Tall women’s pantsuits or maybe a unicorn?
December 5, 2019 1:49 PM Subscribe
I’m looking for a tall women’s pant (not skirt) suit before next week. My Googling has turned up very few options. Can MetaFilter help?
Dr. Mrs. coppermoss has an interview next week and needs a suit. She is 5’11” and wears a 34” inseam. Yes, really. What I’ve been able to find online are either skirt suits (not an acceptable option to her), ankle-length pants (ditto, since they look silly on tall people), or bold patterns (she’s looking for black). The one promising option from Ann Taylor is sold out in her size range (10-12). Tall women of Metafilter who dress professionally, how do you do it?
Dr. Mrs. coppermoss has an interview next week and needs a suit. She is 5’11” and wears a 34” inseam. Yes, really. What I’ve been able to find online are either skirt suits (not an acceptable option to her), ankle-length pants (ditto, since they look silly on tall people), or bold patterns (she’s looking for black). The one promising option from Ann Taylor is sold out in her size range (10-12). Tall women of Metafilter who dress professionally, how do you do it?
I have a similar inseam and also struggle with finding long enough slacks, more so now that "ankle" length are so popular (how can a 29" inseam really be considered Tall!?).
I have a pair of the Banana Republic Logan trousers linked above and they are great.
I have a pair from Long Tall Sally, which has pants with inseams up to 38".
I've also had middling success with having a tailor let the hem of a 33" inseam (which seems to be easier to find) out an inch. This is fully dependent on the hem's seam allowance and the shape of the pant leg. Sometimes my tailor says it won't work.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:28 PM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
I have a pair of the Banana Republic Logan trousers linked above and they are great.
I have a pair from Long Tall Sally, which has pants with inseams up to 38".
I've also had middling success with having a tailor let the hem of a 33" inseam (which seems to be easier to find) out an inch. This is fully dependent on the hem's seam allowance and the shape of the pant leg. Sometimes my tailor says it won't work.
posted by rhapsodie at 2:28 PM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
ASOS Tall. Scroll through for their solid offerings, they have decent quality for the price.
Bluedaisy's suggestion of Corporette was good; here's a recent blog post about other ideas for tall women's suits.
NB I am the same height and inseam as your wife and in my experience 'ankle' pants or cigarette pants that are made for tall women actually look amazing and are on trend right now--it's the shorter inseam trousers that hit at the exactly wrong place on the leg and appear more like capris that you want to avoid.
posted by stellaluna at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Bluedaisy's suggestion of Corporette was good; here's a recent blog post about other ideas for tall women's suits.
NB I am the same height and inseam as your wife and in my experience 'ankle' pants or cigarette pants that are made for tall women actually look amazing and are on trend right now--it's the shorter inseam trousers that hit at the exactly wrong place on the leg and appear more like capris that you want to avoid.
posted by stellaluna at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ann Taylor and Banana Republic have been my most reliable sources of tall professional clothes. Gap also pretty reliably does talls, she could always buy pants one place and a jacket somewhere else.
I also dislike ankle-length pants and hope that trend goes away soon.
posted by arachnidette at 3:43 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
I also dislike ankle-length pants and hope that trend goes away soon.
posted by arachnidette at 3:43 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm 5'10" and my last few suits have been from Banana Republic, although I've pretty much stopped wearing suits at all. Their lightweight wool suiting is pretty good quality. They usually have a few tall options in the stores if you don't have time for online.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:07 PM on December 5, 2019
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:07 PM on December 5, 2019
Best answer: When I wore dress pants (as a short) I really liked Express. Some of their tall pants seem to have a 35" inseam. Here's the suits page, but you purchase items separately. They don't have short/tall in stores at least back when I shopped.
posted by Crystalinne at 4:48 PM on December 5, 2019
posted by Crystalinne at 4:48 PM on December 5, 2019
J. Crew's suiting is generally quite good, though I admit I'm not a huge fan of the four-season stretch fabric, which seems to be what they're pushing right now. Nonetheless, here are some trousers with a 35" inseam, and a matching jacket.
posted by dizziest at 7:50 PM on December 5, 2019
posted by dizziest at 7:50 PM on December 5, 2019
Seconding Long Tall Sally. They always do well with officewear, I have been shopping there for years!
I'm surprised that 34" is considered a tall inseam. In my experience that's the high-end cutoff of what's carried in regular shops. It's the 36-38" range that requires specialty retail.
But yeah, the current cropped trouser trend is hellish for tall women with cankles (me).
posted by cranberrymonger at 9:05 PM on December 5, 2019
I'm surprised that 34" is considered a tall inseam. In my experience that's the high-end cutoff of what's carried in regular shops. It's the 36-38" range that requires specialty retail.
