Tall Girl, Long Legs, Short Jeans
By: Brianna Skye
Tags: Model, Womens Rights, Fashion Trends, Body Positive, Body Image

You don’t have to be super tall to have tall girl struggles. Just over the average height is when things start to get tricky. And as most tall girls would agree, annoying.

I’m not that tall, 5'6 almost 5'7. But it’s tall enough to feel like a giant sometimes. Being a sophomore, some guys still haven’t reached their growth spurt yet. Which is enough to make me feel like I’m on stilts. Not to mention most girls I know are 5'3 with some barely passing 5 feet. I see them wearing cute wedges or ankle boots with a heel and they’re still shorter than me. I used to hate wearing shoes with any kind of platform. Sometimes spending hours driving to every shoe store in town to find boots that were flat. I didn’t want to be any taller than I already was.

I get it, I’m not necessarily the “tall girl”, but I do have those long legs. “Perfect for modeling.” as my mom put it. And I’m proud of them now. I love my long, thin legs and I don’t care anymore who I’m taller than when I put on heels or platform shoes. Because I’m dressing for me and only me. My confidence came when I was in New York for the weekend to see Wicked. During intermission, I was waiting in line for the bathroom when a woman walked in. She surpassed everyone by at least a head if not more. And that’s when I saw her 5 inch gorgeous heels. She was killing it, she didn’t care that she was taller than everyone in the room. I think that’s what she was going for. She was wearing those heels because she wanted to, because she knew she looked drop dead gorgeous in them. And from then on I didn’t slouch my shoulders to try to blend in. I stood tall, head high and learned to love my height and my legs.

But I’m not here to only talk about me. I’m here to talk about how society can sometimes make tall girls struggle for things that shouldn’t be a struggle. Like jeans for instance. Or pants in general.

The average height of an american female is 5'4. But, for you ladies out there who are still a little insecure about being above average, 5'6 is the ideal height of women according to women and men. Also, taller women tend to be more noticeable and more attractive. So go us! But, since most women tend to be shorter than us, society pleases them, and so most pants and jeans are made for shorter women.

I’ve always had issues shopping for pants, even when I was younger. My legs were like toothpicks, long toothpicks. No curves, no shape. And so buying jeans was always the hardest. A size 10/12 fit in the waist, but they were too short. A size up was just the right length, but the waist was too big. It’s still like that now with the waist and the length. Of course I have thighs and hips and all that now, but my stomach is flat. And when I go up a size, I can fit two of my torso's in them.

I’m not rich by any means. Strictly middle class. So we love deals and coupons and sales. Areopostale has all that and more. A few weeks ago I found these cargo pants there that were on sale, exactly what I was looking for. I picked out my size, small, and when I tried them on, they were perfect. The waist fit like a glove, no saggy butt, perfect on the thighs. But there was a small problem, they were about three inches too short. I wasn’t surprised, just disappointed.

I’d basically lost all hope in finding cargo pants that would be long enough. But just when I was going to give up searching, I spotted them at the Garage. I tried them on and they fit like a glove. Perfect perfect perfect! I was so happy. But then I saw the price, 60 dollars. They weren’t on sale either. Luckily my mom offered to buy them for me because they fit so well and we might never find anything like this ever again. But it still made me feel out of place.

My cargo pants that actually fit

This is not just with cargo pants. It’s also with jeans. I know I’m not the only one who puts them on and they look like Capri's or you just hold them up to you to save the disappointment from when you pull them on. Sweatpants that are at your calves so you go up a size only to find they don’t fit on your waist. Leggings that just don’t stretch long enough. So maybe you go online and order “talls” only to realize talls are for women who are over 6 feet, not someone in between short and giant like you.

It makes you feel different, out of place. Disappointed and angry that you have to spend all this time searching for pants that aren’t only long but also stylish while a girl who’s 5'3 just grabs them right off the rack at the first store she gets too. It’s such a big “ughhhhh.”

Jeans and other pants shouldn’t be this hard to find for us girls 5'6 to 5'9. We shouldn’t have to pay 20 to 30 more for our “model” legs. And we shouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt just to find them. Retail stores should consider a wider audience, not only appealing to the average but also just slightly above. (Sometimes I think they don’t realize that there are girls taller than 5'4.) Us girls that are tall but not super tall need cute clothes too.

So here I am, off to the mall to go on another search for pants that don’t look like they’re two sizes too small. But for those girls and women out there like me, don’t be insecure about you’re height. Own it. You’re not alone. Flaunt those beautiful legs of yours girl!