Fashion

I gave up: The not-so-petite winter parka

I gave up.

After months of hunting unsuccessfully for a new petite-friendly winter coat, I finally succumbed to the cold. It was minus-22 today, with a windchill of minus-27. And I just couldn’t take it anymore.

So I went into a nearby store, which sells outerwear by a range of Quebec designers, and bought a winter coat. A proper, down-filled, fur-lined parka that can stand up to these bitter Montreal temperatures.

It fits okay-ish… not great, but it was the least-worst option I could find. The sleeves are too long, but not by much. The waist is too long and bunches up when I sit down, but there’s a two-way zipper that helps with that. The length doesn’t drown me. It’ll do, I suppose.

Except for one minor problem: being able to see.

Yeah, that’s the big problem with regular sizes on petite frames: Everything is too long. In this case, the hood is made for a woman at least a half a foot taller than me, so on me, it basically just flops right down and covers my face.

And, the worst part is, that out of literally dozens of coats that I tried on over the past months, this one was the best-fitting one I could find.

To be fair, not everyone looks quite as ridiculous in their parkas as we petites do. Here’s the model in the same coat, from the website:

As per the manufacturer’s website, the “model is 5’8.5/173.5 cm and wearing a size XS.” Unfortunately we can’t all be so vertically blessed.

Considering how much a coat like this costs, it sucks that I am basically forced to settle for a poor fit. But such is life for petites. Nothing’s made for us.

Oh well. At least it’s warm.

Coat: Soia & Kyo “Chrissy” parka, size S, $595

6 thoughts on “I gave up: The not-so-petite winter parka

  1. Hi, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. I have a lot of trouble finding winter coats as well. Have you tried Canada Goose’s fusion fit sizes for parkas? I’m 5’2″ and I found it fit really well for myself (they have proportionally smaller sleeves, length etc.).

    1. I actually hadn’t heard of this. It sounds new. But I’m concerned that they’re marketing it to fit “smaller” and not “shorter” frames. Having a narrower hip sounds like it will make it worse for me — already, I find Canada Goose’s jackets to be proportionally too small at the hips in the size that fits me everywhere else. One of the trials of being pear-shaped, I guess. I will see if I can sample these sizes in store and report back, though.

      ETA: According to their press announcement, Canada Goose is marketing its “fusion fit” as a sort of “Asian fit”: “The Fusion sizing is based on the average of 26 body measurements paired with over 16,000 individual body scans of Korean, Chinese and Japanese body frames. Therefore, while the Fusion Fit will be great for anyone looking for Canada Goose jackets with shorter sleeves and jacket length, it was specifically designed for the typical Asian body type.”

      So nope, I don’t think that’s gonna work for us curvier petites, alas.

  2. I had a Sears brand parka from before they closed, and bought a petite 6. They were oversized, I usually wear an 8 or 10, but the arms and the rest of the fit were perfect! Now that parka is really worn down, I need to shop for a new one :/
    A fix for the hood would be to put in a buckle loop system at the top back outside of the hood to cinch it in; I always just wear a toque with a pompom to prop up my hood.

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