Wondering How To Style A Petite Body Type or Dress if You have a Short Torso?

Shirts might always fall too long and high waist jeans too high? I feel you! In this short video, I’ll share with you a few tips for dressing if you’re petite or have a short torso so you can elongate your silhouette and flatter your figure.

Today’s frustration comes from Jennifer and she writes in

“I have a short torso I have a hard time finding tops please help with this issue”

Jennifer I feel your pain because I have a short torso myself and so anytime I go shopping I get these tops that are way too long now with t-shirts I’ll give you a quick solution but it is a little tougher when it comes to sweaters so I have another solution for you there.

What happens is that when you have a short torso, basically you have a shorter torso longer legs and most clothing designers are designing for women that have a balanced body shape but I’m saying most, not all… we still have hope ladies so if you do have a short torso.

1.  Shop Petite

What you want to opt for is to shop in the petite section for tops now you might be like five nine and have a short torso and you still might consider looking at petite tops because that way they are made for a shorter torso woman now if you’re trying to elongate your short torso then of course you do want to wear longer tops and asymmetrical tops however for me personally what my struggle is is that I don’t necessarily want to make my torso look longer I just want to create a balanced body. So once again shop in the petite section for tops even if you’re not petite.

2. Look for Cropped Tops

The next tip I want to share with you is to opt for cropped tops. yeah I know you’re not a 15 year old trying to show off her tummy if you have a short torso you’re actually not going to show your tummy because the top is already going to be on the longish side so it’s more like that cropped top for you and I is the same as for somebody that has more of like a balanced torso so I have a lot of cropped tops myself and they fit me perfectly and then I don’t have to necessarily do all those tricks that I’m about to share with you next.

3. Knot Trick

Now if you do already have a lot of longer tops and you’re like what do I do with this of course you can have them tailored and hemmed I’ve had many of my tops taken up just so that they are not all bunchy when I tuck them into my jeans but you could also do the side kind of knot trick so that’s one thing or you could actually take the entire shirt fold it under and tuck it into your bra and most likely it’ll fit you kind of like more like a cropped top.

And it’s not constantly coming out the other struggle that’s for real with us ladies that do have that shorter torso is that the cool trendy high-waisted jeans don’t necessarily look super flattering on us because it looks like we are wearing a boob on a shelf right and so what I’ve figured out for the rise of jeans is you could still wear a high-waisted jean but pay attention to the rise of maybe like a nine inch nine and a half don’t go over a 10, 11, 12 rise because it’s going to just look way too high on you so a nine and a half is a really nice rise for most of us.

if you want to learn more on how to dress for your body shape you’ll want to check out the body shape guide, it’ll help you calculate your body shape and then I also have suggestions for each body shape for you there you can also join me for my Friday style session where I am talking about fit fabric silhouettes and how to dress for the body shape you have.

I hope that this video helped you and gave you some ideas on going into your closet and creating some cool outfits. I’m super curious which one of these outfit formulas is your favorite? Leave a comment for me below, let me know and be sure to tune in next Saturday for style Saturday where I’m answering your biggest style frustrations.

Useful links:

Free Online Body Shape Class
Download the Determine Your Shape Guide 
Essentials for your closet
Body Shape Calculator (please use it from your desktop)