Fashion for petites. How to choose a jacket.

Sure, it's important for petites to know what to look for in a jacket, but it's equally important to understand how a jacket should fit. To quickly determine whether or not a jacket fits correctly, check its fit at these key points.

1.  Sleeves

Sleeve length on a long-sleeved jacket should be to top of the hand. This length should be determined when the wearer is standing with arms relaxed at sides.

For petites, sleeve width is more of an issue than it is for taller women, who can wear much wider sleeves, such as kimono styles, without any problem. For short women, the most flattering fit will be a close one, but not so close that the sleeve binds or restricts movement.

2.  Shoulders

Structured jackets have shoulder pads, even if they're only slight, and the end of the shoulder pad should extend into the head of the jacket sleeve at least slightly, with the shoulder seam itself extending from the area where the shoulder pad ends. In order to balance the figure, petites with narrow shoulders may want to experiment with jacket shoulders that extend beyond one-half inch or so, but it's a good idea to exercise caution.

If a jacket feels narrow in the shoulder area and the jacket pulls up or movement is restricted, the shoulders are too narrow, and there's no alteration that can fix this problem, so the solution lies in going to a bigger size.

3.  Collar

A jacket collar should surround the neck smoothly without wrinkling or bunching. The collar (or neckline if the jacket has no collar) should be neither tight nor loose.

4.  Lapels

Jacket lapels should lie flat, both when the jacket is worn open and when it's worn closed.

5.  Bust

The wearer should be able to close a jacket without pulling or wrinkling across the bust. For fitted and semi-fitted jackets, there shouldn't be excessive width across the bust either. Jackets that are too tight in the bust cannot be altered, so the solution is to go up a size, which may mean having other parts of the jacket altered.

6.  Torso

A jacket should be able to be worn either open or closed, so the wearer should be able to button or zip a jacket comfortably without tightness or pulling through the torso area. Fitted or semi-fitted jackets should follow the lines of the figure closely.

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Source: About.com