WHAT IS PETITE?

PETITE REFERS TO STATURE, NOT WEIGHT.

By Ann Lauren: According to the fashion industry Petite is defined as 5′5″ inches tall and under. In the United States petite women represent 70% of the female population. There are approximately a hundred million petite fit and petite plus size women domestically. (USA Petite Model winners featured to the left.)

The petite female market has a compound annual growth rate of 8.6 percent annually. These women represent ten billion dollars of buying power in the retail industry.

PETITE WOMEN RULE THE MARKETPLACE

In the international marketplace there are approximately six hundred million petite women. Petite women’s retail buying power is tens of billions of dollars! The available statistical data confirms what we already know, petite women have the greatest buying power and are the majority globally. Yet, this market niche is untapped.

PETITE WOMEN EMBODY “BEAUTY AND ELEGANCE”

Unfortunately, petite women are aware of the minimal representation, which contributes to negative images of their size, beauty and intelligence. This starts with the media, modeling industry and clothing designers catering to a market representing only a mere ” three percent of women at 5′9″ and above here in the United States.” The look constantly promoted as the image of beauty and fashion is tall and slender. This is undeniably wrong and we have standouts like beatiful 5′1″ Eva Longoria and to the right we have gorgeous 4′10″ Kristen Chenoweth.

FASHION MAGAZINE ARE SHORT ON BEAUTY

Fashion magazines exclusively feature tall women, leading us to believe we live in a world with only amazon women. The majority of petite clothing designers don’t even utilize petite models. Most mainstream modeling agencies, beauty pageants and televised model searches will not represent or allow true petite women to compete. In fact, many agents lie about models and celebrities height. For instance Victoria Beckham is 5′2″, not 5′6 as Elle magazine stated.

Few petite models in the business. See in-depth analysis at New Models http://www.newmodels.com

Reality check: Petite women are the majority and the mainstream media needs to recognize that most celebrities are petite.

It’s a fact, petite women dominate the entertainment industry. Petite clothing designers and retailers need to utilize petite models to effectively promote clothing lines to their consumer market and increase profits. Petite women are tired of the lack of true petite sizing, zero representation on the runways and fashion magazines!

DESIGNERS AND PETITES

Bob Mackie, world renowned fashion designer to the stars for over 40 years, states that he has spent his career dressing famous women. He recounts that most of the leading ladies in Hollywood throughout the years are in fact petites. This list includes: 5′2″ Liz Taylor, Rita Hayworth, 4′10″Veronica Lake, Gloria Swanson, Judy Garland, Bo Derek, 5′2″ Raquel Welch, Cher, Winona Ryder, Megan Fox, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek, Rachel Weiz, Jennifer Connolly, Victoria Beckahm, Madonna the list goes on.

Fun movie trivia: In the old days Allan Ladd was so short, standing at only 5′2″, that his leading ladies often had to stand in a ditch while filming scenes next to him. As you can see, it was important to have gorgeous, petite screen goddesses like 4′10″ Veronica Lake! To this day most leading men in film are short and need petite leading ladies to enhance their small stature.