tall women

Style Advice for Tall Women

Kate

• 8 min read

Whether you love shopping instore or online, if you consistently struggle to find fashion items that properly fit, the fun can be sucked out of the shopping experience super-fast. We can’t have that. Whether you’re 5’4” or 6’4”, at Shop It To Me, we believe that there are the perfect pieces out there for you, ready to make you feel amazing. You just need to find the ones that are just right!

Alongside the many “tall” collections that brands offer now, which we’ll look at a little later, there are also plenty of styling decisions you can make to avoid the usual issues that tall women run into when shopping for clothes. Here, we’ll run through our top tall girl tips, learned through years of styling women of all shapes, sizes, and heights!

What Counts as Tall?

Tall is different for different retailers. In general, in fashion, tall usually refers to women around 5’9” and over. This doesn’t refer to any one body type or shape but simply looks at height references and therefore, proportions, when it comes to clothing.

Fashion Problems for Tall Women

Here are some of the most common issues that taller women come across when shopping for clothes.

·     Length

Whether it’s a dress that feels more like a top because of the length or it’s the pair of jeans that shows off just a little too much ankle, the length will always be the number one complaint from tall women. It also applies to portion when it comes to things like distressed rips in jeans that don’t fall in the right place and seams and darts that sit in the wrong place, causing a poor fit.

·     Sleeve length

Alongside leg lengths, many tall women find that they have to succumb to annoying wrist length sleeves that are just a touch too short or they’ve just got used to pushing or rolling up the sleeves to hide the fact.

·     Finding chic flats

While we don’t necessarily agree, lots of tall women like to stick to flats but when it comes to dressing up for a night out or work, it can be a struggle to find flats that work.

·     Wrong length boots

With long legs, comes the chance of long boots not fitting quite right. Whether it’s a longer pair of ankle boots that hit at a funny spot on the calf or knee-high boots that don’t quite come up high enough, it can be enough to banish boots from your footwear collection in frustration.

·     Short straps

Camisoles, slip dresses and all things spaghetti straps are in style right now but for tall girls, these straps are often simply not long enough. This can cause you to wear a dress or top that sits too high on your chest and so ruining the fit or not bothering at all.

·     Jumpsuits and playsuits are tricky

For tall ladies, your torso is usually longer than women with shorter height. This isn’t usually too much of a fashion issue – until you start trying on jumpsuits and playsuits. Without the right proportions, jumpsuits can become uncomfortable, fast.

·     Shopping anxiety

Shopping on the regular with the result of trying on plenty of items that just don’t work for your height can lead to shopping anxiety and sometimes, make you avoid it altogether. Well, we’re just not ok with that! Which is why we’re here with some of our top solutions.

Top Styling Tips for Tall Women

We’ve been shopping for and styling women for years and we’ve come across many tall women that experience these shopping problems regularly. So, today, we’ve put together our top shopping and styling tips for tall women.

Choose Tops and Dresses with Tied Waists

When you’re tall, very simple clothes can accentuate your height even more. Choosing tops and dresses, in particular, with tie waist details creates curves and breaks up your silhouette which in turn, stops exaggerating your height and instead simply flatters your figure.

High Waist Short Skirts are For You

If you’re tall, you most likely have lovely long legs. Right? Well, give yourself some props and get them out! Show off your long limbs with high waist shorter skirts and style them with tights or over the knee boots if you don’t feel like flashing as much skin. Choosing short skirts for tall women is all about opting for a bit of shape and detail rather than very simple, pencil skirts.

Flares are back. And guess what, they’re going to suit you. If you’re a bit worried about this statement look, give a chic pair of flared jeans a try first and once you’ve tried a pair on, you’ll see how incredibly flattering they are for a taller figure. Straight-leg and wide-leg jeans are also back in a big way and the cropped look is a key part of it which means you can’t go wrong.

Opt for Asymmetric Skirts and Dresses

Asymmetric skirts and dresses add detail to your outfit and create volume and dimension which can distract away from your height and leave the focus on your style.

Don’t Scrimp When It Comes to Tailoring

Being tall is powerful which means sometimes, you might want an on-trend power suit to pair with your height. Because fit is so important when it comes to how tailoring looks (the perfect fit looks super expensive and a dodgy fit can make any suit look cheap), this is where it makes sense to invest in great quality. Especially if you know you’ll wear it lots.

See it like this – if you’re worried about investing in a high-quality suit – remember, you’ll also wear your blazer separately with other workwear. You can also wear it with blue jeans for a casual weekend look. And with leather pants and a cami for date night. And… well, you get it.

Break Up Your Outfit with Prints and Block Color

Head to toe monochromatic looks add height. So, if you want to avoid doing this, instead break up your head to toe outfit with bold prints paired with contrasting block colors. This allows you to show off your style and flatter your height without drawing all attention to it.

If You Like Wearing Heels, Wear Them

Another point that many tall women talk about is avoiding wearing heels and adding to their height. We say – no way! Being tall is AMAZING and if you love to wear heels, you should wear them with pride. Wearing heels actually shows everyone that’s looking that you love your height and have confidence. Lots of women we’ve worked with found that once they embraced their height and started to wear the heels they wanted, their confidence came right back. Why not give it a go? For extra comfort – opt for wide fit.

Choose This Season’s Belted Jacket

One of the biggest trends for fall is the belted blazer and coat. This is the perfect style for a tall frame. It cinches your shape at the center, breaking up your head to toe look and gives you a feminine shape with serious edge.

Shop the Clothes Designed for You

So many brands now have complete tall sections where the clothes are designed and cut to fit a taller frame perfectly, helping you to avoid all your shopping issues and any tailoring– did you know these brands all have tall ranges?

Size Up and Alter

Sometimes, there’s just a piece of clothing that reaches out to us and we have to have it. If you know the proportions aren’t going to be quite right for your tall frame, think about sizing up to get the length that you need and then taking it to be tailored to fit you to perfection. Once you’ve started to get beautifully fitting clothing (even if that means tailored), you’ll never look back.

Don’t let your height be anything other than a positive. Being tall is beautiful and although it might feel like it can make shopping a little more difficult, embracing your height and learning to love it promises to make fashion fun again for you. If you love wearing high heels, wear them. If you love wearing statement print flares, wear them! Embrace your unique you and your style will always follow suit. Sign up today with Shop It To Me and you’ll find all the best tall clothing brands and items at the best prices on the net.