Reply to If models are all tall, why is everything too short on 5’10” me?

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[quote=Anonymous]There are different kinds of models, and not all are tall. You are thinking of runway models, who are often 5'10" or even taller. Most print fashion models are also tall because of preferences for how designers and magazine editors want clothes to look in photographs.

However the clothes you buy in the store are actually made using a "fit model." A fit model is a model is like a human dress form -- it's a person who has whatever proportions the design house has deemed to be average, and she is used to fit the the prototypes and create the patterns that will be sent to the manufacturer.

The average fit model is between 5'4" and 5'9" tall, and they look for well-proportioned bodies in terms of bust-waist-hip ratios. A different model is used for petite or plus sizing. The model will often fall in the middle of a size range (say a 6 or 8 for non-plus size, a 14-16 for plus) and then adjustments are made up and down for smaller and larger sizes. This is why clothes off the rack don't fit a lot of bodies very well. I am small busted (AA cup) and have learned I cannot wear clothes that have darts usually because they are generally fitted to bodies with larger boobs. This includes bathing suits.

This is also why women who are top or bottom heavy (a Dolly Parton body or a Lena Dunham body) often struggle with sizing, especially in dresses, because they are using models with more proportional measurements. Same with long or short waisted women -- the waist on the average garment does not it them on their true waist.

And it's why you might see clothes on a 5'10" model in ads or on the runway, but then they will be a couple inches short on your 5'10" body when you buy them -- the garment you are buying was likely fitted to a 5'6" or 5'8" model. This is why tall sizing exists, just like petite sizing is for women for whom a garment fitted to a 5'10" body will always be too long.[/quote]

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