One for those Tall girls....

I was in a dance school when I was younger and in the videos I'm the kid in the back, who's a least a whole head height taller than everybody else. There's one number in particular when we're all five/six and dressed up in blue and red toy soldier outfits, tap-dancing to Following The Leader from Peter Pan. I'm at least a foot taller than every other little girl in the class.

Needless to say, I've always been the tall girl. Ive always been 'the tall friend' and that's okay. Sometimes it's very easy to feel like you're in the way when you're as tall as I am, because it feels like you're so large that you're Alice when she's ten feet tall. Honestly though, It's never really bothered me that much, but I can completely understand how some taller people do feel uncomfortable with it. Being tall forces you to be slightly more extrovert than you might want to be; there's no shying away when you're towering over everyone you meet and constantly being met with "Wow, you're all aren't you!" - like, thanks. That is brand new information. "You should be a dancer, you're so tall!" "You're like...model tall." And the old favourite that gets dragged out at every family event "Wow, you don't get any shorter do you! How tall are you now?"

Here I'm wearing flats and my three girls are wearing heels.

There are a million upsides to being tall, don't get me wrong. I can reach for things that others can't, I can put on more weight than shorter people can without it looking overtly obvious, I don't have to wear heels if I don't want to. Old ladies can ask me to reach their bran flakes from the top shelf and I can and it makes me feel good. You can always see at concerts, or movies... No one is ever going to borrow your shoes and forget to give them back, because they'll look like clown shoes on anyone else but you. You can get on that Indiana Jones loop-de-loop rollercoaster at Disney Land before any of your friends can... 

 

My first year of University...

 

Of course, there are also a million downsides; I know a few tall girls who have really bad posture because during their school lives they slouched to be more similar to their friends in height, sometimes people don't understand why you're willingly paying the extra £10 for extra leg room on a long haul flight (these are the same people who understand why you like aisle seats at the movies), there is so much more surface area to think about when it comes to shaving/waxing your legs - same goes with fake tanning. But my main bug-bear as we transition (slowly after all, I live in the UK) from Winter into Summer is buying (and wearing) clothes. 

 

Graduation Ball 2014 with two of my favourite girls.

 

Today, I went into three fairly big highstreet stores only to be told that they do not stock any jeans longer than a 34 leg, and when they do order their 34's in, they only order one or two pairs in because there simply isn't the demand. I felt like shouting, I'm here! I'm demanding! Ideally, I'd love a 38 leg, but a 36 could do the job nicely too. If my jeans are slightly too short in the winter, it's fine, because I'll just wear thick socks and tuck my jeans in. In the summer, I'm not really feeling thick socks and boots - I want my jeans to be long enough and I want to wear dollies, or plims, or Toms, or (heaven forbid) sandals.
Not just jeans either - Maxi dresses are not Maxi dresses. The Maxi Dresses that are designed are built for women between 5'5 and 5'9. When you're as tall as I am, those extra few inches count. Jumpsuits - same deal. I've got the longest torso of anyone I have ever known, so a jumpsuit/playsuit that fits you will definitely not fit me. Skirts, shorts, playsuits all become inappropriately short. I have not chosen super-short hoochie shorts to wear, I just have more leg than the average chick. This is not my fault.

Graduation Ball 2014

New Look used to stock a Tall range in their larger stores, but now they don't even do that; you have to order online, which I'm sure is great for some people but I don't have the time, money or patience for that. I want to go into a store on a Saturday, pick up a pair of jeans, try them on and then buy them. Whilst many girls don't have to try things on, I do because I'm tall and constantly between sizes (again not my fault) so any kind of buying online service is immediately redundant. 90% of the time, the first pair of jeans I pick up instore wont fit and I don't want the hassle of having to order ill-fitting jeans online and then go through the hassle of sending them back. I shouldn't have to. I should be able to shop for clothes with ease just like anybody else.

River Island simply just don't make jeans for tall people. 

