During this coronavirus quarantine I’ve been watching a load of Youtube videos. People doing day to day activities, even if it were last year’s videos, are so calming. Watching people go about their normal activities makes me feel like ‘normal’ life exists around me. Home improvements and the latest fashion finds online just gives me a little one-on-one contact. I love my husband but there’s only so many card games we can play together before we just need some alone time.
Yesterday, I can literally say I watched Mrs. Lydia Elise Millen-Gordan (I’m in love with her content,) all day while I went through my closet and organized it and got my donation, trash, and salvage piles put together. 4 bags of trash, 5 bags of clothing donations, and 1 bag of salvage later my closet still feels full. Although I did remove the clothes I will never fit into again (either too large or too small) but I did keep one pair of pants that’s literally 10 pounds away from fitting. I’m down to ONE pair of too small pants and I don’t feel bad about that. If I do more of these walk 6 miles a day things I will probably get into them this summer.
During the purge of clothing and Youtube watching I realized I have no jumpsuits, no fitted dresses and I’ve desperately tried to find one that fits. I’ve bought 6 jumpsuits from several stores including my favorite tall person site, Banana Republic, and none of them fit. They size up to 5’10” and then that’s it. You’re over the 6 foot club? Too bad. Can’t wear anything cute without looking like floodwaters or pants that look like their too short, not cropped. Their jeans fit me like a breeze because they plan on 5’10” gals wearing heels so I get my 37″ inseam.
I found an amazing jumpsuit at Bergdorf, which I’ve posted on my Pinterest, that I’d love to buy but it’s not available in tall and I’m just not going to spend $450 on a jersey jumpsuit that will likely fit me in everything but the torso. I swear, how can individual tops fit, the pants are long enough, but sew the two together for a jumpsuit and the pants magically ride up to the crotch area and form a permanent camel toe. I can sew but I can’t make my own patterns and I’m really only a so-so seamstress. But I guess now is a good time to get better at sewing.
We’ve figured out tall sizing with overalls, so why can’t we use the same proportions for jumpsuits. Granted, overalls do have adjustable straps BUT why can’t we get jumpsuits in tall with a longer bodice section or a higher collar and adjustable straps so it’s a little more adjustable for the 6’+ crowd. Or even the fitted business dress. Tall fitted dresses have never fit me because the waist is just placed in a weird spot, even when I was 6′ even, like it’s not been altered at all for the tall body portions.
Tall gals have a similar type of problems in fitting that plus size fashion has as a whole. Plus size does not mean morbidly obese. It is defined as sizes 12 or 14 and up, that’s dependent on who you reference. If you’re Plus size in fashion (which most tall women are because at a size 10, 6′ tall women would have a BMI below or near 18 [Elle McPhearson is around a size 12 at 6 foot even with a BMI around 18.3]), are you proportioned with a bigger chest or larger mid area? For Tall women it’s also the vertical component, are you more leggy, more torso, or evenly proportioned. For me I’m more leggy, but I have broad shoulders which puts me in the plus size world for sure, but I’m not overweight and have to get things tailored all the time because the fit in the waist is horrible. Spandex is the ultimate forgiving fabric.
Tall fashion has definitely improved since I was a teenager. The idea of me finding jeans when I was in middle school was a task and a half. 2 hours of searching and trying on every pair in the store and I may only have found one. Women’s sizes in tall didn’t exist so we ended up shopping in the men’s section often but then the crotch would obviously hang longer and I’d create high-waist pants (for references this was the era of the hyper-low, Hang-on-I-need-to-wax, 0% body fat, style of blue jeans which lasted through the early 2000s where I lived).
I’m buying summer wear (cleaned out my closet for summer fashion I swear). There are so many cute fashion trends I’d love to be able to wear this year even if it is just around my house that I just keep scrolling past because I know it won’t fit someone over 6′ tall and it sucks. I don’t mind paying more for it. For me, I need 3 more inches in the bodice for a jumpsuit to fit, even in a tall and I don’t have an overly long torso for by height. It just feels like whoever made the measurements just didn’t do anything more than drop the armhole and add a few inches to the bottle of the outfit. I’ve a huge fan of Gap Inc. in general, they were one of the first to really embrace the #tallgirls club. I have stayed brand loyal for 15+ years because their tall sizing guide generally does fit me really well; all 6’4″ of me but it’s just not working for some styles the jumpsuit style being the biggest offender. I am so brand loyal I worked at a Banana Republic during graduate school.
I’m big into the t-shirt dress style for this summer, which works well for my job and is super versatile but is a older style, and bright pants and since I live in the south seersucker is always a popular choice. I keep it to seersucker shorts. I haven’t seen seersucker pants in years but I would do a seersucker jumpsuit. Everyone seems to have deep discounts going on. Gap Inc. (Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic) have 50% off sales on top of other discounts. $130+ pants and dresses that I just bought for $48 at Banana Republic. Not a bad time for a closet revamp if you have the means. Not everyone does, this too shall pass.
Banana Republic – 50% automatically
Madewell – 30-50% off with ‘goodvibes’
Gap.com – 40% off automatically
Eddie Bauer – Extra 50% with ‘April50’
Loft – extra 40% off with ‘Smile’
Talbots – 40% off
Long Tall Sally – up to 50% off
Ann Taylor – 30, 50, or 70% off
New York and Co – 50% off automatically & makers of one of my favorite pair of jeans ever
That’s my rant, the waist line and really mid-section in Tall still need work. Jumpsuits are adorable and I’d love to wear them but why can’t we get fashion to pick up the pace with height. The US certainly isn’t getting shorter.
Has anyone found a great fitting jumpsuit in tall?
Who else has a good lifestyle/beauty/fashion/vlog Youtube channel? I need to branch out from who I have been watching. I know the content is out there I just haven’t found it yet.
-XOXO-
Andrea
