My sister and I recently went shopping together. She was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding that she is invited to. My sister is very petite. She is five feet tall and about one hundred and ten pounds. Her height limits the dress styles she has to pick from.

We started looking for her dress at a large department store in our local mall. The selection of dresses seemed extensive, however many of the dress styles were quite long and were meant for people that are significantly taller than my sister. This is something that she has faced throughout her life. There are some dress styles that she can have hemmed, but others do not always look good when shortened. We asked the sales clerk if there was a line of petite dresses, but she stated that the store no longer carried dress styles in petite within the store; however they did carry a complete line through the catalog. We thanked her for this information and moved on to another department store within the mall.

On our way to the other department store we stopped at a shop that specializes in petite sizes. My sister has shopped at the store in the past for basic wardrobe items. She said they are quite expensive. She was not planning on spending a great deal of money on a dress that she was not planning on wearing often. The petite shop did have several dress styles in my sister’s size. They were beautiful dresses, but they were out of her price range. The sales clerk suggested that she purchase a skirt and top. This would be more practical because she could mix and match to get more use out of the clothing choices for the money. My sister tried on a simple classic black skirt which fit her very well. The sales clerk suggested several tops in a variety of styles that would be appropriate for a wedding. My sister liked the skirt, but did not like any of the tops. The skirt was a classic item that she would be able to wear year round. She decided to purchase it. She felt that even if she did not find a top to wear with it for the wedding, she would always be able to use it in her wardrobe.

We moved on to the department store. There the selection of dress styles included a few in the petite sizes. There was a blue sleeveless dress that had a short matching jacket. So many of the other dress styles were more elaborate, but this one had a very simple design. My sister was concerned that it was quite plain; however we were able to find colorful jewelry that went very well with it. She liked having the option of the jacket in case the day was cool, or if the reception hall had air conditioning. She bought this dress as well as a blouse to go with the black skirt. Even though we had a slow start in finding the right dress styles we were able to buy her two outfits.