Tall Women's Pants and Stockholm Phenomenon
- Penni Lamprey
- Jul 19, 2022
- 5 min read
Why tall women can size down when shopping with Miss G & Me in Australia is one of the most common questions we receive. The answer sits somewhere between pattern making and psychology. Once you understand it, getting dressed starts to make a lot more sense.
Let me explain.
I had a long conversation with our patternmaker about this. The short version: mainstream clothing is designed around an average Australian woman who stands at around 161cm. When you put those clothes on, the waistband does not land at your waist. It lands on your hips. So you buy a larger size to compensate for the gapping at the back, the pulling across the seat, the waistband that will not stay put.
You are not a larger size. You are a taller size.
There is a difference.
And it does not stop at the waistband. When you buy up a size to get the waist to sit somewhere near where it belongs, the crotch drops too. The seat of the pant hangs lower than it should. Or you are forced to pull your pants down from the waist so the leg length reaches your ankles and your shoes - which puts the waistband back on your hips, and the whole cycle starts again. It is a structural problem with no solution, inside a garment that was never designed for your body.
Miss G & Me is designed for bodies where the rise is longer, the torso is longer, the inseam is longer. The waistband lands where a waistband is supposed to land. The crotch sits where it should. Hems reaches the ankle, or beyond. Which means the circumference measurements finally reflect your actual size - not the workaround size you have learned to reach for over years of shopping in stores that were not built for you.
It is worth noting that Witchery and Veronika Maine both carry a larger waist circumference for a size 14 than Miss G & Me does. Our 81cm. Theirs 82–83cm. That gap matters because you are often buying a size larger than your waist actually requires - not because you are bigger, but because the waistband is landing in the wrong place entirely.
In our label you may find yourself a size or two smaller than you expect. That is not a mistake in our sizing. It is the result of finally wearing clothes that were actually made for you.
Bye, Bye muffin top..
Photo by Ludovic Avice on Unsplash
And here is where it gets interesting.
A little while back I released the Marilyn Italian Cotton Shirt (now sold out). In mainstream shirts the hem of the cuff sits mid arm - too short, always has been, and it has always frustrated me deeply - the tactile senastion of the hem mid arm....ewww..
When I designed the Marilyn I created a longer cuff. Serendipitously it landed in exactly the same place on my arm as every mainstream cuff always had.
I needed to take it off immediately.
The association was too strong. Even arriving there via a longer sleeve, that placement of the cuff and sleeve joining seam on my arm meant one thing - a shirt that did not fit. We reduced the eventual cuff to a more standard depth but kept the sleeve length long. The sleeve reaches your wrist. That was always the point.
That moment has guided every sleeve, every cuff, every garment decision since.
This is what I think of as the Stockholm effect in dressing. We adapt to our captors. You have spent years accommodating clothes that were not built for you and somewhere along the way, that accommodation started to feel like preference.
Many of us have built our size identity around a number that was arrived at by workaround.
"I have never been a 12."
"I am definitely an XL."
Perhaps. Or perhaps that number was arrived at in a fitting room where the waistband was sitting on your hips and the back was gaping and the crotch was hovering somewhere it had no business being and you needed the extra room just to make it function at all.
Some healthy curiosity is required from us all.
So what does this mean practically?
Every Miss G & Me garment has specs listed on its product page - inside leg length, pant rise, relaxed waist circumference, underarm length. Measure yourself and compare before ordering. It takes two minutes and it changes everything.
You can also download our measurement guide from the Fit and Sizing page and write your details directly onto it.
We offer a Buy 1 Try 2 option for Australian customers - Purchase one garment, we'll send two sizes and you return the one that does not work for you. Full details are on the Fit and Sizing page.
And if you are genuinely unsure - call or email. This is exactly what we are here for.
Here's a download you can write your details on
We have created fit badges - how you could expect the garment to fit on you, listed for each garment - you could, and I do, wear two different sizes of Maddie Chillax depending on your mood and activity. Size 14 is my active size, and 16 is when I am in full winter on the couch mode.
What our customers have found:
Meg wears a size AU22–24 in mainstream stores. In Miss G & Me she wears a size 20 Maddie Chillax. In her words: "I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to try on the Maddie pants and for them to not only be long enough but to fit around my hips and waist. Such a novelty to have pants that don't give me cold ankles."
Dianne is around 6 foot and usually wears a size 14 in non-elastic waist pants. She ordered a size 12 in the Alva Slim Leg with its elastic waist and found it roomy and right. She will be buying more.
Anna at 178cm ordered Alva and her favourite detail? Pants that don't ride up her shins when she sits down. No negatives at all.
Kathryn is 6'1" with a 37" inseam. She sized down from her usual size, loved the fitted look, and said the length was perfect.
Pauline at 182cm had spent years with trousers cutting into her waist because the waistband sat too high and too tight on her torso in mainstream stores. Her size 16 Monique was a perfect fit. The comfort around her waist was, in her words, the best part.
Caitlin is 6'4". Her Monique pants easily reach her ankles. She gets compliments at work.
These are not edge cases. This is what happens when you stop accepting the workaround and start shopping from a place of curiosity rather than resignation.
The choice that comes from that shift is proven to contribute significantly to wellbeing. Not as a nice idea. As a lived reality.
You can have it too.
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Penni
Want to see this advice in action? Check out our customer gallery
The 'systems' we have created work; tall women can now have the luxury of choice, which is proven to significantly contribute to an individual's wellbeing.
And you can too.
X
Penni
Miss G and Me is the only Australian-made tall women’s clothing label, which reflects a passion for beautiful and sustainable fashion that fits tall women and lasts beyond a few washes. This article was written by the founder + designer, 6'1 Penni Lamprey who has a passionate focus on 'well' and 'being' and how clothes that fit positively contribute to an individual's self-esteem - the heart of the label's values.
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