Petite girls like myself know that not all shorts look great on us. We are shorter and lower to the ground, which means some lengths and styles fall in awkward spots due to our body type.
I want all the shorties to rewind that thought process and check a few of this season’s must-have styles! I will also go over a few ways to style them to compliment a petite frame.
Style Tips and Trend
Now that you hae a visual of the most popular shorts, lets go over each different kind and how you should be styling them!
Contents
Paperbag Shorts
Pair With A Crop
Pair With A Tank
Pair With A Tucked In Blouse
Pair With A Relaxed Tee
Pair With A Jean Jacket
Pair With Puff Sleeve Tops
These are some of the most flattering shorts for petite women.
They are called paper bag shorts for obvious reasons and resemble a paper bag on top. They are typically paired with a belt or a tie belt. I’ve never gotten a pair that didn’t come with a belt.
As you can see these cinch at the most flattering part of a petite body type which is the area between the waist and hips, typically right around the belly button. The cinch creates the illusion of an hourglass body shape even if you may not have one – this is instantly flattering.
Besides crop tops, any other type of shirt should be tucked in all the way around the waistline. This seems like a given but I have seen people leave the back of their shirt fully tucked out and this creates the illusion of a baggy butt.
If you want to leave a bit untucked I suggest pairing it with a button-up shirt and leaving the front half left out just a bit and not the entire part left out around the front to the back.
If you can pair this with a top made from lighter material so that the shirt isn’t too bulky or it will poke out when you tuck it in, leaving the appearance of extra flab where you, in fact, don’t have any.
Thie best thing about these is they look great with any type of jacket or sweater! You can mix up the shoes and pair them with sneakers to give it a more relaxed look. or pair it with wedges to dress it up for date night.
Another thing to note with these is the fit around the legs and hips are a bit wider and relaxed. More room width wise with a bit longer fit lengthwise slims the legs.
Multiple Button Front Shorts
Pair With A Boyfriend Tee
Pair With A Sweater
Pair With A Button Down Blouse
Pair With A Ruffle Top
Pair With A Crop
Pair With A Graphic Tee
As you can see there are multiple types of button-up shorts. My favorite button-front shorts are the ones that contain 3 or more buttons.
The shorts with rows of two buttons are referred to as sailor shorts and can be a nice accent piece to throw into your wardrobe.
You can find multiple button shorts in a wide range of styles and some will have a professional look to them where some might be distressed with a bit more of an edge.
Multiple button shorts are new to the fashion scene and I am here for them! Even the denim blue jeans one that has a simple roll at the bottom have so much more sass thanks to the extra buttons.
Ladies I know what you’re thinking…who has time to unbutton and rebutton those every time you have to go to the bathroom. But I’m here to tell you it’s worth the extra 30 seconds and you will get so many compliments on them you won’t even worry about your next trip to the whiz factory.
This style of shorts for petite women are great for work, play or a night out with some cocktails.
Extra Distressed Shorts
Pair With Stripes
Pair With A Boyfriend Tee
Pair With Pattern Tops
We have all lived through the era of distressed shorts and jeans. We are now entering the era of super distressed shorts, specifically made from denim.
The shorts at first glance might look like a joke and something that someone’s dog chewed up that they are tiring to get rid of. Upon further inspection, you are going to come around to the idea of them and quickly add them to your cart.
Shorties look great in these because the bottom is so loose and overfit that they make the legs appear slimmer than shorts that hug them tight.
With the extra distress around the shorts themselves, it takes the eye away from the leg and puts it on the clothing items itself.
Unlike the other pairs we have gone over before, these are best for casual places and might not be the best for work. This will clearly depend on where you work so take that fact for what it is worth. I work from home so I live in these to let my dogs out, run errands and go for quick walks throughout the day.
I personally think these look best when paired with sneakers or casual sandals. In the late summer these would also pair cute with little botties.
Fit Suggestions
Make sure you read the sizing guide carefully on each website you purchase these on. Most companies nowadays work with multiple fashion lines which means each piece is going to be sized a bit differently.
Don’t go off the short size or number but rather go off the dimensions of what is given, which is most often going to be in inches or cm.
I feel like to many times people get hung up on what size the clothing is instead of what would fit them best. Sizing is so different from place to place. For instance: at loft, I am a size 0 and at H&M depending on the material I am a size 6 or even 8. It doesn’t make sense to me but it is what it is.
Overall fit is personal preference but when in doubt I always size up rather than down. If you size down and the shorts are too tight then that is when you are going to get those lines going across the front of them.
Remember you can always throw a belt on but you cant widen the width around the legs.