Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Megan:

What I tell petite girls is not to fight nature. Guys love petite girls! You make them feel big and strong. Instead, I advocate playing up your petiteness as much as possible. Keep your accessories, such as your purse, belt, and jewelry, small, in proportion to your size. Wearing super-high heels in order to be taller is completely unnecessary.

Pants, capris, above-the-knee and knee-length skirts, tops, and jackets will look good on you, as long as they aren't too big and too long for you. Fitted, rather than oversized, styles are best. Keep ruffles and embellishments small, in keeping with your small frame. Keep prints small, too. You don’t want to be overpowered by what you’re wearing. It's all a matter of scale, and finding clothes that fit your smaller proportions.

For this reason, you'll want to shop at stores that cater to teens, because the clothes are often designed for a smaller, shorter girl. Check out Wet Seal, Rampage, Windsor, Reference, Forever 21, and stores like that. Other resources are young teen stores such as Limited Too (there's a store locator at limitedtoo.com). For more grown-up clothes, shop the Petites department of large department stores and websites such as bananarepublic.com. As you pay more attention to fit and proportion, you will notice that a lot of regular women's clothes are too long in the waist and leg for a petite girl like you.

Have you ever heard the phrase,"small is beautiful"? In the case of petite girls, it’s definitely true!

Sincerely, Fashion Girl