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?!

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

I love posts like this - they’re so weirdly authoritative.

wellthat do you mean blonde, as in box dye job? Well you're not really a blonde then. It's just from a box.

Some ladies are petite, DDs teacher is 5ft 1 size 6, her hands are fingers are dainty She is without a doubt petite.
I am 5ft3 size always been 6/8, I prefer to buy petite in a suit jacket it sits better, I've slim shoulders.
Most bottom are made with really long legs, I have longish legs at my height 32inch. I usually take them up, I think trousers are only 29inch leg in the petite range.

I am short and very slight build and size 3 shoe. It is easier to find clothes to find now than in the past. I used to go to the children section.
I don’t regard myself as dainty at all. BTW mandco have a great petite range.

I am 5'1 and I would describe myself as petite. I have small hands and feet and a size 8/10 depending on where I buy my clothes from. I find tall guys, 6ft plus, love petite girls.

I honestly thought the petite range was a size 8 maximum.
I don't think you can describe anyone over a size 10 as petite, short yes.
Petite is slight all over, you can be tall and still be petite with slender shoulders and hips.

Am I the only one who thinks you can't conflate the term 'petite' used to describe clothing ranges with the adjective 'petite' used to describe people.

They're not the same to me. Petite used for clothing is just a arbitrary way to easily describe clothes cut proportionally for people who are smaller that 5' 3. So the waist is at roughly the right place, etc.

But petite as an adjective for a person is someone who is short (not not necessarily under 5'3) and has a slight frame. I'm 5'2 but would never be described as petite because even though I'm size 10, I have a fairly chunky build with big boobs.

They could just call it short clothes like they call it tall clothes and maybe at the same time sell it exclusively online like the tall stuff.

I dont love it but "short' probably sounded a bit blunter and less marketable than petite

In Next it is Next Tall so it should be Next Short as an example as both are proportioned to taller and shorter women

I honestly thought the petite range was a size 8 maximum.

You thought 5'3 and under AND size 8 and under was such a huge market that shops had a special section for it?

What *badtiger' said.

@lemondrizzleistheshnizzle

Genuine question - if it's meant to mean small frame/proportions all over - why do petite ranges go up to size 18 and beyond?

Because even if you’re barely 5 feet tall and a size 20, your arms will still be shorter than ‘average’, so petite clothes are cut accordingly. Trousers and dresses still need to be shorter. The persons torso will still be shorter, regardless of their dress size. Petite clothes are cut so that the waist of the garment sits in the right place. Think things like belts on trench coats, ripped knees on jeans etc sitting in the right place. Hope that makes sense!

I used to work as an assistant merchandiser on a petite clothing brand and it simply meant for customers who were under 5'4" - all ranges went up to a size 16/18 so it wasn't about being small boned or small sizes or anything.
It simply meant that, for example, waists on dresses were better proportioned so they were in the right place and sleeve lengths shorter etc.

I'm short and fairly insubstantial (not really slim any more, IMO, but still look slimmish, I guess - size 10 edging down to an 8 on top and up to a 12 in one or 2 trouser styles - and very flat-chested) and it'd never occur to me to call myself petite, and I doubt it'd be any different were I a size 6. It's a clothing descriptor to me (and I do shop in petite ranges, needs must). I usually describe myself as a 'size 10 shortarse'. I don't see daintiness as necessarily something to aspire to.

People have always called me petite but I took it to mean not just that I'm short, but that I have small hands, feet, shoulders wrists etc.
If talking about height I think people do normally say short 🤷🏻‍♀️

hmm.. so petite as a description of a person and petite in clothing sizes are different. One is short and thin. One is just short.

Yes James that’s right

You thought 5'3 and under AND size 8 and under was such a huge market that shops had a special section for it?
Yes that's correct.
I've been taking up my Dsis trousers for years, she 5ft2 a size 12.
I dont shop in the petite range, unless I stumbled on a sale item on the rail. I don't shop in the large range either so I really have no ideas how big or small sizes go from.

I agree. I also hate the term ‘curvy’ when being used passive-agressively. i was called ‘curvy’ the other day by someone who is so thin i actually thought she was 10 years older than she is. Im 5’8” and a size 10 with small boobs so i couldn’t help thinking it was a deliberate snide remark.
My mum constantly discusses peoples figures/looks and reduces them to their body parts and it really gets on my nerves.

Is this a woman thing? As far as I am aware, short arsed men are not referred to as petite.

No, men's clothing has numbers. Real ones that mean something, with real units of measurement and everything - like inches and stuff.

My name means petite!i hate that fact (maybe cos I’m anything but) but it makes me cringe

You’re not large, you’re FAT.

Is that better?

Petite is supposed to mean small. In clothes it means short.
I am short but spectacular of nork so need 16 Petite tops. Nothing petite about My top half