So I’ve been searching the net to find out what the opinion is on the Maxi dress for petite women and what I’ve figured out is that we’d all love to wear them, but the sad fact is that we just shouldn’t… unless you want to wear stilts at the same time… that would work wouldn’t it??

Here is the best example I could find of a celeb who, like us, really wants to wear maxi dresses but really shouldn’t - Melissa Joan Heart. At 5′2″ she is definitely petite but where did she get these frocks from?

Now if I was to pick the perfect example of a petite outfit, it would have to be this one from Eva Longoria. The nude peep toes give the legs length as mentioned in this post. Her fabulous dress falls just about the knee giving her full length of both her body and her legs and the v-neck elongates her neck giving the illusion on height.

Eva also does the Maxi dress well but I think this is more to do with her slender frame more than anything. However there are some key differences between Eva’s dress and Melissa’s above.

Petite Maxi Dress top tips:

Keep the line of the dress straight

As you can see from the pictures above Melissa’s dresses come out from her waist where are Eva’s skims her body giving her length to her body.

Keep hems long - to the floor even

Eva’s hem on her dress is touching the floor giving the illusion of height where as the black dress Melissa is wearing cuts her off at the ankles making her look shorter.

Simple necklines

Melissa’s black dress and Eva’s maxi dress are both good examples of what the top of a maxi dress should look like where as Melissa’s other long dress has a wider line over the shoulders making her look more top heavy and this follows down her body making her look larger than she is.

So that’s that… I’d keep away from them but if you’re anything like me then there’s no telling you! Stick to these 3 key steps and you’ll be alright!

Love ya!

Vikki xx

Related Petite Stuff:

Check out where to get dresses that suit your petite frame on our petite dress page.