During the past 20 years, I have worn everything from size 2P to 14P. After seeing a picture of myself as a 14P, I went to WeightWatchers and dropped 25lbs and now wear 8P. This year,I was looking forward to buying some really beautiful outfits to reward myself. Having worn the full size scale, I can tell you from experience that it is the overall proportion of petite clothes that is crucial to having clothes look good on a shorter woman. In jackets and dresses, the width of the shoulders is narrower, the armholes are higher, the length from shoulder to waist and from shoulder to hip is shorter. In pants, the rise is shorter than in missy. These are not simple alterations like shortening the hem of a skirt, pant or sleeve. For a retail executive to suggest that the solution for petite women is to buy a size 2 Missy and alter the length shows a real lack of understanding both the petite customer's needs and sizing of the merchandise.

What the Saks, Neiman's and Bloomingdale's should have done is show some leadership and encourage the contemporary makers such as Tahari and Laundry to cut their lines in petite sizes. They should have been encouraging their buyers to select the more interesting fashion pieces in petites instead of just the basics. Our local Dillards discontinued carrying Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman in Petites in my city last fall. They ran full page ads for cashmere sweaters in Missy sizes at Christmas but did not have one cashmere sweater in petites! (But they did have tons of ugly appliqued Christmas sweaters from their private label import program in petites.Ugh!!)I wanted to buy a new trench coat with a zip-out liner prior to my trip to Italy in October. They did not have even one trench in petite sizes.I used to visit Dillards about once a week. I may go in there once every two or three months now. I am buying more things from Talbots and Ann Taylor but I would love to have more luxurious fabrics and finer workmanship available to me. Stores that provide smart looking, high quality clothes in petite sizes will get my business.

One other thing, I am tired of hearing store executives say that the petite department clothes have to be dowdy because the customer is older. Don't they read Vogue and Bazaar? Both magazines fequently feature "Style At Any Age" spreads that show how to use the current fashion trends to put together looks appropriate for women in their 40's, 50's, & 60's as well as in their 20's and 30's. I would suggest that the department store executives educate themselves and stop making excuses for not keeping the petite area up to date.

- Frances, 5'2"