%expand(%include(D:\http/ads/ads0.html))
Shopping 101
Tall Tips From A Tall Girl
By Jessica Brandon, B.S. (Bachelorette of Spending)
Hello, darlings! Here we are in November, getting our sweaters, wool skirts, boots
and winter coats out of mothballs. Sigh! It had been such a wonderful summer. Living
here on the east coast, I only hope we don't get buried by snowstorms, thus keeping
me from the stores! This month, girls, I'm going to discuss shopping for the taller
crossdresser and the pratfalls involved with same. This is a topic that's near and
dear to me as, at six foot two, that presents a raft of problems when it comes to
buying clothes.
As most of you undoubtedly know, up until only a few years ago, women's clothing was designed
primarily for females no taller than five foot seven or five foot eight, otherwise
known as the dreaded "Misses" range.
For someone like myself, this provided nothing but frustration, especially in two
areas: sleeves and inseams. Regarding the former, a properly fitted sleeve, be it on
a blouse, dress, jacket or coat should end right at the wrist where the hand bends
upwards, or no better than an inch above that point. Anything higher than that would look
extremely silly, and dont give me any b.s. about quarter length sleeves, not when
most of us have forearms like professional wrestlers.
As for inseams, I'll admit to being an ego tripper by saying I rarely wear pants
because I love showing off my long, luscious legs. Hell, I didn't get into the
crossdressing business to wear the same stuff I do as a male! Anyway, if you're in
the market for pants and you're tall like me, look for an inseam of at least 31 inches, with 33
being ideal.
The standard inseam of 29 inches in the Misses range is useless to us
because they end well above the ankle and that also looks silly.
Next, we come to pantyhose. For us tall girls, hosiery can be something of a pain
too if you should happen to buy the wrong size. In my case, it's taken a good deal
of experimentation to accurately buy the proper size for my height that not only
fits well but looks good on me as well since my legs are the one part of my body that I love
to accentuate. At one time, the standard size for hosiery was AB which covered (Yup!
You guessed it), Misses sizes.
For a tall girl to wear size AB pantyhose is also problematical, since, even
stretched to the breaking point it wouldn't fit properly, the crotch of the hose
ended a good inch or more below the loins. This invited runs since the hose was
stretched out of shape. And if that happened with cheap hosiery like youd find in a
five and dime store (Far and few in-between now that Woolworth's are out of
business), you're just throwing money away. Fortunately, hosiery makers have
expanded their size ranges since they finally arrived to the conclusion that women
come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from dwarfish to towering, from rail thin to
elephantine. Today, my proper hosiery size is CD (Ironic, isnt it? You think these companies had crossdressers in mind when they came up
with that?) which covers height ranges up to an even six feet and fits me like the
proverbial glove.
There also exists a size EF, which is for big, and I do mean BIG boned girls, both
the genetic and imitation variety. While not going up to six feet, EF covers weight
ranges nearing 200 pounds. Even though I check in at 185, because I'm tall, that's
an ideal weight for my height, I'm neither fat or thin, so it wears well. If you're
curious, my brand of panythose is Resilience by Hanes, and I swear by it because it's
both deliciously sheer and almost totally run resistant.
Now, we come to the shopping portion of our program: where to shop for tall girls.
In my opinion, THE place to go from coast to coast is J.C. Penney's, perhaps the
first major department store chain to sell clothes aimed at the taller girl. I've
shopped there for years and I've yet to be disappointed with anything I've ever bought
there, either by mail order or in person. From dresses, skirts, blouses, pants and
suits, their clothes are both stylish and well proportioned.
Most of the other major chains, Sears, Spiegels, Lane Bryant, Ross, Fashion Bug, TJ
Maxx, Filenes Basement, et. al have small selections of clothing for talls, nothing
to write home about, but they do exist, and this brings up something else about shop
ping for talls. Sometimes, I'll find a Misses size outfit that, much to my surprise
will fit just right, especially in terms of sleeve length, and while this is more the
exception than the rule, its not beyond the realm of the impossible.
Besides, a tall girl wearing a Misses sized outfit does have one particular
advantage, and that's with the skirt. Consider this scenario: a pedestrian-looking
22 or 23 inch skirt for a girl of five foot seven and under ends at the knee of
lower makes for an absolutely terrific looking miniskirt for a girl of six feet and
taller. And if you have the legs to pull it off like I do, you can look like a
million dollars without a bit of hemming. On more than one occasion, I've done that
very thing and it never fails to work. I've bought tall sized suits (I LOVE suits),
replaced the skirt with a Misses size one, and it makes an otherwise tame looking
outfit positively sizzle! As long as you know your size and determine what will look and fit best on you, feel free to experiment
(Remember to keep Shopping Commandment Number 5 when you shop) to your hearts
content. Chances are you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.
At one time, for a tall girl like me or you to look fashionable, we had to have our
clothes either tailored, adjusted six ways to Sunday or custom made. In the fashion
world, we were looked upon as misfits or ignored altogether while designers left,
right and center kissed up to the Misses. But not anymore. Those same designers came to
realize that girls aren't tiny anymore, just look at the models on the runways, no
midgets there, I assure you.
Now you too can shop with confidence knowing that tall girls everywhere can find
clothes that look and fit great! Well, thats it for now, if you have any comments
about this column, or if you want to share some shopping tips with me, I can be
reached at treetop@voicenet.com. And before I forget, have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Until next month, shop not just with your heart, but with your head!
|