I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar | WHBM Petite Suit Review

I am woman, hear me roar.

What is it about a suit that makes a person feel powerful? Is it the silhouette? The fit? Or is it the way we’ve been conditioned to associate suits with power? Whatever the reason may be, there comes a time in every adult’s life when you need to own one good suit.

Fit is vital to a suit. Unfortunately, for a petite woman, fit is also something you have to work for…and often pay for. At 4’11” and 85 lbs, I’ve never had a pair of pants fit off the rack. If I’m feeling optimistic, I’ll buy the closest fit I can get, and dish out the extra cash to have it tailored. More often than not, I’m not feeling optimistic.

When I saw this petite skirt suit online from White House Black Market (WHBM), I decided to take a shot at my first suit. The suit jacket looked shrunken on the model, which was a good sign that it might fit normally on me. The skirt looked normal on the model, which meant it might be large on me, but a skirt would be easier to tailor than a suit jacket if it turned out to be large.

Size 00P

WHBM Petite Suit: Size & Fit

As predicted, the suit jacket, which looked shrunken on the model, was a normal fit on my petite frame. On the other hand, the skirt was a tad large. The waist was a decent fit – I have a 24″ waist, and size 00P sat comfortably on my lower waist. However, the width was wide, and the length was just past my knees.

I bought this suit on sale, after which the prices were even further reduced. WHBM kindly agreed to honor the price adjustment, and I decided to keep the suit. I brought the skirt to a tailor and paid $30 to have it hemmed and slimmed.

WHBM Petite Suit: Post-Alterations

At the moment, I’m struggling to find a good tailor. After I got married and moved to a different city, my previous tailor was too far away, and I haven’t been able to find anyone comparable since. For this skirt, I took a chance on a new tailor I found.

Post-alterations, the hem of the skirt is a much more flattering above-the-knee length. While I do appreciate that the skirt is slimmer, there is some puffing around the hips. It seems as though the tailor didn’t start slimming high enough on the skirt, and my hips don’t completely fill out that area. Although I’m a little disappointed that the result wasn’t perfect, it’s part of the trial and error of finding a good tailor.

Overall Thoughts…

Despite my slight disappointment with the tailoring experience, I would recommend this suit to fellow petites like myself. Firstly, I felt comfortable wearing the suit jacket as is, without any alterations. As I mentioned before, fit can be a huge struggle for petites, so that’s saying a lot! Secondly, although I did have the skirt tailored, it wasn’t huge to start with. We were able to leave the waist as is, which meant one less alteration I had to pay for.

I hope anyone looking for a petite-friendly suit finds this review helpful! How do you feel about suits? Do you think everyone should have at least one good suit on hand?

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Thanks for reading!