I have seen Sex and the City 2 twice already and still cannot believe how 5’3” Sarah Jessica Parker, a.k.a. Carrie Bradshaw, looks like she has the legs of a 5’10” supermodel.  She is one of those petite women blessed with extremely long legs. 

Short women with long legs?  A tall petite?  It sounds sort of like a fashion oxymoron, which is by definition a figure of speech in which 2 contradictory words are placed together for effect.  Aren’t all short women supposed to have short legs? Au contraire.

Look at Sarah Jessica.  Granted, she is known for her skyscraper heels, a guaranteed way to make toned legs look like they go on forever. Her sometimes eclectic, always fashion savvy alter-ego Carrie Bradshaw breaks petite fashion rules on a regular basis, but she follows some pretty basic guidelines to create the illusion of height on camera.  Wear it really short or wear it really long. 

 Carrie wears her skirts or dresses short, well above the knee, or she wears long dresses that drape all the way to the floor. From the Halston Heritage white jersey dress she wears in Sex and the City 2’s first scene to the short electirc blue pleated dress also by Halston Heritage (featured below) or her Dior newsprint dress, Carrie shows that the shorter the dress, the longer the leg looks. 

The long black Emilio Pucci evening gown worn to Smith’s movie premiere proves that one color story from head-to-toe always makes a petite woman look taller, sexy and glamorous.  One of Carrie’s most controversial outfits is the Zac Posen purple and gray crinoline skirt (rumored to be the bottom half of a ballgown) paired with a J’Adore Dior cotton tee shirt.  Believe it or not, this unusual combination backs up the petite principle that a short top paired with a long skirt divides the petite figure at uneven points for a body lengthening effect. 

 Petite fashionistas take note.  Even if you don’t particularly care for Carrie Bradshaw’s style, this “all leg or no leg” approach to petite fashion seems to really work.  You don’t have to be in the middle of the desert to pull off the mirage of really long legs.

For those of us who are a danger to ourselves when wearing stilettos, the kitten heel makes the perfect petite shoe.  The mini stiletto heel stands 1.5 to 2 inches high with a skinny curved spine that sets the heel in from the edge of the shoe.  Kitten heels originally debuted in the Fifties on teenage girls and were sometimes referred to as a “trainer heels” for their use in training young girls to wear high heels.  The shoe was made famous in the Sixties by fashion icons Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn.  This perfectly petite shoe has made a comeback recently.  Even high-end shoe designers like Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik have added kitten heels to their collections.  Check out www.zappos.com for over 300 pumps and sandals with the popular kitten heel.   

   Photo credit:  Zappos.com

I was asked in an interview recently “What is the biggest mistake most petites make?”  I would have to say that it is thinking you are going to get a good fit in regular sized clothing.  When you are petite, fit is everything.  And when clothing budgets are tight, who wants to spend a fortune on alterations?  If you are 5′4″ or shorter, you will usually get a better fit in petite sizes simply because they are designed for a shorter body frame.  Petite garments are cut smaller in key areas, and the rest of the garment is proportioned to match.  The differences in petite and regular sized clothing include:  

• Shorter hemlines (the obvious)
• Shorter sleeves
• Shorter lines neck-to-waist
• Shorter lines waist-to-hip
• Narrower shoulders
• Higher armholes
• Shorter rise and inseam
• Raised pockets
• Shortened zippers
• Buttons sewn closer together
• Less volume in skirts and dresses
• Details scaled down including pockets, collars, lapels, belts, belt loops,  and embellishments 

The “Capri Fashion Controversy” wages on for petite women.  Shorter women truly have a love/hate relationship with capri pants.  Some petite women love them, others wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of capris.  Capri pants prove to be tricky when you are short but can be flattering on the right petite figure shape. Women who are 5′4″ or under need to follow a few simple fashion rules when wearing capris.  Always, always, always wear shoes in the same color of family of color as your capri pant.  This pairing visually lengthens short legs.  Good choice:  Black shoes with black capris.  Bad choice:  Red shoes with black capris. 

If you are really short, have heavy calves or thick ankles, capri pants may not be your best look. For those of you in the 5′2″ to 5′4″ height range with shapely legs, matching your shoes with your hemline will help you pull off the look with  confidence and style.

Gap cropped denim capri pant $54.50  www.gap.com