(A night out - Gianvito Rossi sandals, Dolce and Gabbana skirt, ALC top and Ally Cappelino bag)
There are rules and regulations everywhere, even in the world of fashion. And whilst I love structure, I’m not a huge fan of being told what I can and cannot do or wear…One of the things I come across a lot when googling fashion is “What short girls should avoid wearing.
”Whilst I find these lists useful as “guidelines” (I’m 5’2”), if I steered clear of everything I was told not to wear because of my height: midi skirts/dresses, maxi skirts/dresses, stripes, shoes with ankle straps, draped blouses and dresses, prints and carrying oversized handbags to name a few I would have never discovered some of my greatest wardrobe loves - sandals with ankle straps for instance:
(Brian Attwood sandals)
Totally avoiding midi and maxi lengths as a short girl is a weird one too - as you immediately cut out so many options. And though I often wear shorter dresses and skirts – I choose my outfit depending on how I feel and what I am doing that day and sometimes it’s just not appropriate to be wearing a short skirt - at my son’s parents’ evening (!)
What I would say about longer length dresses and skirts, actually clothes in general, is fabric is key. Recently, designers have been using a lot of matelassé fabrics for their clothes and these don’t work for me. They feel too stiff and I feel swamped, so in this respect the rules are right.
However, there are always exceptions. You may have seen on my socials I have been raving about Self Portrait dresses. The lace is quite heavy - but the cut and the nude linings work and if I hadn’t tried, I wouldn’t have ended up this this gorgeous number:
(Self Portrait Azaelea dress)
Now obviously I am looking at this from my diminutive perspective. But I discovered the other day my mate Cristina, who is 5’10”, who shares my love for fashion, also finds fashion can be a challenge.
There must be a list of "tall girls rules" too – but like me, but she has learned what works for her.
Apparently cropped jeans are a nightmare as they often end up looking like Capri leggings. And dresses can also be tricky, as the waist doesn't always sit in the right place.
This hadn’t occurred to me at all, as I thought being taller made fashion altogether easier.
I guess my own rules come down to shape and proportion – mine, and the clothes I try on. Fabric (as I said), colour, print also come into play.
We all know our body shapes and have bits we want to accentuate and bits we’d like to skim over… we build our own set of fashion rules and our personal style follows.
And perhaps most importantly, we instinctively know what we love and what we don’t, and how good we feel in what we are wearing.
I’m going to leave you with a non-fashion quote, which I feel is relevant here from Sir Isaac Newton (I have as scientific past in case you didn’t know). Newton said, “ You have to make the rules, not follow them.” I completely agree…so what are your fashion rules?