Petite in fashion retail
terms, usually means proportionately scaled down clothing ranges for smaller women who are 5' 3" and under. Newly set up companies like Petite Affair (below) are challenging the existing
petite offerings from retailers.
The founder of the Petite Affair company, Debbie Major, is a
petite woman who was previously aggravated by finding it so hard to shop
for clothes that did not drown her. On her Petite Affair website,
Debbie says tells of, 'a real shortage of good quality, inspiring petite
clothing.' I agree with Debbie there are many shortcomings in
existing ranges of petite clothing.
Petite fashions often disregard the woman who is wider and
fatter. Plus size women of average height are offered a much greater range of fashion clothes.
Often the most neglected petite is wide and short, but still
with a small frame, that means narrow shoulders, small wrist
bones and a small foot size, such women are not always accommodated by plus
fashions. You can read some of my musings on
petite women's fashion problems in my image
planning section.
This grey suit right is from Petite Affair who are a fairly new
company in UK specialising in online sales of fashionable petite women's clothes. As suits go,
it has much more interest than many petite suits available from
chain store retailers. It has an interesting feature collar,
clever seaming to make the most of the short waist and the sleeve
is very interesting.
In a normal size range, a petite woman seeing this suit would sigh in
despair knowing the sleeve would be all wrong on them.
More than likely the whole point of the sleeve shape would be lost, as the standard size
would drown their fingernails with
too much length. Here this petite sleeve has been cut to petite
considerations so the elbow is where it should be on a petite
woman and the lower bell of the sleeve flares at the wrist, not at the
fingernails.
Petite Affair Autumn/Winter 2006
-
Tessa Suit Jacket in
herringbone tweed, sizes 6-18 £175. Tessa Suit Trousers in
Herringbone Tweed (75cm) 6-18 £79.
Petite Affair are working with a
number of designers, they will be focusing on suits, coats and a
great range of basics like this colourful patterned wrap top left.
Quality is a high priority for
them, but they also aim to offer a range of affordable clothing
to suit a range of budgets. Their collection is evolving
as they listen to their customers to create the perfect petite woman's
wardrobe.
The items I've selected to show you here are quite classic, but often the classic items are the workhorses of a wardrobe.
This black and white hound's-tooth check coat is also hot
on-trend, as you may have noticed from my page on
checks and tartan plaids. It has been teamed with Italian wool trousers also available
in 2 petite leg lengths. (See picture to the right)
Petite Affair Saskia Dog's tooth Coat
6-16 £149
Essential V Neck (Amethyst) 6-16 £35
Italian Cut Wool Trousers (69cm & 74cm) 6-14 £49.
Petite
Affair has other attractive items including these 2 black
dresses left.
The dark haired model wears the Annette Black Dress sizes XS
- XL £75, and the blonde model wears the Classic Wrap Black Dress
sizes 6-16 at £49.
For
a real occasion dress look no further than this this sequinned
petite range great little black dress, perfect for the festive
season and Christmas parties. Any of these little black
dresses would be investment pieces for petites.
The sequinned
evening dress is £110. You can also see it teamed with a
bolero on the model on my
ladies short party dress page.
Every
woman needs well fitting jeans in their basic wardrobe.
Petites are no exception, they too require a great fit on jeans
and casual wear.
Petite Affair Tuscan Lace Jeans (leg length 76cm) 6-16 £95 and
Nutmeg Chunky Knit Cardigan S/M; M/L £75.
All good things come in little packages and this lovely pink
suit is cleverly cut and beautifully proportioned. It makes a
change from the usual work wear neutrals. If you click the
thumbnail you'll see the seaming detail in the jacket.
Right
- Petite Affair Boston Boucle Jacket 6-16 at £115,
Boston Boucle Skirt 6-16 £69
Essential V Neck (black) 6-16 £35
Petite Affair was founded in 2005 by Debbie Major and Sean
Longsdale and as you can see the petite women's fashion range they carry is growing to
meet consumer demand.
The Petite Affair range aims to
bring petite women a wider choice of clothing covering the
'classics'. I think their prices are reasonable for
specialist-cut clothes and the quality of some items like this
winter coat is a classic that should see you through several
winters.
Aimee full length black coat 6-16 £175. Available early/mid
September.
Principle Petites are one of the most attractive ranges on
offer in the high street. They too offer reasonably priced
petite coats.
This black & white Optical Coat by Principles Petite range £110.
It's all part of the monochrome sixties fashion look so popular
this autumn 2006.
You will see that whilst this is not a check fabric it does have
strong connection to the dogtooth and hound's-tooth check coats
on the
checks and tartan plaids page.
With autumn already upon us I especially like this lovely
evening dress which is available in both the main range and the
petite women's range at Principles and at their online website.
The Principles Petite Bahaus print dress is in 100.0% silk
ranging from size 6 to 16. Product ref code is 053021181.
The 3/4 length dress has a ribbon detail under bust and a seam
under the bust. Priced at £89 it is hand wash. The crushed
silk feature of the fabric makes such a dress perfect for travel
and special occasions away from home. These 2 items are
also available in the standard ranges at Principles.
These are some of the attractive petite clothes on offer in UK.
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