Better Comments

We have a new commenting system DISQUS, which will be a great improvement to the previous. We can now reply directly to comments and have easy conversations amongst one another, without having to say "this is to the seventh anonymous commenter" and so on. You can still keep your privacy as before. Enjoy.

When Did You Know?

When did you come to the realization your proportions were different? Was it a slow development, or a distinct moment when you knew?


When I was about eleven, my legs were somewhat bowed, and since I was skinny, it was even more noticeable. A friend of mine at the time practiced ballet, and I remember how we did a leg test, you were supposed to be able to hold a paper envelope between your knees. With my feet and heels touching, and legs relaxed, there were a number of inches of air between my knees, whereas her straight legs held the paper with ease. I was not eligible for ballet!

Around that same time some, a guy once exclaimed with disgust at my crooked, knocking-knees legs, and thus I mostly wore jeans and trousers from then on, this was my first "legs" insecurity, and I had inward facing knees as well..

When I became a teen I was quite interested in fashion, and remembered reading about Elle Macpherson 44 inch legs, and I also believed I had lengthy legs since I was very tall. There I was lying on the carpet in front of our huge floor length mirror measuring my legs, and I measured them about the same 40 ish inch length. Looking back, I know I had wrongly measured with my feet and toes pointing long and forward (adding 3 or 4 inches), and not from the heel. And so for a number of years I had unknowingly deluded myself at having supreme long legs, however they were still slightly bowed, not as much as before, but I was still slightly unsure of them.

When I reached my late teens I had a very loving and wonderful boyfriend, who happened to adore my legs, he loved that they were crooked, and exclaimed at how boring straight legs were. These were the happiest times for my legs. They were toned, and I liked the length, and shape, and everything about them. (Most tops were shortish on me but I cleared it as just being tall.)

When my teenage years ended, I began to discover that my legs were not long, but slightly short for my height. There was no distinct moment, but a collection of happenings that brought it all about. I don't recall the the chronological order but here goes:

• My beloved brother, not being particularly beloved hinting at my having short legs.
• My hubby, telling me my proportions were slightly different.
• My having a baby, and the OBGYN, telling me I had a "nice long torso" with lots of room for the baby, and that being the reason why my belly never got very big. And how she (the doctor), with her petite frame and small torso had had a massive belly with her baby.
• Being told by a chiropractor I had a long torso, and a flat back. Double bad, and the reason behind my flat ass.
• Being measured by a pattern maker who calculated I had arms and torso longer then normal (I think she said by an inch or so) which explained how most sleeves were too short on me as well.
• Seeing my cousin for the first time in many years, and being shocked at how long her torso was, and coming to the conclusion that this was perhaps genetic. However my mother has long legs, so it all came from my fathers side.

Once I came to the realization I had these particular proportions, I was depressed and became obsessive at trying to hide them. I would stare at my self in the mirror with disgust. When it came to clothes all I cared about was whether I looked long torsoed or not, I did not care for pattern or color, or style. It was at this time I began this blog, because had I ravaged the internet trying to find info about this issue, and found so little that I decided to create my own. And the blog has attracted many more readers then I ever expected, and has been a healing process for me, I am no longer unhappy about my proportions, and I discovered they are not as extreem as I believed.


Would love to hear your stories.

Loony Comments

We get quite a lot of comments on here, and I do read them all with great enjoyment, and I have picked out some of the more unique ones. These are insightful and amusing and some slightly wacky. Is that really the reason Asians have longer torsos? Do our limbs stop growing at the onset of menstruation?


“Bloody hell, I'm looking at this pic of all these top models and thinking I see proportionally leggier girls every day at the train station lol.”

 “Anytime you lose weight, it makes the torso look less big and the legs look longer. You can really see it in extreme cases. For example, the morbidly obese always look like they have very short stubby legs. When they lose weight, it seems like their arms and legs grow longer.”

“Sometimes, I think it's what us, women, prefer or like in ourselves. Like long painted nails, eyebrow shapes/plucking, huge hooped earrings. All very intense intra-gender competition.”

“A guy friend once remarked to me that a short waisted girl often looked under developed to him kind of pre-pubescent girl. And it's true, while the limbs grow prior to puberty, it's during puberty that the torso grows and becomes more womanly.”

