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Petite Revue, home

Affordable elevated capsule wardrobes for petite women.

Petite Revue, home

Wardrobe tool

The Outfit Formula Generator

Composes outfit formulas from garment roles: dress code, season, silhouette and activity in; one to ten explained combinations out, each with the petite proportion logic that makes it work. Maps every formula onto the wardrobe you own and names the roles you lack.

5 formulas belowDeterministic: no shuffle, no styling modelEvery brief is a shareable URL

Set the briefThe formulasFrom your wardrobe

Formulas, not inspiration

An outfit formula is a repeatable structure: a bottom or a dress as the anchor, a base over it, a layer where the band or the weather wants one, and a shoe chosen for what the day actually involves. The editorial writes them by hand; this tool composes them from the same garment roles, by the same rules, and explains each one the same way.

Nothing here shuffles, personalises, or styles you by algorithmic mood. The same brief produces the same formulas for everyone, ranked by stated rules, which is what lets a formula be shared, saved, printed and argued with.

The brief

What the outfits are for

Each answer changes a composition rule. The brief travels in the URL; your wardrobe never does.

Formality and season
Climate and layering
Shoes and dresses
Colour strategy and count
formulas (1–10)
Silhouettes you wear

Applied to bottoms and dresses. Leave unchecked for no restriction.

Must appear in every formula

Force a role in: the piece you are trying to wear more, or one the Gap Finder proposed and you want to test before buying.

Tops

Bottoms

Dresses

Layers

Footwear

Same brief, same formulas, for everyone, always

Composed from the default brief

5 formulas

Garment roles with the proportion logic that makes each combination work at 5’4″ and under. The section below maps them onto your own pieces.

Smart casual

Garment roles
  • Fine-gauge crew knit
  • Straight-leg jean
  • Heavier-gauge knit
  • Low-vamp loafer or flat

Choose the inseam independently of the waist where a brand allows it. That removes the usual petite compromise. 26″ lands at the ankle bone. Over it, body length 22″–23″ finishes at the high hip and keeps the waistband visible, which is what stops a knit reading as a tunic.

Keep every piece within two or three tonal steps and the eye reads one continuous line instead of separate hems, the single cheapest inch of apparent height available.

Heavier-gauge knit is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up to smart casual under it and back down without it.

A low vamp and an almond toe let the leg line continue further than a heel does. Repeat the deepest trouser tone and the leg and shoe read as one length.

Swaps that change nothing else: Fine-gauge crew knit → Fine-gauge V or boat neck or Silk or crêpe shell · Straight-leg jean → Wide or barrel jean or Straight-leg trouser · Heavier-gauge knit → Open cardigan or Fine-gauge crew knit · Low-vamp loafer or flat → Low block heel or Clean sneaker

Smart casual

Garment roles
  • Fine-gauge crew knit
  • Tapered trouser
  • Heavier-gauge knit
  • Low-vamp loafer or flat

A published 25″–26″ inseam breaks at the ankle bone on most 5’2″–5’4″ frames. Look for the figure in inches, since “regular” is not a measurement. Over it, body length 22″–23″ finishes at the high hip and keeps the waistband visible, which is what stops a knit reading as a tunic.

Keep every piece within two or three tonal steps and the eye reads one continuous line instead of separate hems, the single cheapest inch of apparent height available.

Heavier-gauge knit is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up to smart casual under it and back down without it.

A low vamp and an almond toe let the leg line continue further than a heel does. Repeat the deepest trouser tone and the leg and shoe read as one length.

Swaps that change nothing else: Fine-gauge crew knit → Fine-gauge V or boat neck or Silk or crêpe shell · Tapered trouser → Straight-leg trouser · Heavier-gauge knit → Open cardigan or Fine-gauge crew knit · Low-vamp loafer or flat → Low block heel or Clean sneaker

Smart casual

Garment roles
  • Fine-gauge crew knit
  • Straight-leg jean
  • Blazer
  • Low-vamp loafer or flat

Choose the inseam independently of the waist where a brand allows it. That removes the usual petite compromise. 26″ lands at the ankle bone. Over it, body length 22″–23″ finishes at the high hip and keeps the waistband visible, which is what stops a knit reading as a tunic.

Keep every piece within two or three tonal steps and the eye reads one continuous line instead of separate hems, the single cheapest inch of apparent height available.

Blazer is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up to smart casual under it and back down without it.

