This article from the Wall Street Journal describes the issues short men face with fitting suits to their proportions, as well as highlights a boutique in Beverly Hills that caters to men 5’8″ and shorter. I know how you feel boys!
The Power of Proportions for Shorter Men
How One 5-foot-2 Designer Helps Clients-Slighted by Fashion-Get Clothes That FitOne out of three men in the United States is under 5 feet 8 inches tall. You’d never guess the magnitude of the demographic from menswear.
“They have stores for big and tall men, so why not for shorter men?” asks Josh Lefkowitz, who describes his height as “five-foot-three and a half.” A New York public-relations executive, Mr. Lefkowitz likes to buy a jacket in size 36 short and take it to a tailor. To make a size seven shoe fit, he buys inserts to fill out the extra space.
Yet when standard-size clothes are altered for a man like Mr. Lefkowitz, the final proportions can come out all wrong. Simply shortening a suit’s hems and sleeves can leave the collar too broad, the pockets oversized, the armholes gargantuan, the elbow curves too low and the rear droopy.
