The Height of Fashion

My name is Tess, and this is my blog. I know we don’t know each other very well yet, but I’m going to go out on a limb and ask you to take a (possibly painful) trip down memory lane with me.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are back in middle school. Life is tough – your best friends Janie and Amanda aren’t talking, plus you just flunked that quiz on fractions – but the Halloween mixer is tonight and you’re feeling pretty cool in a black tank and new velvet Limited Too jeans which match the orange rubber bands on your braces oh-so-perfectly. Bopping around to the smooth stylings of TLC, you begin to discreetly scan the auditorium for potential slow dance partners when you suddenly notice that – horror of all horrors – another girl has showed up wearing the exact same outfit as you!  Luckily it’s only Becca Fenstermann, and as you pass her en route to the bathroom (it’s time for the requisite body glitter touch-up) you can’t help but whisper “Where’s the flood?” while you giggle with your friends.

If this scenario sounds all too familiar – not the adolescent bitchery, but rather the “high water” faux-pas committed by the exceptionally lanky pre-teen – then I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.  I, too, spent the first 18 or so years of my life being that slightly awkward, very tall girl who slumps her shoulders in every picture, deals with boys who can’t help staring at her chest, and limps around with her feet hanging off the edges of sandals pilfered from much smaller friends. Three years ago, that last dilemma inspired me to start Barefoot Tess, this online boutique offering the most stylish of shoes in the most generous of sizes, with the help of my mother.

To be sure, girls who stack up at 6+ feet face a unique set of challenges. But as we get older and more comfortable with our bodies, we begin to understand and appreciate all the perks that come along with our height. I challenge you to find a petite girl, no matter how beautiful, who can turn every head in a crowded restaurant like her statuesque counterpart, assuming that said counterpart knows how to dress to impress.

And that’s where I come in. After two decades of following fashion religiously and (sometimes disastrously) experimenting with the runway trends on my own budget, I think I have finally figured out what works for my leggy, busty, hipless, waistless, broad-shouldered physique. Through this blog, I will endeavor to pool together the internet’s best offerings, as well as provide my readers with a forum to share their own experiences and advice on “shopping tall.”

Lastly, a hint for future reference – when someone asks you if you’ve ever thought about modeling, you’re probably doing something right.