Why is everything cropped?!

[TurnItIn4]

Is it just me? I keep seeing things in H&M, Zara, etc that I like but everything is cropped. I can’t do cropped, I can’t do belly out and I can’t do high trousers as I look like Simon Cowell. I get that it’s fashionable but it’s driving me crazy, I have been looking for a certain type of high neck top and don’t want a body but they’re always cut to just above the hip so they ride up. It’s so annoying, I keep seeing things I think I like but then they’re cut short. Same for things I buy on Vinted, even when I ask if it’s cropped before buying, it is always a bit risky. Surely there is a bigger percentage of people who don’t want cropped than do?

Drives me nuts too. I’m in my 40s. Sadly days when I wanted to show off my tummy are behind me!

I’m early 30s and I don’t feel comfortable with it at all. I don’t get why we’re only catering to a certain demographic, I don’t see that many people wearing cropped tops!

I was wondering about this and the dropped shoulders trend. The silhouettes created by these trends are modern, I suppose, but I don’t like them for my 50+ body.

Is it? I think everything was ridiculously cropped two years ago, I have two tops from that period that are 46 cm long! This year things seem to be getting back to normal, short but not above the belly button. Also dropped waist trend featured quite a bit in AW 2026 fashion shows. I wasn’t a big fan of tucking everything so I feel quite happy.

Because H&M and Zara are marketed at people under 25. Same as places like Stradivarius and Berksha. You need to look at shops aimed at a slightly older market - Massimo Dutti, M&S, Uniqlo, Jigsaw, Nobody’s Child.

I was looking around shops today thinking the opposite, everything is so long! And low cut, it drives me crazy.

I bloody love cropped trousers. At 5ft nothing, they fit me perfectly.😁

Most cropped tops means normal length on me. No more masses of fabric to tuck into trousers or skirts.

I buy a lot of long casual tops and t shirts from sweaty betty and M and S. They are out there.

Because you are going to shops aimed towards teenager? My 15yo DD loves those shops.

I love cropped. Tshirt should finish at my trouser waistband for me to look best.

I've always loathed tops that go over the tummy to the hips. I'm 48 and very happy with the current styles.

That said, I buy most things off vinted!

I was just thinking this as I browsed M&S!

I don’t live in an area with those shops 😂 I have to travel a week way to get to a lace big enough to have what I get! Slim pickings my way

Again, I’m only 30 so I don’t think it’s that excessive as both of those shops advertise to women my age, not just teens, and that’s all we get locally anyway. I have the options of places like that and just M&S and marks are also doing cropped stuff to so.

P.S, no need for patronising rudeness just because you’re on MN. I forgot what a bitchfest this place was. Going to leave again, not worth it.

YANBU! It’s not just the trendy shops aimed at teenagers. Last time I was in M&S most of their tops would have barely kept my nipples warm! I’ve resorted to buying a larger size because they tend to be longer, although why people who are larger in width are assumed to also be taller I don’t know?? I’m starting to feel like a giant when I go shopping.

I think it’s one of those things where it excludes older people from the super “in” stuff. Barely anyone over 45 is going to want to get their stomach out. So the younger people can feel superior 😂

I'm only 5'8'' but long of torso and many tops look bizarre/horrid on 56 yo me these days.

Fashions change, including around bits of female bodies. The big arse /hips have had a good run, but the flat stomach, visible hip bones are back. As such, fashioned aimed at young women are cut to show off that fashion.

The good news is you can put away any leggings as trousers, including the bum scrunching /bum shaping ones, you can wear baggy bottom half clothing, no one’s all that fussed about having a good arse on display anymore, it’s all about the belly or lack there of.

If this is the first time fashion is not for you, I sympathise, it’s hard coming over to the M&S dark side. You can still get bits from “young person” shops, just you have to be picky and mix with items aimed at older women who want to look put together but just will look terrible if they raid their teen daughter’s wardrobe.

If you are "only" 5ft 8 then you are a lot taller than average. The average height of a British woman is 4 inches shorter than that. If you are that tall I suppose you could expect that standard clothes might be short on you.

A few years ago I had no problems with tops but recently I look like a geriatric Madonna c.1986 tribute act.

Also to add, you might need to accept spending a little bit more per item and getting fewer items.

i recently spent a depressing afternoon in a shopping centre trying to find a square neck vest or tshirt that looked good, would cover my belly and wasn’t too low cut that my norks would make a bid for freedom if I had to quicken my pace. (I thought I’d try the tall range tops to get belly coverage and then found they allow for greater distance from tip of shoulder to nipple. Not good!)

In the end I bought a couple from Boden. At £25 each they aren’t cheap for T-shirts, but great quality and actually cover my stomach.

perhaps mood-board what you are looking for, then trawl more “mumsy” shops to see if they have a grown up version (or more flattering cut) of the fashionable thing you want.

YANBU, OP! I am around your age, and I rarely go clothes shopping in "normal" shops anymore (I work in farming, so need practical clothes, rather than fashionable ones). When I do venture into normal shops, it can be quite eye-opening! Cropped items, tops with slits up the side, and everything with frills... they might suit other people, but they're certainly not for me, either!

Not just for adults: loads of children’s - read: girls’ - clothing is cropped too! Even toddlers’. I bought a couple of T-shirts for my DD, from both the girls’ and boys’ sections, size 3-4. Holding up the girls’ T-shirts against the ones from the boys’, it was maddening! The girls’ ones were a good couple of inches shorter, and noticeably more boxy: very like the current trend in adults’ clothes. You can’t tell me that size differences at that age are so pronounced to merit that. It’s that the girls’ clothing should somehow be ‘fashionable’. Plus saving on fabric probably, at the expense of small children.

I'm fed up with it too. I'm very long in the body anyway so even normal t shirts are sometimes cropped on me. I usually buy men's tops now and they're usually better quality and fit me well. Don't even get me started on trying to shop for 10 year old DD! It's difficult to find anything age appropriate at the moment.

Try next. But also, we have a few of those shops and they never have any stock in normal sizes anyway, so you end up going home and buying it online.