But yeah, the current cropped trouser trend is hellish for tall women with cankles (me).
posted by cranberrymonger at 9:05 PM on December 5, 2019
Best answer: How fancy of a suit? Long Tall Sally has the best cut you'll get in the US for suits for a tall woman. Most places just made them a touch longer, LTs makes stuff bigger and gets the waist and arm hole size and all that stuff right. Size down one size or order a couple sizes because the fit is going to be a bit different. The price to quality ratio is a bit heavy on the price side, imho but some of their stuff is great. Just read the descriptions and reviews, some of their suiting is cheap nylon crap too.
J Crew is OK, although it assumes all tall women are hipless, boobless models with no shoulders, even in the larger sizes. Size UP with J Crew, maybe two sizes even. Express Tall is pretty useless in my experience, it's just longer inseams and arms, nothing else is moved. ASOS can be OK but the quality is low so if it's a corporate or higher paying job it'll look bad in the interview. Banana Republic pants fit me well but the jackets only fit flat chested women ime. Nordstroms in a big city usually has some stuff in stock they can get you into in a pinch. I can wear non tall jackets in quite a few brands like Ralph Lauren and they'll fit them asap.
At a 34" inseam you're going to have to get ANY tall trousers tailored, they usually start at 36". Ankle pants may be her only option if tailoring is out. Ankle pants actually work great on me and I'm tall - you do usually need to wear at least low heels to make them look right but they definitely are super popular with tall women at the moment because the exact length of the pant doesn't matter as much.
posted by fshgrl at 9:19 PM on December 5, 2019
J Crew is OK, although it assumes all tall women are hipless, boobless models with no shoulders, even in the larger sizes. Size UP with J Crew, maybe two sizes even. Express Tall is pretty useless in my experience, it's just longer inseams and arms, nothing else is moved. ASOS can be OK but the quality is low so if it's a corporate or higher paying job it'll look bad in the interview. Banana Republic pants fit me well but the jackets only fit flat chested women ime. Nordstroms in a big city usually has some stuff in stock they can get you into in a pinch. I can wear non tall jackets in quite a few brands like Ralph Lauren and they'll fit them asap.
At a 34" inseam you're going to have to get ANY tall trousers tailored, they usually start at 36". Ankle pants may be her only option if tailoring is out. Ankle pants actually work great on me and I'm tall - you do usually need to wear at least low heels to make them look right but they definitely are super popular with tall women at the moment because the exact length of the pant doesn't matter as much.
posted by fshgrl at 9:19 PM on December 5, 2019
And I forgot New York and Company. Their stuff is sized really well too! Lower price/ lower quality.
posted by fshgrl at 9:48 PM on December 5, 2019
posted by fshgrl at 9:48 PM on December 5, 2019
nthing Long Tall Sally. They do have inseams starting at 34 inches, so tailoring won't be necessary. My experience with their shipping is that it's fairly slow, so plan accordingly if you need things by a certain date. I just got an email from them this morning with a 10% off code of XM11.
Banana Republic's talls are 34 inches if I remember correctly, and might be in stores if she wants to try on before she buys.
posted by little king trashmouth at 6:35 AM on December 6, 2019
Banana Republic's talls are 34 inches if I remember correctly, and might be in stores if she wants to try on before she buys.
posted by little king trashmouth at 6:35 AM on December 6, 2019
BR's Tall in boot cut/ trouser cut are almost 37" I have to get them hemmed an inch to wear with flats. Their regular trouser cut pants are 34"
posted by fshgrl at 9:14 AM on December 6, 2019
posted by fshgrl at 9:14 AM on December 6, 2019
Response by poster: Thanks, all! She ended up buying a pair from LTS and another from Amazon, but Express looks like a good option for the future. I work in retail, and my store doesn’t even carry most men’s pants in a 34-in inseam, so it seems long to me but clearly not!
posted by coppermoss at 8:47 AM on December 19, 2019
posted by coppermoss at 8:47 AM on December 19, 2019
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There was really only one Ann Taylor option?
My other suggestion, if you can't find a matched suit, is that she get a good pair of black dress pants, wear a solid black top, and then a different color blazer (could be muted, like dark gray, or a color like blue or red). Or would she consider dark navy?
The best luck I've had in-person has been at Macy's surprisingly. (I find it really helpful to try on suits, especially if there's no time for alterations.)
Also check out the blog Corporette.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:59 PM on December 5, 2019 [2 favorites]