“When we grow, our long limbs grow first (our legs and arms) and then our spine last. Actually in women, usually after our first period, the only part of our body that grows vertically is our spine. This is why pre-teens are often quite leggy and gangly looking.”

“The angle of women's legs from the hips can actually make women's legs look longer than they are from the front.”

“Asians usually have a long torso due to their vegetarian style since ancient times. They have long intestines to digest vegetables which makes their torso long.”

“About longer intestines, I've read an article about it on an Asian website, regarding the difference between Agricultural Tribe (East-Asians) and Hunting Tribe (Europeans). It is same as animals, such as Goat and Lion. Goats have long intestines to digest leaves.”

“The Hunting Tribe had to have shorter intestines because meat (food) rots inside the intestines, and would cause them to be sick if they had long intestines. But the Hunting Tribe is muscular which works for athletics/bodybuilding.”


“Do you think the lack of the waistline is because of the shortness of the torso, or because a lack hips and curves?”

Irina Shayk

By Kacy
Hello Readers,
I’ve thought that Irina Shayk has had the long torso/ short leg proportion for awhile now, but I thought I was alone until I saw someone in the comments say the same thing. So I now have the confidence to try write a post on her.
 
You might recognize her from the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition this year, after appearing in it for the past FIVE years. Because of her long torso, she has the small waist that goes with it, and the automatically sexy body that goes with that. Like Lady Short Legs said before, we have what seems to be the preferred swimsuit model body type. :)
 
Oh and she’s dating Cristiano Ronaldo. Some think he’s greasy, I personally think he is a pretty darn handsome athlete. Either way, he has his pick of the ladies from all over the world, and he picks the long torso/ short legged Irina!

Note by LSL: Irina has a great body without a doubt, however her legs are average and her torso longish, especially the waist/pelvis area. You can see how the space form her belly button to her crotch is lengthy, and she also has a sort of low seated butt, as in not a high prominent one that begins at her tail bone, but a lower and flatter one starting from below her tail bone. I think this may be a common feature with us girls, well at least mine is that way. As I have said before, working on our Gluteus(buttock) muscles really can do a great deal to even out our proportions, or at least we can arch our back more (as models do) for an "S" curve appearance.

Contributers Welcome

As you surely have noticed I have not been writing very regularly or frequently as of late. I do adore this blog, however life has been keeping me busy. Therefore I am making it official to you all that you can contribute to Lady Short Legs by submitting articles to me.
All that is required is some text and photos which are relevant to the subject of the blog, and if you like I can then link to your site/blog etc... An good example of a submitted "article" is the one below, on Princess Kate.
Topics do not necessarily have to be on celebrities, they can be about scientific/medical findings, polls, advice, theories and so on.
This is for free of course.

Submissions are to be emailed to my regular contact info: LadyShortLegs@gmail.com

Catherine Middleton

An observant reader wrote in letting us know of Kate Middleton's proportions:

After the engagement was announced I found myself looking through some candid's of her and noticed that her proportions are not as "leggy" or "willowy" as reported in the press. 

Because she is so tall (5' 8" - 5' 10''), the appearance of length in her legs is naturally assumed, however in most pictures she only looks proportional when wearing high heels, and when in flats she does not look very tall...  I don't think her disproportion is as extreme as Jessica Simpson or Rachel Bilson or Katie Holmes, but she does have a very long torso compared to her legs.  She also seems to be aware of it and hides it very well in loose wrap dresses with high waist ties, she seldom goes out in flats and most of her tops are fitted quite high on her waist.

She is one to watch, because she really does mask her proportions well.  

Oh I love it, our own lady short legs royalty!

office chair issue

A reader writes in with a question:

"Everyone always envy's my body for the tiny waist and womanly curves, but its because I hide my short legs with long boot leg pants and high heels."

However she continues: "My biggest issue is that I have a desk job in which I sit at a computer for 8-10 hours a day.  My head towers over my coworkers if I sit up straight because of my long back. That causes me to slouch down and now I have neck and back issues. I tried to lower my seat all the way down but it doesn't go down far enough. I was wondering what other people that are built like me do when they have desk jobs?"

