Tall girls, how do you dress, and related questions

I'm 5'11" feet tall, USA, my personal style is very practical and not very feminine, and I shop almost exclusively online. It's more expensive, but it works for me for many reasons. I'm too busy to go shopping. But when I have, there's at least one supportive employee eager to help me.

• I measure myself and compare those measurements to the Size Guide. Sometimes the measurements are still off, but I havent had trouble.

• Sometimes I buy specifically from brands advertising Tall and Plus Size. In some garments, a Tall XL has been the perfect fit for me. For example, Overalls.

• My basic outfit consists of High Waisted Jeans and a Scoop Neck T-shirt that is tucked into them. Lightly colored jeans, dark T-shirt.

• I am never wearing clothing that is uncomfortable for me. I depend on a woven nylon belt to keep my jeans up, they are a bit loose.

• I've watched a few videos about how to dress for trans fems. Nano Nano made one thats just 6 minutes, it was enough for me to get started.

As always, your mileage may vary.

This is not for everyone and it is most certainly not cheap¹, but if you have the time, sewing stuff yourself isn’t actually that hard, a great conversation-starter and can give you stuff that fits you exactly the way you want. You are no longer bound by what some executive morons in the fashion-industry decide is now “in” and has to be worn by everyone (because they won’t sell anything else; I dare you, find me a shop that sells a skirt like this) and you know for a fact that the person who made your clothes was underpaid 😉︎.

¹ I’m serious: Even if you (usually unjustifiably so) assume that you already have all the equipment for free, fabric is very expensive!

I'm 6'6, so I have a bit of experience in this. Your waist is your most powerful tool in my experience. Aside from the tall specific clothing sections here's some tips:

First off, high waisted jeans or skirts are critical, they'll help hide some of the potential shortness of tops when you tuck them in. If they're still too short, then it's magically a crop top. If you wear cardigans and things that are a little too short, the high waist will make they seem more natural instead. You need a good fit on your waist, or a good belt to bring that in to compensate for shorter clothes.

For skirts in general, you're probably going to have a tough time getting a mini skirt if you want that, I've never found a mini skirt that fits me without showing off my underwear. Getting a longer skirt intended for short people with the right waist size can work though (reclaimed petite fits can rarely work), but generally shorter skirts are something you have to buy, and try on, in person, though longer ones can work online. Skirts can be risky buys online because we're not bell curve average bodies, same with dresses.

For dresses, you'll want to try to get tall specific ones, or ones that are longer. I really recommend buying them in person and trying them on first again, since it's a dress by dress fit. Buying short dresses generally doesn't work, and it can be really tough to get a good dress that fits the flow of your body. By this I mean the boob area of the dress is too high up, and the waist comes in too early. So it's critical that you find a dress with a good boob fit and waist, then the rest of the dress flow should work. I also recommend getting a good waist belt, so you can redefine the waist taper if required. Dresses with adjustable shoulder straps can help to lower the central point if needed, or high waisted dresses really help too for shifting the center upwards.

For most things, you'll likely find that the arms are too short from what you're used to. You can compensate for this by looking for sleeves that go over the hand, or by buying a size up so long as it isn't baggy if required. You can also tailor it to be a short sleeve instead if they're really short, or wear it with a larger cardigan with long sleeves. Rolling up shirts can also make the short sleeves look intentional as well. Wrist accessories also break up the area between your sleeve and hand, and make the fit look intentional.

For some things; it's ok to wear male clothes here as well and there if the fit is good - my jacket for example is a nice red one; it's a feminine male one that is just my size. It's tight on me to hug my curves, and since it's a bit small it lands right on my waist - so it looks intentional and I doubt people realise.

For shoes and socks, if you're like me and your size is still bigger than the tall section on specialist sites (size 13 for me) then you'll likely have to look for feminine unisex ones. I use pink converse for example. Some fetish sites might have your back though, for example I know a place that does high heels in my size, and the power I feel when I'm over 7 foot is wonderful. I was incredibly anxious about being that tall at first but, I faked my confidence until it became real. Tall Queens are born to rule and all that. Socks are socks, I like cute patterned ones, who cares what gender they are. Tights can be tough and will generally not last as long and will be a shade lighter due to the extra stretch, I save them for special occasions. Get them in tall if you want tights.

Tailoring is also a great way to make something fit as well, you can also make your own tops and things too. Adjusting is much simpler, and we're already working into a difficult space, so being able to adjust a skirt that's long enough, but just too wide for your waist is a very useful tactic.

Finally, in high women's fashion there's a saying: you're never tall enough (or something like that?). You can look at their stuff for inspiration, or to look for flow and shapes to emulate. I dunno if you're like how I was about my height, but I really recommend owning it. You're tall, you're powerful, and no one can put you down because you're literally rocking it over them.

Longtallsally sells women's clothing meant for us tall girls. I ordered stuff from them, usually off the discount.

You tube has guides for doing minor adjustments to things like jeans and simple shirts, you can do some quick and dirty alterations to help with things falling.

Look for "tall" sizes, might be a bit more expensive so consider second hand and ebay. Possibly buy longer skirts with the understanding it might be shorter on you.

Find yourself a friend to go thrift store a shopping with. This requires you to have the courage to hang out and really shop because you have to sort and parse through the extraordinarily random selection, but they tend to have an above average proportion of clothes in rarer sizes. I'm not super tall at 5'9", but thrift stores are the only places I go that regularly have clothing too long and tall for me. I can always find skirts to step on at Goodwill! I'm very slim and wear a small in many brands, but I tend to find at least one skirt I would get if only it were shorter per Goodwill trip. And most thrift stores have done away with trying things in store in favor of a one week return policy. Just make sure you'll be able to get back within that time, and you can try everything on in the privacy of your own home. The post shopping fashion show is part of the thrift store experience in my house.

You can also get cutes belts! It only helps with things that almost fit anyway, but it can seriously make a difference in the number of applicable garments you find.

I never had the issue with my hips somehow but before I started hrt my hips, waist, and bust measurements were all super close together and that made buying clothes difficult and I ended up having to go with looser fitting clothes because form fitting ones always ended up being too tight unless I bought them bigger but then they weren't form fitting anymore.

With pants I wore my old ones for quite a while since I knew my hip measurements would change with hrt however I did get things that were stretchy such as leggings since I figured that they'd probably still fit me after my proportions changed.

Also when you are wearing a skirt I recommend that you wear biker shorts underneath because then you won't have to try to hide your underwear.

Torrid is like big and tall for women so maybe it will help. I usually just wear dresses.