The perils of gorilla arms :-( - YouLookFab Forum

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The perils of gorilla arms :-(

crazyone

Veteran

I bought this J. crew black watch plaid blazer a few weeks ago, but after I brought it home, I found it a little too long on me, especially because it's a straight cut. I decided to order the petite--though petite tops and jackets never work for me unless they're short sleeved or sleeveless--and this is why :-(. Two plus inches of wrist showing. These days I feel like blazers are uniformly too short in the sleeves, even in straight sizes, which is unfortunate since it's easier to shorten than lengthen! Pictures 1 and 2 are the P0, 3 is the 0. Thoughts on which one is better?

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Regent blazer in Black Watch with satin lapel

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19 replies

Latest reply was from crazyone

Joy

Veteran

I like the one in #3 best. The Petite looks too short in the arms. Have you tried a more cropped length jacket with your skirt?

Style Fan

Veteran

I prefer #3 because of the sleeve length. I wonder about a cropped jacket too. Have you tried one?
I have long arms too. Very frustrating.

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

I like #3 best because the sleeve length looks right. The shorter sleeves could be made to look intentional if you wore statement bracelets.

I have the same problem - short torso but normal length arms so petite tops fit except for the too short sleeves.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Ha, I have the opposite problem -- I'm short waisted but overall my torso is regular to long, due to a long rise -- and I have shorter arms.

I normally buy regular sizes and shorten the sleeves. Petites are generally a fraction too short all over (even the sleeves and pant lengths). I know we're a similar height, as well.

You might find that sizing up one size in petites helps a bit. When I go to petites I sometimes do that.

Other options -- see if there is seam allowance to let down the sleeve a bit in the jacket in petites.

But if the jacket is meant to be hip length maybe the regular is right and this is simply not the right cut of jacket for this skirt, as others have said?

Tanya

Veteran

I think the jacket looks right in #3 - the sleeves look right and the body looks on the longer side, but I think this is intentional. It strikes me as the jacket best worn with pants/jeans. For skirts I would look for a jacket that is intentionally cropped.

crazyone

Veteran

I should have clarified to say that I didn't mean for this blazer to go with this skirt--I just threw it on over my outfit for the day. Somehow I feel like the torso on the regular size one is a little too long, especially in terms of where the button is hitting. I totally agree that the arms of the P are too short but I prefer the body length. I can try posting some pictures with pants to clarify!

LaPed

Veteran

Tanya took the words out of my mouth. #3 would look great with jeans or trousers.

Diana

Veteran

I have this problem too! I agree with you - I like the fit of the P but the sleeves of the regular.

cindysmith

Veteran

I agree that the petite jacket sleeves are too short.

ClaraT

Veteran

Lone dissenter here. I agree that the length of the regular sleeves is the "correct" length. But...you have pretty wrists and the shorter sleeves sort of showcases that bit in a non-flashy way. Add a bracelet (any style, really) for a boost. (I may be projecting lol--if the sleeves are regular length, I inevitably roll them or push them up as I find it more comfortable and I like the look.) I also think the proportion of the P are better. Just my $0.02!

Anonymous

Your title gave me a chuckle, I have a short torso, comparatively long legs and flipper arms

Mochi

Veteran

No. No. No. I don't want blazers to be made with the sleeves longer than they are now.

L'Abeille

Veteran

I just purged a Black Watch blazer (it broke my heart!) for the same reason. I had tried to make it work by pushing up the sleeves and flipping up my shirt sleeves but it was too much work.

Rarely do I find jackets long enough in the sleeves. Ever since I hit puberty salespeople have been suggesting "maybe it's meant to be 3/4 length" (no, if it were it would barely cover my elbow!) For the past 10 years or so that wearing a blazer with the sleeves pushed up has been the trendy thing, until I saw it on YLF I just assumed that all the models have long arms like me and the jackets never fit them right either!

By the way you do NOT have gorilla arms. There is nothing wrong with you, it is the clothes. And J Crew uses fit models with short arms I'm sure; I have only 2 of their tops: a 3/4 sleeve sweater, and a regular shirt that can only be worn turned back and pushed up both.

Bennett

Veteran

In the description of the jacket on the J Crew website, it says it is made to have a "slightly longer length." I'd say #3 is the way it is meant to look on you, as long as the body and shoulders feel right. Maybe you just need to see if your eye will adjust to the longer silhouette? It's a great jacket!

crazyone

Veteran

My concern with the regular size jacket isn't the length--I like long jackets (and agree they shouldn't be worn with a poofy skirt). it's that the waist of the jacket isn't hitting in the right place on me, it's too low, which is causing the overall fit to be a little off. If I had a straighter waist/hip area this wouldn't matter so much, but the fit of the petite is better in that area.

Taking a look at the J. Crew picture, the fit of the petite is how it fits on the model (actually, the sleeves are short on her, too). It's only 1.5'' shorter than the regular sized one--still hitting the thigh on me. I wonder if lengthening the sleeves an inch or so would be economical.

I'm wearing a J. Crew schoolboy blazer (not a petite) today and it's about bracelet length on me, too, so it's probably true that their fit models have short arms as L'Abeille says.

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Mochi

Veteran

Although I was half-joking in my previous post, I want to add (as someone with short arms) that when you have the extra length, it's not necessarily perfectly simple to just shorten it.

Many jackets have zippers at the sleeves and moving them is not a simple alteration. It gets involved and fairly costly. I end up scrunching the sleeves, but with thicker leathers and other materials, they don't always stay scrunched easily.

I would love to have the long arms--if there were extra skin showing I could always wear a pile of bracelets or something to fill in the gap.

Avalon01

Hello fellow gorilla armed women,

With my height of 6"3 i am also "blessed" with long arms. Too short sleeves was always a big frustration but i buy now longsleeve tops, cardigans and coats at shops with a tall section or by brands with a longer sleeve length (bench for example). For blazers, jackets, blouses i roll the sleeves mostly up, you see a lot of top models (tall + long arms) do that as well. Put a nice watch around your wrist and/or some nice bracelets.
Some examples:
http://www.fwrd.com/product-he.....HLAN-WO35/

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix.....34x987.jpg

http://www.sydnestyle.com/wp-c.....-white.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pini.....dc3d84.jpg

crazyone

Veteran

Here are some pics of the blazer over pants--contrast isn't great here, unfortunately. Now leaning towards the regular size though it still looks a bit wonky closed due to the waist being a bit low.

Mochi: I hear you, and I understand. I wonder if it's a function of the stores I shop at--I'm 5 ft 3 and I sometimes find regular-sized sleeves too short, but perhaps as L'Abeille suggested, I'm shopping at stores that use short-armed fit models? And yes, it's not easy at all to alter leather jackets. etc. to fit. I was more thinking of blouses, even tees or basic blazers, etc. where making them longer would not be so bad because they could be altered like pants. The bracelet solution doesn't quite work for me since I almost never find commercial bracelets sized for my wrists/hands.

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crazyone

Veteran

And Avalon01, I can imagine that finding long enough sleeves (and pants) at 6 ft 3 must be hard! I do scrunch a lot but it's sometimes nice, especially in the winter, to have arms fully covered.