<p>I have a 20 year old D who is very tiny. She does not have anything which resembles professional clothing and she will (she better!) interview for internships this year at school. I found a nice sale at Ann Taylor and bought her a nice pair of black dress pants, a khaki pencil skirt and a nice white blouse. I bought them in a size 0 according to the size chart on the website. </p>
<p>They came in the mail yesterday and they are huge. I mean I think I could wear the dress pants and I’m a size 4! She did not try them on but I am sure they are not going to fit.</p>
<p>This is my question. They were a very good price and the items are very nice. I could try to find 00 but they are few are far between. Do you think I could take them to a nice tailor and try to have the pants and skirt taken in? Do you think a good tailor could make these pants look right? They have to be shorten so they have to go to the tailor anyways.</p>
<p>I just don’t know where I find good professional clothes for this girl who is a Junior size 0. She has jeans and party clothes. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>BTW I think I paid around $35 for seasonless pants which retail for $88. If I thought the 00 would fit I would buy the 00 but I’m afraid these wouldn’t fit either and I’m out more money.</p>
<p>Ann Taylor Loft, JCrew, and Banana Republic (all good options for appropriate clothing for a 20 year old internship) all carry PETITE SIZE 00 (or XXS). I think that would be better for your D than size 0 in Regular. </p>
<p>I happen to order online a lot. However, for your D, to save from many returns, if you live within 50 miles of a JCrew, Ann Taylor Loft or Banana Republic, you could visit and see if Petite Size 00 is in her range. Once you know that for sure, and if you don’t see what you like in person, the online catalogues tend to have much more selection but at least you’d know what size works with that company. I would do that before altering size 0 in Regular.</p>
<p>I just looked online for you and these three companies have Petite 00 and so it isn’t as hard to find online as it is in person.</p>
<p>You could get things taken in, will cost, but you have no choice. You can’t find professional clothes in junior section.<br>
Going out on a limb here, but unless your daughter goes to school down south, khaki pencil skirt is not going to do much for her. If she is going to get an internship at any professional company, she will need a suit and pumps. Even if it’s at a firm that’s business casual, she should still wear a suit during an interview.</p>
<p>Can’t you return them to an Ann Taylor store? </p>
<p>Did you buy a regular 00 or a petite 00? If you bought the petite 00, and they are still too long, I’m not sure how easy it will be to find professional clothing for her. But maybe try Talbots petites? </p>
<p>You should take her to an Ann Taylor store and a Talbots store, and have her try on their small sizes. That will give her an idea of what size she is for each store.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot about Banana Republic, like soozievt said. That’s a very good place to look for her.</p>
<p>A good tailor can “re-cut” the pants and skirt to fit if necessary, depending upon how much too big they are. It could run you $70 to $100 total to re-cut both garments, but since you got them on sale it is probably worth it. Make sure you go to a “Master Tailor” and not just a seamstress. A Master Tailor is skilled enough to make clothing from scratch, whereby a seamstress can only do basic waist, sleeve, and hem alterations. I spent my entire career in the clothing business so feel I am qualified to answer this question. Of course if you can get Petites at Talbot’s in a size O, to see if they run smaller than these Ann Taylor items, that would be the better way to go. I agree with oldfort on the choice of clothing!</p>
<p>Also, I may be wrong, but isn’t Ann Taylor Loft the younger type version of Ann Taylor? Perhaps the sizing in Ann Taylor Loft (again Petite 00) may run smaller than Ann Taylor.</p>
<p>Before we invested in D1’s wardrobe for work, I took her to try on each store/designer’s clothes. They all fit differently, even if they are the same size. Once we found the right fit, then we stuck to one brand and I watched for sales. D1 is tall, long torso and shorter legs. We found short jacket looked rediculous on her. She looks better with longer jacket and Eli Tahari suits look great on her. We only figured it out when she tried on a lot of different brands.</p>
<p>Ann Taylor and Talbots are both known for their ‘vanity sizing’ which means they run at least one size larger than other brands. (Always makes me feel good to shop there ) I’ve found Ann Taylor Loft to be about the same as Ann Taylor</p>
<p>I’ve had many thing altered over the years. They can do wonders - taking in too large pants, suits, etc. You might want to take them to a alterations shop and see what it will cost and then you can decide about having them altered. I agree the khaki pencil skirt is too casual - even here in the south. A black one would be fine.</p>
<p>Macy’s here always has a great selection of suits, even in petites.</p>
<p>I agree that alterations can do wonders. But it might be avoidable by finding the right size and brand. Switching from size 0 to size 00 and to Petites rather than Regular, might work. Also, trying JCrew or Banana Republic, may work. Also, JCrew gives a discount in stores to those with a college ID.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. We have many problems here lol! First of all she’s 5’3 1/2" tall and usually petite sizes don’t fit. She has a short torso and really long arms and legs so the petite will fit in the torso but will be too short. I wear petites myself and know that a 00 petite should be a little smaller than a 00 regular.</p>
<p>oldfort, thanks for the advice on the khaki pencil skirt, my D said the same thing and we will take it back. It’s really a nice skirt but she goes to school in the northeast so we will look for a suit as hard as it seems it’s going to be. I did think that maybe the skirt would be nice for her to wear to work in an office which I hope she will have next summer and it was a really good price. But I don’t think it will fit so it will go back and D would rather have things in black anyways.</p>
<p>On to my other problems. We live in a very small town and there is no shopping here at all. The nearest mall is an hour away and it does not have an Ann Taylor or Banana Republic or J Crew. There is another town at least an hour and a half away but they only have an Ann Taylor. I am pretty darn sure she won’t fit into anything at Talbots even if I could get her in there and I think that their petites are pretty short even for me. To get to a mall that would have a wider selection would be at least 3 1/2 hours away. To compound things, she is working midnights at the moment, her only day off is Saturday and she’s exhausted. (if anyone has any ideas on how to survive working midnight, I would appreciate it) So I think I will have to forget this right at the moment. Maybe I can make a trip to visit her in the fall and we can look for a suit. </p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like taking things in is going to work so I think I will just return it for now and look for something in the future. Thanks again.</p>
<p>My H is always complaining that she doesn’t have anything appropriate to wear in an office setting. If he only knew how hard it was to find her anything that fits. Sigh!</p>
<p>Look online at the Nordstroms sale. It ends today. They have some nice looking black pencil skirts on sale.