 

Student Awards 2013

 

Topshop has a Tall range and I'm sure Levi's do long jeans too, and of course there's Long Tall Sally, but then we're venturing into a totally different budget zone. I don't have hundreds of pounds on jeans. I want to spend £20 on a pair of great fitting, long jeans but can I? Hell no.
Men, on the other hand, are expected to be tall so they can buy their jeans from wherever the hell they want to. CK Men's Jeans are awesome, ASOS are great for Men's jeans as are Levi's and I'm sure Primark and New Look's men's ranges are great too. 

 

Vegas in April 2013

I wish this was being sponsored and I could come up with a resolution for this problem I'm having, but it isn't and I don't have a solution. So, welp. I will continue searching for tall-clothes for tall-people. And I will continually ask myself "Is this dress too short for me?" when on other people it might fall below the knee. I know this is obviously such a first world problem, but needs must and all. 

 

Summer Ball 2012 - First Year at University

 

Hair Modelling at L'Oreal ID Artist Auditions, for Caroline Schmitt.

Thursday 19^th June, 2014.
It’s six o’clock in the morning and my alarm is going off. I only fell asleep five hours ago. What is going on?

This morning, Caroline Schmitt is coming to pick me up at 6:50 for two and a half hours of hair plus half an hour of make up before a two hour drive to Bristol for her L’Oreal ID Artists Audition. It’s her audition, you say. What’s that got to do with me? I’m the Hair Model. 

‘The ID ARTIST program is now in its 10th year and is one of the most sought after development and educational opportunities for passionate, inspired hairdressers with an eye for fashion and unique creative expression. ID ARTISTS are coached by some of the industry’s biggest names on how to create the latest catwalk looks, cut and colour techniques, product innovation and the latest L’Oréal Professionnel seasonal trends.’

L’Oreal has created the best talent development program in the hairdressing world, aiming to find nurture and develop hairdressing talent through a unique mix of industry lead education sessions combined with unique hairdressing opportunities.

Having had my long brown/blonde hair dyed a copper/red brown the day before, I had been instructed not to wash it – Caroline had loaded my hair with a ‘very strong mousse’ so that when it came to styling it the next day, everything would just be a little more mouldable. Mouldable? Yes. That’s what I mean, I’m just not sure if it’s a word. 

Anyways – After arriving at the Guillaume Vappereau Salon in Otterbourne, Winchester, Caroline set about readying my hair. I won’t pretend to know, or even understand, how she created what she did especially the masterpiece that was hidden at the back; all I know is that it certainly took a while. Four bun-rings sewn together, plus two full sets of hair extensions went into the look, and my-oh-my did it weigh a lot. We’d dyed my hair to match the extensions, so it all looked natural and some of my friends who have seen the photos actually believed it all was actually my hair. I’m not sure where they think I keep the extra locks? You couldn’t hide THAT much hair in a top knot! It was all pinned in with bobby-pins/Kirby grips and multiple cans of hairspray. 

 Getting to the Radisson Blu in Bristol, where the auditions for the L’Oreal ID Artist Programme were being held, was a little hair-raising (see what I did there?) Caroline is a multi-talented hairdresser, award winning actually – French Champion, European Champion and Bronze Medalist in the World Championships, but driving is not her strongest suit. In her French car, driving at least 30KM over the speed limit at all times, we made the two/two and a half hour journey in a mere hour and fifteen minutes. She literally cut our journey in half with her ‘french’ driving.

As if the speeding wasn’t enough, I had to make the journey with a couple of extra pounds attached to my head which wobbled every speed bump and every corner we swerved. 

Here are some pictures from the day; I hope they can do most of the talking, mainly because my head still hurts from where the structure was attached. I think the look was worth it in the end, but boy was I glad to get rid of it at the end!

 

The dress, Caroline made herself, based on this year’s catwalk and looks she liked from Vogue, she styled a Primark dress into the white creation that has received so many compliments. The Black Swan-esque make up was inspired by Alexander McQueen’s catwalk and was applied by a lovely girl who had to deal with me earlier on in the day – me in my morning state, before we left Winchester. 

Overall, I had a really good experience. With various language barriers and strange eyebrow wear, the day was full of nervous laughter and congratulations for Caroline when she was accepted into the programme. The judges said they ‘were happy to end their search for ID Artists with Caroline’ – high praise indeed, but of course she deserves it. 

Congratulations again Caroline, I hope I did you proud.