Styling for the shorter man
"Dressing well is a form of good manners."
I heartily agree with this, much mis-quoted, assertion from style legend Tom Ford. But I have a problem. I am one of those people to whom the fashion world does not cater. I am 5'5", relatively slim and boast an impressively compact 28-inch leg.
Believe me when I say there are not many shopping options out there.
First, a little context. The lack of decent clothing available to me has not always been apparent. Simply put, this is because for a large portion of the last three decades I have not been very fashionable.
I would love to pretend that my history of over-sized t-shirts and shirts coupled with badly turned-up or cut-off jeans was a statement about my struggles to fit into the latest trends. Quite literally. But it is not true. For many years I had no real sense of style.
However, I have worked on remedying that. I have found looks which work for me and tried to follow the lead of those who know far better.
But the problems still remain. A t-shirt can be as delightfully made as you like, but if it looks like you are wearing a poncho then it does not work. Jeans which are cut off at the bottom are not an appropriate look and no one wants a jacket which is so ill-fitting it looks like they have stolen it from their dad for a high school dance.
The most common response I get when I raise these concerns - usually to my more vertically blessed friends - is the suggestion that I buy normal clothes and get them tailored. That is certainly possible. But I'm not made of money and it got me thinking that there must be good shopping options out there for the shorter guys among us.
It was S who really drove the point home for me. We were stood in Topman trying to find jeans which fitted me - they only do shorter ones online apparently, which is not useful when you want to know if they actually are a serviceable length. She pointed out that there is nothing online which helps out people like me who are in search of a good outfit which actually fits and doesn't need a few inches of material tucked in or cut off.
Well now there is. I'm going hunting for styling tips for the shorter man and I'll take anyone who wants to come along for the ride.
We'll start with an easy one: Topman's short-leg jeans are at the bottom of their sizing option list online. Scroll down from 26S through 40XL and you will find the XS leg options. I'll let you know how they fit.
Any tips or helps would be much appreciated, comment below or drop me a line.
Photos are thanks to those lovely folks at Pixabay.