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Petite Revue, home

Affordable elevated capsule wardrobes for petite women.

Petite Revue, home

Series

In development

The Science of Petite Fit

Garment drafting, published measurements, and why a size label tells you almost nothing.

5 of 6 parts published

Started
Last updated
Start with part one
A jacket front pattern piece pinned onto the finished jacket it produced, on a stand, with the shoulder, underarm, waist, cuff and hem points marked on the garment.

The argument

What this series claims

Petite sizing is treated as a marketing category when it is really a drafting problem. This series works through the measurements that actually determine fit (back length, shoulder width, sleeve from centre back, inseam) and shows how to read them off a product page before anything is ordered. The argument throughout is that four numbers beat any amount of trying things on while tired.

Reading order

The parts

Published in order. Each part assumes the ones before it, so reading them in sequence is worth more than picking one out.

  1. Reading a Blazer Before You Try It On7 min readFour measurements on a product page will tell you more about how a jacket will sit than any photograph of it on a 5’10″ model.
  2. The Inseam Map8 min readDenim sold as petite spans a six-inch range. Knowing which inseam produces which break makes the category navigable.
  3. What Is Worth Tailoring, and What Isn’t7 min readAlteration is a wardrobe strategy with a budget. Spending it on the wrong three garments is how people conclude that petite sizing is hopeless.
  4. Which Petite Ranges Say You Will Not Need a Tailor8 min readEight researched ranges publish enough about their petite cut for an alteration likelihood to be inferred. The inference, the reasoning, and where it runs out.
  5. Petite on the Bottom, Regular on Top8 min readHalf-and-half is the most under-used strategy in petite shopping, and for once the size charts are on its side. Which published sizing actually supports mixing, and where it breaks.
  6. One further part in preparationAnnounced rather than written. The series is published in order, so this slot stays empty until the part behind it is finished.

Other series

  • Series

    The Proportion Series

    Where hems, waistbands, sleeves and shoes land, and why those few inches decide everything.

    4 of 7 published

  • Series

    Capsule Wardrobe Academy

    Building a small wardrobe that covers a real month, one decision at a time.

    1 of 5 published

  • Series

    Brand Investigation

    Reading what brands publish about their petite blocks, and what the gaps reveal.

    4 of 4 published