Standing at about five-foot-ten, I’m aware I’m not the tallest of the tall and that there are ladies who tower above all others in the six-foot range. However, I’m still above the average height for Canadian and American females (5’3.4″ and 5’4.6″, respectively) therefore I face the everyday challenges of looking down upon my peers.
Yesterday whilst shopping, I stumbled upon a never-ending frustration: the lengths of dresses/shorts/skirts. I love looking at clothes at trendier stores such as Forever21 or Urban Outfitters when I want something cheap that I know will only last a season. Unfortunately, more often than not, I leave frustrated. I find about 15 dresses that I fall in love with and each one of them give off a great crotch shot to the world.
Is it really all that difficult for manufacturers to produce SOME dresses for the taller ladies who want to shop at their stores? Sure, I can buy at least half of the dresses I find. But then if I wear them out in public, they would require me to only stand in the spot and avoid all bending over situations (well…). I don’t want to have to look through racks upon racks of dresses and question whether or not that’s a dress or a long shirt. Or whether or not that skirt is actually a strapless crop top.
Usually I end up having to go to stores geared toward the “young professional” looking for “smart casual attire” (any store with a section devoted to skirt suits is automatically geared toward the young professional). The dresses end up being longer for the average chick but ends up hitting a good length at about midthigh for me. Often there’s a smaller selection of dresses that I would wear at these stores but they still don’t take the place of that cute hi-low dress at Forever21.
There are often clothes labeled “petite” for the girls who under five-foot, so why is it that there aren’t sections devoted to the “CN Towers” of the world? Shorter girls can also get most clothes hemmed to meet their needs, but it’s not so easy for the girl who is six-foot-one who wants the same dress.
Then there’s the issue of shoes. When boot season comes around, it is my achilles heel (foot jokes, har har). I am extremely picky with shoes and it doesn’t help that the majority of flat boots are either ugly (in my opinion) or Uggs (another level of ugly). Every cute shoe I come across is a heeled shoe.
Not that I have anything against heels, I love them. I’m pretty sure I purchase more heels than flat shoes just because they’re so much prettier. What I hate is society’s convectional stares at any tall girl wearing heels out in public. And the comments that come with it.
“Ha ha, so are you like, seven-feet tall now?”
“Why would you wear heels, you’re already a (giraffe/the CN tower/other tall reference)!”
“Wow you walk well in heels for someone who is already tall.”
“How’s the weather up there?”
And so on.
There are many high-end designers who do make really nice flat shoes. But as a university student, it kills me not being able to fork over $250 for a pair of Marc Jacobs’ mouse flats. The majority of tall girls also don’t have a size six foot and many cute shoes are (again) not catered to that need.
Is it really necessary to make clothes and shoes for tall girls ugly/impractical/non-existent? The models that wear those clothes on runways and in advertisements are all AT LEAST 5’9″, so why don’t more manufacturers try to cater to that? Not all of your customers that walk through those doors are five-foot-three 14-year-olds!
/rant over.
Are you a tall girl that frequently experiences these dilemmas (or more!) when out shopping?
This is my life. Its so annoying!
Oh my god. I stumbled across your blog when reading Fleurs comments and felt like I was reading something I had written. I have this problem ALL THE TIME. I live in Australia so we don’t have that many ‘trendy’ stores but the ones we do have I swear is marketed at dwarfs! I’m 5’11 and all the nice dresses I like are ALWAYS too short. This has become such a problem that I have become to dred going clothing shopping and always end up leaving with makeup/jewellery I don’t need. All my shoes are sandals. I sometimes buy heels but never wear them. I always think if i moved to America perhaps I could wear heels but thats only from watching gossip girl – it seems as though people wear heels there all the time. Anyway thats enough from me, a complete random ranting on your blog. Sorry! Just wanted to tell you you’re not the only one that has the whole “Oh gosh you’re a tall girl aren’t you” problem.
I love long comments, don’t even worry about it :) glad you’re able to relate – and believe me, girls in Canada/US do not wear heels all the time (unfortunately! otherwise i’d feel more compelled to:)) it’s super annoying though that’s for sure :(