It wasn’t too long ago that mass market brands began to capitalize on the underserved category of petite womenswear. Nearly every major brand now has a “petite section” in their store, or online, but unfortunately still only occupies about a 10×10 section shoved in the back. It may seem as though I am trying to provoke those attempting to satisfy the masses with their “petite sizes”. I promise I am not. But unfortunately, it’s not enough.

THE PROBLEM WITH PETITE FIT IN TODAY’S MARKET

It’s not enough that pieces are only shrunken down to an XXS. This, in all their efforts, don’t work, as there are many of us smaller framed women who have and embrace our natural feminine curves. The fact that pants, shirts, dresses, and jackets from these petite sections are still too long and still require tailoring to “get it right” defeats the purpose of being a “petite fit” garment in the first place, don’t you think?

But it doesn’t end there. Of the plethora of brands offering petite sizes in only limited styles, the waists still don’t sit where they should, shoulders are too wide, knee level is incorrect, and there’s always extra fabric on the back. And this is just the beginning. This isn’t taking into account how style lines and design have no consideration towards proportionate lines that allow a petite frame to look taller. How beneficial is it really to wear horizontal lines, oversized styles, and lengths that cut your legs in half? These brands, although doing their best to offer variety, repeatedly offer styles that cut across the body in all the wrong places inevitably making the wearer look even shorter.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Creating the world’s first luxury brand strategically designed for the petite frame with proportion, tailored fit, and an artisan craftsmanship never before offered in petite design.

THE WORLD’S FIRST LUXURY PETITE BRAND

This brand is a collection of luxury leather jackets and outerwear that is built upon the philosophy of redefining fit for women 5’5 and below. Where other brands place minimal effort to create an entirely new pattern to properly fit a petite frame, each of their pieces are simply graded down to smaller sizes, ignoring necessary alterations to the proportion and scale of each section of the garment. Here, at The 16th Bar, each design is meticulously hand drafted by myself to ensure the highest quality fit, minimizing the need to visit a tailor, saving you time to do more of the things you love, by wearing a garment that is as close to custom tailored as you can get.

After several years of pushing the limits to test various fits on models 5’5 and below, and to redefine what womenswear design should be, each garment pattern is based on hand tailoring techniques, focusing on a proportionate design and fit, from the overall slimming silhouette to style lines, lapels, pockets, buttons, and hardware details. Each detail has a monumental effect when scaled to the right proportion.

Why not create a regular fit collection and offer a petite version alongside it rather than placing all my efforts to build a brand that focuses solely on a well-tailored petite fit? Doing this would mean taking much longer to build a brand over time. This would mean going against the fashion industry and “how it’s always been done”.

Because that’s what everyone else does. And it’s time for change. While I stand at 4’11, over the years, I became exponentially frustrated at the limited options there were for me, and in an attempt to “scratch my own itch”, I began designing my own garments. As I quickly discovered, the average height of women around the world was between 5’3-5’4 (160-162.5 cm), meaning the average frame among women around the world, was indeed petite. Why weren’t more brands properly catering to this need?

As time went on, I continued to meet and see just how many other incredible women there were who were just as frustrated as I and wanted something the market wasn’t offering. And through this discovery and extensive research, The 16th Bar was created and developed into the world’s first luxury petite tailored specific brand. And I truly hope, that what I have built over the last 10 years to launch this brand this fall, truly offers you something beautiful you’ve never been able to experience before.