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.
Okay, here’s the thing about Western brands that I’m also sort of iffy about: their sizes are always a tad too big and it’s always hard to find clothing pieces that are well tailored and would fit you well, especially if you don’t exactly fit Western standards when it comes to body types. SO I FEEL YOUUU. Most of the time whenever I try on dresses in H&M, they would drape all over me like a huge blanket. So unless I *really* like an item and I could see myself wearing it in more than three ways, it’s only then that I would make a purchase. (Lol so picky, but we have every right to be because clothes are expensive)
But, but, but! There is this section in St Francis Square (the thrift mall by Megamall? Is it still alive lol Idk even) that I always frequent to because apart of SM Dept Store, I always find items that are the exact pieces I need/am looking for. Asian bargains = the best. So I recommend that, Greenhills (of course), and this IG shop that sells vintage items (their sweaters and cardigans – I have a whole collection from that shop /lol); it’s @rapturemanila, and it’s the only IG shop I’m faithful to. Other than that, I mostly stick to Asian shops because I think they know our body types and fit the best.
PH-brands wise, I love Oxygen too much I could breathe it (/lol punny). Kashieca and Just G are also great. 😊
I tried buying some clothes from Romwe but I didn’t really like the fit or quality either and I learned my lesson. Every time I buy from sites like those (such as Sammydress, Gmarket, etc) I would only look for items that I won’t have to worry about the right fit (such as sweaters, tshirts maybe, skirts.
If anything, I also learned this trick: look at the material your clothing item is made out of. Cotton ones, for instance, you can put it in dryer under high heat and it would shrink 1/2 – 1 inch. Or you could also wash it with cold water and hang it by the sleeves to dry so it would stretch out.
Honestly though, SM Dept Store the Kids section has some great, quality finds! I still have one cardigan that I got there from the Boys section and it’s my most favorite staple piece to date. Nothing beats haha.
Medyo naaliw ako dun sa tag na not a sponsored posts haha kailangan malinaw. 😊
I’m wondering kung gano ka kapayat? Kasi sa pictures mukhang sakto lang naman, but pictures can be deceiving nga naman. Haha. I’m also petite but I don’t think struggle looking for my size. Or maybe because most of the time I just go to Divisoria. Haha. The only struggle I think is the pants. I rarely find one that has a good fit. Nakakakita ako sa Divisoria lang.
Recently, I’ve been shopping sa mall and I found some that fits me. I have clothes from Terranova, Uniqlo, F21 and H&M. Sa H&M I have the pants na okay yung it, pero kailangan ko paputulan kasi mahaba sakin haha I also find some in SM Department stores.
As much as I want to shop on IG shops too, I don’t like shopping clothes that I don’t get to fit. Kasi nga baka mali din makuha kong size. Haha. I tried to shop in Zalora, and okay naman nakuha kong size nung blouse.
Hope you find the right shop na for you 😊
Haha, deceiving yung photos ko.. people think I’m tall from the photos but I am so not. I’m skinny in person.. I look like a 12 year old haha. Yeah that not sponsored tag belongs there, kasi people tend to miss it when it’s at the bottom of the post eh. Dunno if it’s gonna go well w/ g00gle though, haha!
I like Uniqlo for jeans! I found two that fits me like a glove. F21 one time lang ako nakahanap ng kasya sakin and sadly luma na yun at sold out everywhere. Sayang, no cardigan has fit me so nicely as that random F21 find. H&M naman, guess what, sa kids section lang ako nakahanap ng kasya sakin haha!
Same sentiments w/ IG shops. Di rin ako sanay ever to randomly purchase clothes without tryng them first para 100% sure na kasya sakin. Sometimes the photos are misleading in those shops eh, kasi di rin naman sila nagkukuha nun mismo, esp the wholesale Asian clothes types of stores.
I saw pants from Uniqlo na naka-sale, I tried them on pero hindi ko gusto yung fit 😞 Sa H&M sometimes I joke my boyfriend na merong kasya sakin dun hahaha I never tried, though I think meron nga hahaha