My D is also small. It has been difficult for her to find professional clothing at a reasonable cost. I found last spring a great black pencil skirt online at clearance prices from Nordstroms. I really got lucky on a pair of designer black slacks in a petite on the clearance rack at Ross for $14. The original price was $140. They are just the right length for a pair of low heeled pumps.
J crew online is a great place to get a professional white blouse.
Regarding tailoring. My younger D had a riding coat that needed some major tailoring. She had won a gift certificate to the riding store so we hadn’t paid for the coat. The coat was taken in on the sides, sleeves and shoulders removed and sized down plus coat shortened in length. Most of the alterations places didn’t want to even work on it. The dressmaker/tailor did a great job but the final bill was $100.</p>
<p>I’m 5’3" and have the same ‘petite’ problem - short waist and long legs. A lot of petite pants are about 1 inch too short but regulars are often way too big. I don’t have any answers - I seem to spend an ordinate amount of time trying to find clothes that fit properly. If she’s going to school near a big city, a fall visit might be your best bet. Good luck.</p>
<p>We also live in a rural area. And my girls are barely ever home (though one is flying home finally tonight, yay!). However, an hour from us there is a JCrew and Banana Republic. But selections online are much more plentiful and we shop online a lot (though my girls live in cities). Not sure if your girl lives in a city but getting clothes on a visit there may work. But you could order something in size Petite 00 from JCrew and from Banana Republic (just one item each) and see how it fits before ordering more. My older D has some work clothes and has gotten several things at these two stores (in person and online).</p>
<p>I wrote about my quest for a suit under another thread (21 year-old college senior here). I also fall into the petite category, so I did worry about finding a suit. I had amazing luck at Banana Republic - found a beautiful black suit in the petite section. I just need the jacket sleeves and pants hemmed a bit (taking it to the tailor tomorrow!).</p>
<p>My advice would be to either send the things back and try ordering again in a 00 - hopefully everything would fit her better and the tailor would have an easier job. Otherwise you could hit up a mall closer to her school in the Fall that would have a wider selection. Ordering online without trying stuff on or knowing sizes can be tough.</p>
<p>Does your daughter go to school in a city? My tiny professional-women friends have great luck shopping in or near their local Chinatowns, because the stores there stock lots of clothes in small sizes.</p>
<p>Find a local seamstress and have her clothes made professionally. You will save money over the vast majority of the junk in stores. Making a nice straight skirt in a high quality fabric is quite simple and will look great. Plain tailored shirts are readily available in small sizes. Simple pants are also quite simple to have made.</p>
<p>A jacket would be more complicated. I would suggest looking at high-end equestrian shops. There are many young girls who ride, and a simple tailored jacket is considered an essential part of the showing in English saddle.</p>
<p>theory suits tend to be cut really small. A size 0 might work for her. It might be worth ordering a sample one from nordstroms just to see if it fits, and then wait for sales.</p>
<p>My very thin and leggy daughter has great luck at Express. They have a wide variety of casual and professional styles and the clothes tend toward a smaller fit. I think you can find them online if there isn’t a store near you. They don’t have petite sizes but pants and skirts are easy enough to hem. I am a very small boned petite and their clothes fit me, as well.</p>
<p>Ditto on Express and Banana Republic- I think they tend to run a bit smaller. I’m 5’2" and petite. </p>
<p>I wear size 4 and junior 7 and those sizes translate pretty well from one store to another. At least for me because I spent a few hours at the mall last winter trying on 4s and 6s at every store that I liked to see how their sizing differed. It’s worth doing it even though it’s a pain to take clothes off and on and off and on… Now I don’t really need to try on anything unless I just want to see how it looks. In this case it’d be good because you need to order things from online and you want to be sure that your D can fit in those clothes without problems.</p>
<p>But I’m too lazy (and cheap!) to take my skirts and pants in for hemming so I usually put on 2"-3" heels and let it go at that. But I <em>know</em> that once I start commuting by foot and subway, I will have them taken in so I can wear flats on the way. </p>
<p>My grandmothers were petites. One of them had to take in EVERYTHING. She had the most amazing and unique collection of clothes because she had excellent taste for fashion. So when she passed away, the women in the family (except for me!) complained how everything was too short in the arm and legs and they couldn’t take anything home! </p>
<p>I absolutely agree with you about AT. I actually put on a skirt that I haven’t worn in 3 years the other day to see how it fit. It fit pretty well. Then I looked at the size. 0!!! I couldn’t believe it! A 0! Did they put on a wrong tag? :)</p>
<p>Really, I suggest finding a time on a travel or when your D goes back to school (to a near big city) to try on different sizes at different stores. Then you can order without a problem!</p>
) I’ve found Ann Taylor Loft to be about the same as Ann Taylor</p>