One of my pet peeves and frustration in life is the difficulty to find clothes that fit me perfectly. As much as I really want to dress appropriately, or “dress my age”, I just cannot find the clothes for it. People in the past have given me suggestions in the past on how to fix my problems when it comes to buying clothes:
- “You could always have the clothes altered/tailored!” Yes, but from previous altering experiences, the expenses build up when you have too many to have altered in a shop. I don’t like having to come back again and again and bring in stuff piece by piece; I do it all in one go to maximize time.
- “You can design your own clothes and have someone do them!” Design my own clothes? Where do I start? I don’t have a background in fashion design. One more thing: don’t custom clothing also cost twice, thrice than the normal clothes we find at stores in malls? Or maybe it just depends on the person who will make them. Still, too time consuming.
Next place to look for clothes: Online.
When it comes to online shopping for clothes, admittedly there’s a H U G E variety of what you can choose from, down to the pricing and sizes. However, it seems like up to now, I am still at a hit and miss when it comes to shopping without having the chance to try it on for size IRL. Plenty of choices out there for brands. We have the marketplace, there’s eBay, Amazon, etsy, Instagram shops.
Earlier last year I went ahead with my what-ifs and went to find out for myself by spontaneously purchasing tops and outerwear (jackets, cardigans, sweaters) from various US brands online, thinking they’re the same w/ what I normally get here locally.
- I bought an Anorak jacket from Amazon, chose the smallest size available for the design I chose. Soon as I tried it on, I was disappointed to find out that it’s thrice as big as my body. I really wanted my own Anorak. I gave it to my mom instead. Her early Christmas present.
- Next, I also had some tops purchased from a leading clothing brand.. and when I finally received the package, I was met with disappointment once again upon finding out F21‘s size S turns out to be almost a L-XL size for me (I mean look at that size gap, isn’t that insane?!).
So I did what was left to do with these clothes that will never fit me: SELL THEM. Eventually, I was able to sell them, but with difficulty at first – always a thing w/ small-time shops like mine.
As for the other clothes that fit me, that would be the sweaters and shirts from Threadless.com, I kept them but would only wear them sparingly. They’re not a part of my usual go-to tops when I go out. The shirts fit OK, but still too big for me (I prefer the fitting to be just right like a glove, no loose edges or fabric). The sweaters are hella comfy though! Wish I bought more of the sweaters because they were more useful.
Note to self: Look into ASIAN sizes in clothes you want to purchase next time. Maybe it will make a difference. Also consider measuring yourself up one of these days.
What works for me now? Tshirts from this local store Artwork, Uniqlo jackets and jeans (found two from 2 years ago that surprisingly fit me perfectly, and no need to have it altered, folded, whatsoever!), tops from Cotton On, some decent clothes in the Young Teens Section in the Department Store (yeah, have a laugh!! Hahahaha) that would pass if a 20-year old wore them, clothes from local clothing brand Bench. Why have all of these worked out for me? Because I was able to try out the clothes personally in their shops.
I really want to stray away from wearing just tshirt and jeans and want more womanly~ clothes, but it looks like it’s going to take long before I find the perfect brand that caters to petite female bodies that’s affordable (after taxes and customs fees?), have the type of designs and clothes I would really want to wear.
And no, a skirt and dress isn’t going to make my list of considerable things to try on or start wearing soon. I never feel comfortable in those.
Have any recommendations for petite-friendly clothing stores or brands? Post them below, please.
- Local PH brands/IG shops and online stores, Intl shops and brands welcome.
- Preferably affordable. 😛
- A shop or brand has tops, coats, jackets, some dresses.
