When you understand the styles and the silhouettes that look best on your body shape, getting dressed instantly gets easier. Like, as in tomorrow. And by understand, I don’t mean all that apple, pear, banana nonsense, because you are not a fruit salad.

And there’s a reason that body shape is the first step in the S.P.A.R.K Style Method. And that’s because when we dress to accentuate our favorite feature, we first know the styles that look best on our height. With our individual shapes, we have made huge strides towards dressing with confidence.

Understanding Petite Body Shapes and Styling Fundamentals

So in this episode, we’re going to cover the three signature body shapes and the styles and the silhouettes that flatter each of them best. Because once you understand that, it’s not just getting dressed that gets easier. Shopping, putting together outfits from items you already have in your closet, knowing what to get rid of and what to buy in the future.

One of my clients’ favorite things they say is, ‘It makes it so much easier to walk away from items when they’re shopping that just aren’t right for their shape.’ Let’s get a couple of things out of the way. The first one being, what is Petite? I had a client once who said, I used to be Petite, but then I gained 20 pounds.

What Does Petite Really Mean?

Petite has nothing to do with weight and everything to do with height. If you’re five three and under, congratulations, you are Petite. When it comes to dressing for your shape, our goal is to create the illusion of balance, meaning we want it to appear that our shoulders and bust are the same or very, very similar to our hip and thigh area.

Some women are born with that naturally, others aren’t. For those of us who aren’t, that’s where the savvy choice of styles and silhouettes is used to create that illusion. Now, how do we do that? Okay, first things first.

Understanding Volume in Petite Fashion

Let’s talk volume. When it comes to clothes, volume comes from either the styles that you choose or the weight of the material. Let’s dig into that just a bit more. So some examples of styles that add volume would be a boxy blazer or a full skirt, bulky sweaters, and wide leg pants.

You probably get the idea. Now, some fabrics that add volume are corduroy, like a stiff, thick chambray. Fleece, velvet, and wool await a chimney Christmas. This would probably be a great time to say, if you haven’t already taken the Petite Body Shape Quiz, this is a good time.

Now, I’ll make sure that the link is in the show notes, or you can hop over to insidepetitestyle.com, and that’s where the quiz lives. Now, it’s only seven questions. It takes about two minutes. And this episode, not to mention every other episode, is going to make a whole lot more sense afterwards because you probably already picked up on the fact that we talk about body shape quite a bit differently around here.

Signature Shape #3: Balanced Petite Body Type

All right, back to our regularly scheduled program. Let’s take that volume information and make it specific to you. So for women who are a signature shape number three, your shoulders and bust and hips, and thighs are very, very similar.

So you have two choices. You can either keep the balance or you can add volume to the top or bottom. However, Petites should never add volume to both in the same outfit. Just with your smaller frame, it makes it too easy to get overwhelmed by your outfit.

Styling Tips for Balanced Petite Figures

All right, let’s talk about some examples of keeping the balance. So, say if you paired a tailored blazer with a pencil skirt or a fitted tee with tapered denim, or jeans, a trim sweater, and a slip skirt, all of those styles and all of those fabrics are going to avoid adding volume to your top or bottom.

So you’re, in effect, keeping the balance. Some examples of adding volume are if you pair that pencil skirt with a boucle blazer, all of a sudden, you have more volume on top. Or if you paired that fitted tee with a wide leg wool trouser, or you took that chunky sweater and wore it with the slip skirt.

Volume on top or bottom, but not both.

Signature Shape #4: Curvy Bum, Hip, & Thigh Petite Body Type

All right, let’s jump into signature shape number four. And your goal is to add volume to your bottom half while avoiding adding volume on top.

There are so many fun styles that’ll look great on you, like barrel jeans, wide leg pants, pleated skirts, A-line skirts, and fit and flare dresses. Now, let’s dig into that a bit more and do some flattering outfit formulas for signature shape number four.

Flattering Outfit Formulas for Shape #4

Please, before you hear all of these, make sure to put them through your favorite feature filter first. As in, will this accentuate the feature I picked last episode as what I want to accentuate, and if it doesn’t, ignore it.