Having your office chair lowered all the way down is certainly your best step, however slouching is not good for your health, as you said, and sitting up straight is always elegant regardless of how long your back is. If it really bothers you, you could look into office chairs that can go down even lower then your present one, however I am sure your co-workers don't take notice these things, and besides siting up high is nice, sort of regal like.  

What are your thoughts?

Update: A kneeling chair is one of the better options for our body type, as it keeps the spine in proper alignment, and helps you to sit up straight. A good source for such chairs is: ErgoDepot.

poll - least flattering clothing

Here is a poll, we all adore polls. The question is, what type of clothing do you consider to be least flattering for our body type, of long torso with short legs. What makes us look the worst?
You can select more then one answer.

Cheryl Cole and Celeb Insecurities

Update: We have a new photo as suggested by one reader, which better showcases Cheryl's proportions.
I came across a slide-show on British Glamour magazine, about celebrities and their insecurities, with quotes and photos. Some of them are relevant to our blog, including Shakira, Cheryl Cole, Mischa Barton, and Scarlette Johansson who talk of their short legs. Check it out here.

The photo above is of Cheryl Cole, she has a slight disproportion, not as strong as she sees it, I am sure. She wears very high heels constantly and it's difficult to find images where we can see her legs as they really are, but this one of her in flip-flops is good.
Cheryl was voted the sexiest woman in the world, and a few other titles including most photogenic.

She says "'I’ve got a new fondness for high-waisted jeans because they make my legs look longer.'

There is also a nice quote by Cheryl saying:
"If somebody sees a bit of cellulite on my legs that's been circled in a magazine and it makes them feel comfortable then I'm happy that I've made that one person at home go 'Cheryl's got cellulite, it's fine'. I do it myself. I flick through magazines and see Kate Moss has got cellulite and it makes me feel happier about myself. You can't help it."
We certainly do it here as well.

Christine Martin

Christine Martin is a English beauty queen, and former Miss Liverpool. I believe she has become a lingerie model as well. She has a toned and slim body, and the suitable long torso for posing in magazine in near undress. This is something we have noticed to be with these types of models, long legs are rare, and all the focus is on the feminine and beautiful torso. Something to be proud off.

Brave Reader 3

Here is our third photo submitter, she writes: "I'm looking for some advice regarding how I can dress to disguise my odd proportions. I have always had a long, fairly-thin torso and shortish muscular legs...but add a round bum, skinny ankles, and long feet to the mix and it just gets a whole lot weirder."

I do understand the way you describe your body, however it is not as "odd" as you believe it to be. Your legs are shortish and muscular as you say, however you have great ankles, slim ones are always good, (imagine if they were the opposite). Live Tyler was quoted saying this a few years ago "I’ll always have a more round stomach, but thank God I have thin ankles.” Liv does not have a long torso, and that is why she has a fuller stomach area. She means that not being skinny is saved by thin ankles which give a elegant slim look.

Your body is most similar to Kelly Osbourne's, now that she has slimmed down. I don't know if you are of similar height, you appear taller, but Kelly too has short muscular legs with quite pronounced calves, and tiny ankles, and a long torso.

Your calves in comparison are much slimmer then hers, and your ankle to knee length is good, and appears longer then the knee to hips length, which is desired.

Regarding your outfits, the top two are good; the bikini is adorable, and quite on track with our bathing suit advice, very flattering. The blueish dress has a wonderful high waist, fitted top half, and flowy from the waist down with a good length, and matched with the black tights and shoes, it's ideal.

The outfits with the black short shorts, would be better if the shirts were shorter, thus raising your visual waistline.

I general, I think you can follow all the clothing advice on this blog, your proportions are not odd.

Sorry Dear Readers

Yes my dearest readers, I have been a terrible blogger, and have not posted in more then a month. During this time I went on two ski holidays, which was wonderful, then got captured by that plants vs zombies game for two weeks or so, not wonderful, I am not a gamer at all, but it was kind of fun, and certainly too addictive.
I feel terrible, and am so grateful for your loyal following, and will do my best to not leave you hanging for this long again, or at least give you a warning in advance.
So, so sorry once again.