A low vamp and an almond toe let the leg line continue further than a heel does. Repeat the deepest trouser tone and the leg and shoe read as one length.

Swaps that change nothing else: Fine-gauge crew knit → Fine-gauge V or boat neck or Silk or crêpe shell · Straight-leg jean → Wide or barrel jean or Straight-leg trouser · Blazer → Open cardigan · Low-vamp loafer or flat → Low block heel or Clean sneaker

Smart casual

Garment roles
  • Fine-gauge crew knit
  • Tapered trouser
  • Blazer
  • Low-vamp loafer or flat

A published 25″–26″ inseam breaks at the ankle bone on most 5’2″–5’4″ frames. Look for the figure in inches, since “regular” is not a measurement. Over it, body length 22″–23″ finishes at the high hip and keeps the waistband visible, which is what stops a knit reading as a tunic.

Keep every piece within two or three tonal steps and the eye reads one continuous line instead of separate hems, the single cheapest inch of apparent height available.

Blazer is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up to smart casual under it and back down without it.

A low vamp and an almond toe let the leg line continue further than a heel does. Repeat the deepest trouser tone and the leg and shoe read as one length.

Swaps that change nothing else: Fine-gauge crew knit → Fine-gauge V or boat neck or Silk or crêpe shell · Tapered trouser → Straight-leg trouser · Blazer → Open cardigan · Low-vamp loafer or flat → Low block heel or Clean sneaker

Smart casual

Garment roles
  • Cotton shirt
  • Straight-leg jean
  • Heavier-gauge knit
  • Low-vamp loafer or flat

Choose the inseam independently of the waist where a brand allows it. That removes the usual petite compromise. 26″ lands at the ankle bone. Over it, works twice: buttoned as a base, or open over a knit as a layer. Check shoulder width first, because a dropped shoulder seam adds a false horizontal at the upper arm.

Keep every piece within two or three tonal steps and the eye reads one continuous line instead of separate hems, the single cheapest inch of apparent height available.

Heavier-gauge knit is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up to smart casual under it and back down without it.

A low vamp and an almond toe let the leg line continue further than a heel does. Repeat the deepest trouser tone and the leg and shoe read as one length.

Swaps that change nothing else: Cotton shirt → Silk or crêpe shell · Straight-leg jean → Wide or barrel jean or Straight-leg trouser · Heavier-gauge knit → Open cardigan or Fine-gauge crew knit · Low-vamp loafer or flat → Low block heel or Clean sneaker

Methodology

How a formula is composed

The composition rules, stated. If a formula looks wrong, one of these is why.

  1. Anchor first

    A bottom or a one-piece anchors every formula. A dress is the most efficient composition available, so when you prefer dresses they rank first rather than being buried under pairs.

  2. Layers follow the band and the weather

    A mid layer joins the formula where the dress code or the season wants one, and never in hot-humid conditions. The layer is the formality dial: the same base and bottom move up a band under it.

  3. Footwear follows the day

    Shoes are chosen from the roles serving the formality, filtered by your flat/heel preference. A heel in a walking brief generates a warning, not a silent substitution.

  4. Deterministic ranking

    Formulas that use more of your recorded wardrobe rank first; then completeness of composition; then the roles’ declared priorities; then a stable key. No shuffle, ever.

  5. Proportion logic comes from the roles

    Each role carries its petite measurement guidance, and the formula’s explanation is composed from the anchor’s. A wide-leg anchor adds the rule about keeping the top short; a column dress brings its unbroken-line reasoning.

  6. Missing roles are named

    In wardrobe mode a formula never pretends. A role you lack is listed against the formula, with the substitutions that might already solve it, the Gap Finder can then say whether it is worth adding at all.

Written by hand

Formulas from the editorial

The same structure, composed by an editor rather than an engine.

All outfit formulas

  • The Tonal Column

    Fine-gauge knit + Shirt collar out + Unstructured coat + Straight trouser + Loafer

    Three tonal steps across five pieces. The eye reads one continuous line instead of four hems.

  • The Cropped Jacket Rule

    Cropped jacket + High-rise trouser, full length + Fitted knit + Almond-toe flat

    Cropping the outer layer keeps the leg reading as a single line from waistband to floor.

  • One Long Line

    Long unstructured coat + Cropped knit + Column skirt + Boot in the skirt tone

    One decisively long layer with everything else at least four inches clear of its hem.