We often hear that adding heels to an outfit can balance out proportions. That height straightens curves. That wearing the same colour from head to toe elongates your frame. That wearing nude shoes will lengthen the leg line. On YLF you will often hear me talking about dressing your body to create “a long lean line”.

Surrounded by these messages and confronted with models that are generally around six feet tall in flat shoes, you might begin to believe that height is an important component of being stylish or fashionable. And that being short (or “petite”), is a disadvantage. One of our members Scarlet recently touched on this topic in a forum post, saying:

“It is so often that I read in the blog comments or in the forum negative comments about being short. Depending on the tone, it is treated almost like a disease or deformity to be below average height”.

Personally, I don’t think that being short is a style disadvantage at all. Just like style is NOT a dress size, style is NOT a height measurement.  Style is a celebration of individuality. There is no one way to be stylish, and we are reminded of this daily in the blogosphere, where uber stylish ladies of all sizes and heights post their fabulous outfits. The cities of Hong Kong and Tokyo rank amongst the most stylish cities in the world, and most of the women are petite.

Garment fit, clothing proportions and colours that are flattering against your complexion are key to creating an attractive and interesting personal style. None of these factors have anything to do with height. I do talk about creating “a longer leg line” or “a long lean line” in my posts because I count that as a figure flattering priority. But it doesn’t mean that you have to be tall. It is relative to your overall frame, so petite and regular height women can create a longer leg line.

And when it comes to shopping for tall ladies, which includes leggy models, they have their fair share of fit challenges. Their limbs and bodies are longer than average which often makes regular sized clothing too short in the leg, skirt, dress, top and sleeve length. The clothes that models wear on catwalk shows are made to fit them perfectly. Catalogue and website models are less fortunate and have to wear the items that were made for the masses. As a result the tops are often pinned to fit and the pants are just too short.

Granted, some clothing combinations lend themselves better to taller ladies just because those proportions work best. Wide leg trousers are the first item that spring to mind here. However, I also think that some clothing combinations lend themselves better to shorter ladies. Petite women rock a shorter hemline like nobody’s business.

So ladies, do you think that height is a sought after style attribute? Do you wish that you were taller? And if so, why? Do you think that tall women are automatically more stylish than shorter women?