The Long and Short of It
Woman in the Middle | August 21, 2013I am 5’6 1/2″, Eldest Daughter is 5’7″,and Youngest Daughter is 5′ 8″. Youngest was determined to be the tallest female in the family and she succeeded! But that last inch she has on her sister is a significant measurement. While Eldest can usually find pants long enough for her, Youngest almost always has to get longs in pants or she looks like the poster child for high water hem lines.
For you tall ladies out there, you know what a pain that is. It is even more of a pain if you are looking for something other than jeans. They are nigh on impossible to find unless you order them online. As you can imagine, Youngest is at that time in her life when occasions present themselves without much notice in which office style pants are desirable. But these occasions are rare enough that she (and/or her mother) doesn’t want to waste a lot of money on pants that may rarely if ever be worn again. Sigh…
Just such an occasion has presented itself this week. She has been selected to go to a brewery in Colorado for three days to participate in a quality control review for the world-wide company she is interning for (think beer, lots of beer). Her normal work clothes are fine for day time but she had been advised to bring a “nice pair of slacks” in case she and her coworkers go out to dinner one night. The problem is that a “nice pair of slacks,” the kind her good old mom wears to work every day, probably do not exist in longs in this town or the next one over. I suggested she wear a skirt, but that was not desirable due to the heavily male nature of the brewing industry. Double sigh….
So off we went to the nearest store that carries clothes: Kmart. I know, you are thinking that is a disastrous shopping trip in the making. But, I have to say, Kmart has been very very good to me over the years. Shockingly, they have about the best selection of jeans, khakis, etc…in iongs as we have found at any store in our area. Yes, you long-legged women out there in search of inexpensive pants, go visit Kmart!
The selection was a little slim, I admit, It always is when you are looking for longs. But I grabbed up a pair of nice jeans type pants(Riders by Lee) that had a tiny grey herringbone weave in an average length. As far as the length goes, hope springs eternal. As far as the pants go, I thought they had a good office slacks vibe. youngest found a cute grey cardigan style sweater that would turn any tank or spaghetti strapped style top in her wardrobe into instant office wear and we headed to the dressing room.
What can i say, angels sang! The grey pants fit perfectly and weren’t too short! The grey sweater went with them and, with top and shoes from daughter’s closet, she is good to go to Colorado. Yay!
I really wish I could say that Kmart or Lee paid me in cash and merchandise to write this post. But, alas, no. This is just another true episode in my life, written just because I wanted to, not because someone asked me to!
I love Kmart. I never thought I’d say that, but here I am saying it. However, have you ever tried Old Navy online? They have all kinds of styles in longs which they call talls.
We have looked at Old Navy. The only issue with ording on line is we have to go to the store and try on the average length ones to determine the right fit and then order them. Howevr, we are not adverse to doing that, just have to find the time.
My middle daughter Natasha has the opposite problem at only 4″7″ and as tiny in every other way as well she finds buying clothes a nightmare at times, she often buys tops and has to washing them in hot water and dry them in a clothes dryer on hot in the hope they will shrink a bit so they will fit her better………………..buying pants can be a nightmare too as the shortest ones are often far to long for her and she has to take everything up.
I can imagine that your daughter can never find pants the right length! She is definitely tiny!
While I am short (5’2″), I have long legs with a 30″ inseam. Some regulars are cut just a tad short so I am always trying pants/jeans on before I buy them. One of my favorite retailers has regulars with inseams that say 30″ but really measure 29-1/2. What’s with that?