Pretty Small-Minded

I lost all that weight, got a reduction and now they aren't going to make petite sizes? I am 5"1 and just because I am 50 doesn't mean that I want to dress like a frump. I also don't want to dress like a 20 year old floozy. My sister-in-law is 4"11 and she has it even harder. We are not children and shouldn't have to shop in the kid's department.

Where's the Petite Department? In Many Stores, It Doesn't Exist - New York Times: "But the love affair with little women appears to be over. Three of the country's most influential fashion emporiums — Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's — have quietly eliminated or drastically scaled back their petite departments in the past several months, infuriating many longtime customers.

Given that manufacturers produce clothing in only a handful of standard sizes — among them, juniors, misses and plus size — the abandonment of petite sizes at the highest levels of American retailing represents a sea change in fashion, forcing some designers to either stop making special sizes for smaller women or re-evaluate how much to invest in the business.

Executives at the three department stores said the decision was based on the poor sales of petite sizes, which are traditionally designed for a women 5-foot-4 or smaller, with pant lengths and jacket proportions cut accordingly. Petite women, they said, would rather wear the more youthful, skin-baring and tighter-fitting clothing in the contemporary departments, even if it does not fit them as well. And, they point out, there is always tailoring."

Great, because I'm short I get penalized by having to pay someone to cut off material I don't need? That won't change where the knee falls on pants. Extra time and money is all this means to me. This is short people discrimination. Were they listening to Randy Newman or something?

I don't want to wear sweats and jeans for the rest of my life. Even though they are comfortable.

Tags: petite clothes, discrimination, short people