Q&A for How to Dress if You Are Petite and Curvy

If you have an hourglass figure, go for boot-cut or straight-leg pants. The goal is to balance proportions from top to bottom.

Stock up on clothes with vertical lines, center seams down the front or back, or princess seams to elongate your look.

If you have full hips and thighs, you can wear pleats, but make sure the pleats lay flat and the pants do not pull across the front of your body. This can look like diagonal wrinkles pulling at the zipper or button fly of pants. If you have full legs and thighs, skip the cargo pockets, as it will only add bulk to your legs.

Something more fitted around the breasts and midriff and looser around the hips and thighs would balance your proportions for a more “ideal” hourglass shape. A fit and flare is the most obvious choice. Belt the natural waistline where you are slimmest. A longer maxi or a-line dress would add length, especially with folded seams or vertical stripes. Column style dresses may not look as proportionate. Try a sleeveless or halter dress to draw the eye inwards and make you look slimmer up top. A tasteful slim v-neck adds length, though the same can be accomplished with a very high neckline. The most important thing, however, is that your dress fits well and you feel good wearing it.

Your friends are likely poking fun at the fact you are shorter, being that if your entire body was elongated it would look more typical. This can be perceived as a negative or a positive, though they are probably not very serious about it. There’s nothing wrong with having a shorter stature while being curvy, in fact, many people perceive this to be very attractive. Taller, lanky men especially seem to have an appreciation for their contrast. Dress to enhance your best attributes, and have confidence, you’ll look fantastic.

The 1980’s supermodel look is based on tall, lean, and fit women. This look became idealized as the “aerobics” appearance, popularized by Jane Fonda’s popular home workout videos. While the 80’s weren’t so inclusive with body image, the 2020’s are quite the contrary. There are models of all shapes and sizes. These models are mostly found posing for popular online retailers, such as ASOS and Forever 21, which often have dedicated petite sections with petite models. Size diversity is still not so popular on runways, which embrace uniformity to draw attention on the clothes, not so much the models. There is push for more sizes, so you will likely see more size diversity in coming years.