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Original poster

Am I a freak of nature? Dress waistlines sit around rib cage.

24 replies

BabCNesbitt · 09/07/2013 20:46

Every time I try on a dress with a waistline, it seems to wind up sitting at the bottom of my rib cage, a good inch or two above my natural waist. So a-line dresses tend to flare out from there and make me look like Grayson Perry, and straight dresses finish somewhere around mid-thigh (not a good look when you're picking up a toddler 6 billion times a day).

I've tended to stick to shift and princess line dresses to avoid this, but they're not always easy to find - every dress I've liked this summer has had a bloody stitched waistline. It's even not as if I'm huge! I'm only 5'5"! Does anyone else have this problem? Are there any companies that are better for my apparently freakishly long rib cage?

OP posts:

Ujjayi · 09/07/2013 20:49

I'm long in the body too and it drives me insane trying to find dresses which fit. I find Zara can be quite forgiving. I also have been known to buy a dress from the "Tall" sections in stores and just alter the length.

Ujjayi · 09/07/2013 20:51

It also doesn't help that high street stores seem to be getting less generous with the cut of the cloth and simply sizing up doesn't work since the difference in body length on standard sizes is pretty small.

Pagwatch · 09/07/2013 20:55

It's just difficult isn't it. I have a very long torso too.

Try the tall range in shops like top shop. It always looks ridiculous - especially if you are actually short like me - but they will fit better.
Otherwise I go up a size. It doesn't always help but it's often worth a try.

marram · 09/07/2013 20:56

I am with you. It is always happening to me and makes me look like I have a very long bottom, lol. My lovely Boden in the sale swimming costume also too short in body so I either flashing too much at the top or bottom....

LemonPeculiarJones · 09/07/2013 21:01

Me too. Long torso.

I always see cute dresses and know, without trying them on, that they will immediately look like they're on the creep up towards some sort of half-arsed attempt at an empire line

However I like to consider my lengthiness elegant

ellangirl · 09/07/2013 21:02

In theory, drop waist dresses might work?

Original poster

BabCNesbitt · 09/07/2013 21:27

Ah, tall range! Of course, that would make sense. What other stores have them, apart from Top Shop?

I do like drop waist dresses, but I haven't seen that many of them recently (unless they've been covered in glitter and called flapper dresses).

OP posts:

MaybeBentley · 09/07/2013 21:33

I have the opposite problem so the waist line wants to sit lower than my waist, but I'm too wide down there.

wickedfairy · 09/07/2013 21:35

Me too and I am not particularly long jn the body either! I second tall ranges!! It's a total pain in the arse.

steppemum · 09/07/2013 21:44

I am like you OP, but I am tall. Gets really annoying trying to try stuff on

MadBusLady · 09/07/2013 21:50

Me too. Long body and 5' 8. So many gorgeous dresses out there but they look like babydoll nighties on me.

ToastedTeacakes · 09/07/2013 23:26

It's odd as I am short waisted and still find them sitting too high. Or else I am not at all short waisted and am deluding myself. Can't work it out really. There's this weird toddler effect to dresses lately and I so wish they'd hurry up and create something different. The skater trend is the worst culprit for me.

I blame cheap manufacture. Stick some elastic at the waist and don't do anything fancy. Warehouse are murder for this. I'm often stunned in there when they're asking over £45 for a thin polyester sack with an elastic waist.

herbaceous · 10/07/2013 09:59

I get this too! I'm 5'8", and thought I was short-waisted - judging by the proximity of tits to belly button - but all these high-waisted dresses are making me think again. I'm sure it's got worse over the past few years - dresses of yore still fit OK...

nellyjelly · 10/07/2013 10:01

Me too. I am tall but not particularly long of body yet dresses are too high up. Boden is very bad at his ime. Looks terrible.

MadBusLady · 10/07/2013 10:07

Maybe it is a manufacture thing, not just the cheapness but the fact that women are on average shorter (I think) in the countries where the stuff gets made. So they technically make things long enough (just about) for the taller women who'll be buying it, but they don't adjust other proportions.

HellonHeels · 10/07/2013 10:32

Oh that happens to me too! It's really annoying. I blamed it on my comedy boobs hoisting everything up too high. I don't think my torso is freakishly long, either.

Phase Eight and LK Bennett dresses seem to fit OK.

Pandsbear · 10/07/2013 10:32

I'm here too. 5'3'' so not tall, but have a long torso and invariably dresses that have a waistband are the wrong proportions. I find going up a size doesn't work for me as then the arms/armholes and neckline gape...

Lovecat · 10/07/2013 11:05

I've had the opposite problem - very high waist but long torso beneath - which is a bloody nightmare because any dress with a waist either sits wrong or, with the recent trend to higher waists on dresses but no longer in the skirt of them, gives me the Grayson Perry effect too (I am so nicking that phrase, OP! :o)

I tend to wear separates with loose tops that go over my ridiculously high waist that I can pretend I'm not a freak normal in.

I cannot wait for this bloody peplum craze to be over....

mumofthemonsters808 · 10/07/2013 11:09

I have this problem and I'm 5'7

MadBusLady · 10/07/2013 11:21

Oh god peplums! Who are these people who need fake hips?? They can have some of mine.

QueenCadbury · 10/07/2013 14:01

I find dress shopping a nightmare too for this reason. I would love to own more dresses but just can't get any to fit. I've just recently bought one from monsoon and I also have one from there from years ago so they may be worth a try?

garlicsmutty · 10/07/2013 14:13

Me tooo! I also find 'tall' dresses a better bet. I'm 5'8" but long of body - and wide of back, which makes things worse, I think. I'm grateful for the enormous lungs, but nobody told pattern-cutters about me! I never used to be able to wear Karen Millen tops, as they stuck out weirdly over my middle.

Either try on loads of dresses, including the tall sizes, or stick to skirts & tops. I didn't, and also look like Grayson Perry this summer

Sonotkylie · 10/07/2013 17:02

I thought it was just me. Shortish, long body AND big boobs ... Waistbands usually either just below the boobs or sometimes over the nipple.

I have given up completely and wear skirts (and tops obviously). I hate all those threads, magazines, blogs etc that wax lyrical about the joy of just 'throwing on a dress' and asking why anyone would bother trying to find a top to match a skirt etc etc. I believe I look more classically polished than those in a saggy jersey dress. (Please do not pop that bubble. I need it).

eurozammo · 10/07/2013 17:07

I have this problem and I have a long body. The Grayson Perry look is a perfect description! It's a nightmare. And if the dress is fitted, the narrow leg bit ends up on my bum, where it is too tight!

I find banana republic good (the standard sizes are not bad but they also do a tall range - I'm wearing one of those to work today).

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