Lol, Angie -- that's a TALL 12-year-old!
Una, yes, you have a choice! To heel or not to heel, that is the question, hahahaaaaa
Maneera, if you feel like the shortest person alive, try being 5'1". I would love to have those extra 2.5 inches. What's interesting, though, is that I haven't totally found that being small has cramped my sartorial style. What you say is true -- added height helps with a lot of styles (cropped pants, midi skirts and long coats come to mind) -- but it's usually a very small tweak to make it work for my small frame. My bigger complaint about being small is the actual being small part -- the fact that I always have to look up when I talk to other adults. I'm bigger on the inside! I wonder if people in wheelchairs feel some version of this.
JAileen, the curse of being sized out of women's shoes! It's not an insignificant problem, especially if you have a less-than-masculine personal style.
Gigi, how short are you? There's short and there's short, if you know what I mean. For example, Maneera feels very short at 5'3.5", whereas to me, that's a pretty normal height. I think I agree with you, though, that it's nice to feel like you have the option of wearing 4" heels if you want to. I think I'd still wear them even if I was 5'10", though! I'd love to tower over everyone for a change.
Astrid, maybe you don't feel short because 5'3" isn't actually that short. 5'1" is only two inches shorter, but it actually feels much smaller (keep in mind that I'm proportionally smaller everywhere -- my hands and wrists, for example, are apparently the size of an average 8-year-old's, as I discovered when I went to get measured for a bracelet once!). And yes, I fully agree that you don't have to be a certain height to wear certain styles -- like I said to Maneera, I don't really feel all that constrained by my diminutive size when it comes to dressing. It's all about the proportions.
SarahF, I think you're right in saying that having proportionally long legs can make a person appear taller than they are. I have a friend who's 5'5", but she's all legs, and I'd always thought she was taller than that. She looks tiny sitting down though!
kkards, yes, the bonus of heels is that they often improve the proportions of an outfit! I've got lots of things that don't look right with flats. Often you don't need much of a heel -- 2" will do -- but it makes all the difference. (BTW, at 5'4", you are not actually short. You're average-sized, unless you happen to live in Denmark or Holland).
BC, I have flat shoes that I love, too. I love my black oxfords with the tan soles, and I love Converse, and my Fluevog BBC boots. But if I'm dressing for a meeting, I don't wear them. (Also, I have less fussy feet than you, I think -- I find heels up to 3" very comfortable, provided they are well-balanced shoes).
Staysfit, do you have a proportionally long torso? Perhaps that's why you don't like cropped pants. I am short everywhere, but neither my legs nor my torso is long, so I find that cropped pants look just fine (even cropped flares!) provided I wear a little heel.
Traci and Ginger, it's funny you guys say that about apparent height in photos, because one of the few times I posted a WIW (wearing a fitted tee semi-tucked into a just-below-the-knee pencil skirt and 3" heeled calf boots), someone expressed shock at how short I am. She thought, based on the photo, that I was 5'7"! So yes, it is definitely all about proportions! Ginger, I haven't seen any of your WIW photos, but I'll keep my eyes open.
Sara L, I'm still taller than my own kids, although my daughter's friends are now literally all taller than me. I'm hoping my tiny daughter makes it to my height at least! She's almost 13 and only about 4'7". Poor kid. Maybe some of my recent angst about shortness has to do with the fact that she's so frustrated to be the tiniest one in her grade! It's making me re-live how i felt at that age.
KL, haha, the "selfie frame". My (adopted) brother is 6'4". We have encountered the same problem! He looks simply enormous next to me. Actually, next to his wife, too -- she's short and slender. Luckily my own partner is only about 5'8" or so!
