To hate the term 'petite'

[lemondrizzleistheshnizzle]

You're not petite, you're SHORT.

I hate the term petite, to me it's used to make short people sound all dinky and cutesy and makes us tall people feel large and clumsy.

Am I alone in my irritation of this?!

5 foot 3 size 10 never shopped in petite as I'm too big!

Petite is a size 4-6 and under 5 ft 2. Anyone else is just short.

I thought it meant small all over, not just short.
Maybe it was the best way to describe the size in French fashion.
I can't think of a better name for it.
YABU

I only recently discovered the reason I look shit in regular clothes. It's because I'm 5ft 2. A recent revelation of wearing not just petite jeans, but tshirts, dresses and jackets has filled me with happiness. They fit in ways regular sized clothing just don't. My waist is higher than most people. It is the most flattering aspect of my figure (which is a 16/18!) And is very hourglass. It's been hidden away foe years but waists that fall 2 inches too low and sit on my wider stomach area.
Petite doesn't relate to fatness. It is simply proportions. Petite clothing fills me with happiness! Not sure why you have an iasue.

I’m a 5’4” size 10/12 and the petite ( limited) ranges are often good for me as regular can be too broad across the shoulders - so a petite 12 jacket will fit better than a regular 12 . The bust size is the same, it’s cut differently. The sleeves will be better too.

My DD is 10 and she is short, very slender, with tiny hands and feet. She could be short and stocky, or fat, but petite describes her accurately in one word, so as a description it works very well.

I'm short. I buy my trousers from petite ranges sometimes but my torso is average length so I don't get petite tops (more likely to be from Bravissimo).

There's clearly a difference between language used generally, and what the clothes manufacturers have decided to use the word for then, if you can buy something Size 18, in petite range.
Petite is small all round, not short, in my book. Small framed, narrow across the shoulders, shorter arms and legs, tiny little frame.

look to the peas...

I’m quite tall, I just wish the tall equivalent of “petite” was as widely available as “petite” is. I can fit in 12-14 clothes but normally the sleeves are too short, the waist of jackets far too high and the bloody shoes.. some way it is expected that if you have long feet they have to be really wide... I can put a feet and a half in most sandals I can find...

I wouldn’t mind petite if there was an equally pleasant sounding word for tall. “Amazonian” can fuck right off.

I like it. I would describe my dd as petite; short and with a delicate frame.

I don't really understand why people are saying petite should stop at a particular size - it's not like sleeve length or waist position is changed by size dress. It used to drive me mad when I was a size 8 at 5'10 that so many manufacturers make the proportions of clothes bigger/smaller with the sizes - it's not a problem for me personally anymore (I ate my way out of the issue) but I still think it's illogical.

Generally speaking, being tall is perceived as preferable, when it comes to beauty in our society, along with being blonde (in fact, being blonde and tall often being the sought after ideal).

Short on the other hand can be pejorative, often associated with "dumpy" and is overall not an especially desirable adjective.

I'm quite happy being five foot one and would describe myself as short rather than petite (especially as I'm currently two stone overweight post pregnancy). But I have also been patronised all my life by people who find it amusing, twats leaning on my head, people calling me a short arse etc. It's hardly surprising when it comes to selling clothes (which are usually aspirational) retailers have gone with the name "petite" instead of short, is it?

The OP doth protest too much. Otherwise, why is she threatened by a euphemistic word. I suspect there is more to the large and clumsy self-confessed moniker than tall and proud tune she has changed to.

Most petite ranges are for ppl under 5ft 3 in; it's surely a choice if the clothes fit you whether you're going to buy them.

I'm under 5ft 3in and I do tend to buy from the petite range, even if I'm a size 16.

Generally speaking, being tall is perceived as preferable, when it comes to beauty in our society, along with being blonde (in fact, being blonde and tall often being the sought after ideal).

I think being tall is indisputably the ideal for men. For women it's more of a mixed bag. I can't really see why OP is so bothered about this, but it really isn't true that tall women are always made to feel like they're more attractive.

You're being a little bit twatty tbh...I have very slight shoulders and can buy jackets in petite. It's about the cut of the clothes.

I don't care what people call me as long as they make clothes that actually fit me. 5ft tall, size 6-8 (due to vanity sizing), size 3 feet. Call your clothing range "short arses are us" - I don't care as long as it fits and isn't stupidly expensive!

Caridne - This thread is a bit of a twat magnet.

Yep. You know what petite means.

You'd be handed your arse if you'd started this thread talking about plus sized.

Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with people that find it annoying that people use polite terms to discribe people who vary from the average in their body shape and companies making it clear they cater for them without being rude?

And obviously, tall ranges get to just use the word 'tall', because being tall is considered to be a desirable quality in an adult's body. Being short and fat aren't considered as desirable, so those special ranges have politer terms like petite and plus /curve.

I suppose one alternative is to eradicate smaller clothes entirely and all of us smaller folk could walk around looking like kids trying on our Mum's clothes?

Although statistically short people make significantly less money than tall people, and I put a hell of a lot of energy trying to break the stereotype of small + female = not authoritative at work. So maybe I should feel more wound up by the term petite if it's reinforcing bias!

tolerable This!!
I’m forever sweeping the tiny little bastards from under my kitchen table

I am 5'8" yet have been described as having petite features and frame. I am very slight. Obv I don't shop in the petite section for clothes.

That's why I said "generally", I know there's still a fetish for "vulnerable" or whatever little (short) women, and some men wouldn't want women to be so tall as to threaten their masculinity. But you don't get 5 foot tall super models.

I'm laughing at everyone saying petite isn't just height, it's arm length etc. Well yes, at five foot if my arms were as long as dh's, "knuckle dragger" would be an appropriate description!