Small Women Find Clothes A Problem

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28619, 23 June 1958, Page 2

Small Women Find Clothes A Problem

With the recent banding together of tall girls in an effort to improve the availability of clothes to fit them, thoughts have turned to their opposite number—the small woman. She has her problems too. A 42-year-old mother of three children said yesterday: “Pity me, just five feet and no longer young. Believe it or not I’m still buying clothes from the maid’s departments and I’m long past the age when I can wear teen-age styles.” Shoes too are her bugbear. Shop assistants shake their heads and say: “We’ve almost nothing to fit you.” This is a fact, according to a shoe saleswoman who said her department carried very little stock of size two. For every half dozen pairs of fives, she has only one pair of twos. This is because feet are getting larger, she said. Shoes up to size 12 are wanted comparatively often, especially by the younger generation. Her store was in a quandary recently to fit a little old lady who took size 13 (child’s fitting). ‘ “This very tiny foot is unusual, of course; but we finally fitted her with a pair ol plain button-strap children’s shoes,” she said.

Stockings present the same problem to the person with very small feet. Size eight and a half is the smallest nylon made and very small women find there is nothing for it but to bend the toes of the hose under to get a smooth fit.

Finding lingerie is also difficult for the small woman. When the worst comes to the worst, women can make, or have their dresses, suits and coats made, but who is going to home design and make a brassiere or suspender belt? Brassieres come as small as 30 inches around, but quite a few small women whose shoulders and backs are narrow, need a larger cup than the “A” size that goes with a 30-inch bra. Suspender belt waists go no lower than 24 inches said a business girl with a 22-inch waist. She finds it equally difficult to find a skirt with a small enough waistband. “We are aware of the small woman’s problems,” said the head of the mantle department in a leading Christchurch store. The department has a sign reading “Five Feet Three and Under” in one section. “We can say with relief that the position has greatly improved during the last few years and is continuing to do so,” she added. More Small Sizes At least two .New Zealand manufacturers,. * cutting from overseas styles, cater for the shorter figure and mark their garments accordingly. This improved service may not be widely known by the average “shortie,” but the apparel goes like hot cakes to those who know the ropes. Several short women agreed that hunting for small clothes is not the nightmare it once was, but the selection of garments was still a long way from satisfactory. “Buying clothes is really a headache to me,” said a chic fivefoot woman who has yet to buy a coat or dress that does not re-

quire shortening. “The money I’ve spent in alterations would buy a new wardrobe,” she complained. Her great longing is to buy a well-fitting ready-made suit. Bulky suit styles and loose fitting coats are apt to make small women appear dumpy or almost dwarf-like. A streamlined suit can do so much for the really small figure, she said. “Pin-heads” “Hats are my horror story,” said an average height girl with a small head. She loves smart hats and when she sees women at the budget hat-bars trying on one perfect fit after another, she goes green with envy. “I’ve moaned so much to my family that I’m now known as ‘pinhead’,” she said. It is true, according to a leading city milliner that heads sized 21 and under get a very raw deal. “We sometimes sell them children’s hats, but most are unsuitable for mature women,” she said. However, the store does make to measure and will copy any of the better hats for the same price as the original ■ article “Don’t-start me on the exasperation of being tiny” warned a very slender four-feet-eleven woman of under seven stone. “When my children reached 11 and passed my height and bulk, my authority went out the window. What can you do with a son who calls you ‘baby-doll’?” she winced. Her pet aversions are being thought “cute,” being picked up and swung around by large, playful males “who like to show off.” and sales assistants who comfort her with the cliche:

“Well, the best things are always done up in small parcels you know!”