There are a lot of other options. Okay, so say a silk shell with an A-line tweed skirt. So you can see a silk shell is not going to add volume to your top, while an A-line tweed skirt will, a lightweight cotton button down with a pair of wide leg pants, a fitted thermal, and a pair of barrel or flared jeans.

All of those are going to accomplish your goal of volume on the bottom and no extra volume on top.

Signature Shape #6: Voluptuous Bust Petite Body Type

Last but certainly not least, let’s talk about signature shape number six. Your goal is to add volume above your waistline while avoiding adding volume below it.

And again, there are so many fun styles that are going to look great on you. Boxy blazers, oversized blouses, bulky sweaters, and details like poof sleeves or ruffled necklines. Anything with shoulder pads, which are super popular, or dramatic military kind of shoulders.

Styling Solutions for Petites With Curves On Top

Just like for the others, let’s do a couple of flattering outfit formulas. Make sure to put it through your favorite feature filter first. That’s a tongue twister. So a tweed blazer with a fitted skirt, an oversized button-down with tailored trousers, or a chunky fisherman sweater and a straight stretch skirt, or all are going to look great on you.

Now, you might be hearing these outfit formulas and feeling drawn to one section over the other. Trust that instinct and then confirm it with the quiz, if you haven’t already.

How Much Volume is Right for Your Petite Frame?

A couple of things that might have popped into your head. Are you wondering how much volume is too much Volume or too little volume? So let’s chat about that. The first thing to consider is how much of a size difference there is. Say, for example, your signature shape number four. You wear a size 14 on top and a 12 on the bottom. That’s just not a lot of difference.

So add volume subtly. For example, a straight leg pant may be versus a full-on wide leg flare pant. But say on the other hand that you wear a size 10 on top and you’re a six on the bottom. You can have a lot more fun with the volume, say a taffeta skirt or a full-on palazzo pant.

The Mirror Test for Petite Styling

When in doubt, you can always do the mirror test. Mirror selfies are one of the best ways to check on an outfit. There’s something just about seeing the two dimensions versus the three dimensions that we normally see when we look at people that really shows us how awesome an outfit is, or if there are any tweaks that we need to make.

The second thing that you can do is you can take a mirror selfie in black and white. Sometimes that’s even better because our brain then isn’t distracted by all the color and the prints and the patterns and all of that.

Action Steps: Start Dressing for Your Petite Body Shape Tomorrow

All right, now here are two action steps for dressing for your body shape that you can start tomorrow.

Step 1: Don’t Shop or Purge Yet

The first one is, please don’t shop. I know clients are always surprised when I ask them not to, but also, don’t purge anything from your closet. And the reason why is that the further along in your style journey that you can get, you’ll discover things that you didn’t think worked originally that actually are really awesome on you.

And there are always workarounds, so keep that in mind.

Step 2: Apply the Volume Test to Your Outfits

The second thing is, is that you’re. You’ve already decided what your favorite feature is and how you’re going to accentuate the heck out of it. So tomorrow morning, when you’re standing in your closet, keep that top of mind.

Then grab a blouse or a blazer or a sweater, whatever’s appropriate, and put it through the Is this adding volume where I want it or not? And then the same thing when you’re picking out your bottom. Is this adding or avoiding volume where I want it?

What You’ll Notice After One Week of Petite Styling

A coupleof things that you’re going to notice when you do this. Clothes that you haven’t worn in ages, all of a sudden make sense. Now you’re like, oh, I understand what to wear with it, and I understand why I bought it to begin with. Then my challenge to you is to do this for a week.

And you are going to be amazed at how much easier getting dressed really is. A side note, you’ll probably also notice some wardrobe gaps. Start your list. It’s always best when shopping to jot it down first, and then afterwards, we can prioritize it.

What are the biggest gaps, and what’s going to make the biggest difference? So just start jotting them down. It’s not quite as good as shopping, but you’ll feel better because you’ll know you won’t forget them. All right, be sure to listen to the next episode, where we’re going to chat about ways to use color to support what you just accomplished and look longer and thinner.

Until then, have fun and stay stylish.