petite section, which is about 20' x 15' total due to the Macy's Backstage taking up most of one floor. The cute sweaters in the women's sportswear were nowhere to be found in this postage stamp of a collection. At best, it looks like someone that cared little about fashion or fit could find some petite options here. It was pathetic. I stop in at Ann Taylor Loft every few weeks to check their petite section. If I'm looking for jeans, I may be in luck. If I'm looking for anything else, the options are 'lofty.' I bought a small striped top a few months ago, and it still appeared huge on my frame, as low as my mid-thigh and mid-sleeved. Who is the parson that thinks all small women want to wear tunics? I would love to see more dresses and tops that fit or follow my frame.  I don't need more over-sized sweaters and drapey tops!