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Tall Mini Skirts: Always a Funny Word Combo

I think we all can agree that Winter has made its appearance. As I type this, I’m in Raleigh North Carolina, where I accompanied my husband on a work trip – thinking I’d be escaping the bitter cold we’re experiencing in Wisconsin. I also packed a few outfits thinking it would be preferable conditions shooting looks down here. Unfortunately, Mother Nature the cold has reached pervasively across the U.S. and down into the south as well. Luckily I packed my winter coat. Plus, if we’re being honest it’s still warmer than back home so worth taking pictures down here. 

Speaking of taking pictures, we’re super excited looking ahead on our calendar! We have got some super fun collaborations with some amazing tall companies that we can’t wait to share with you. Some of them are new to us, which excites us even more on being able to confidently recommend items to you. Plus we enjoy giving you additional places to shop because we know we love having variety in where we browse. So I’ll stop teasing you about it now and get to today’s outfit!

It’s been a while since we hit you with a full ASOS look. It feels like maybe back in the summer, but probably not that long! I found this leather-look skirt and it was one of those items you feel like you can’t really justify due to how your life runs. Meaning we both work in a business casual/professional setting 5 out of the 7 days a week; therefore the time left aside to rock a mini skirt is few and far between. As we attempt to stick with what we preach in regards to having a closet that serves us well, it just doesn’t compute to be throwing all our money at night out looks.

However, when this went on sale all bets were off. We’re both typically very hesitant when buying mini skirts. As we have athletic thighs, we’re typically dealing with the debate between sizing up to avoid the close hug/dig into the thigh look. Where you take a step and your skirt rises 3 inches that you don’t have to give. But with sizing up, you start to deal with the waist gap. It might fit our butts, but then leave space up at the waist. In looking for the ideal skirt, we’ve realized our favorite fit is the A-line. You can buy the size your waist actually needs and as with how the capital “A” the fabric will cut away from your body. If you’re smallest at the waist this will highlight the waist and draw attention away from your thighs. Just what we like!

This specific skirt we wouldn’t call an A-line, but it does still fit both the thighs and the waist! Plus, it being a tall mini skirt, it doesn’t show too much. It’s probably a mindset shift for both of us as we age, but I don’t really want to question if I can bend over in a skirt anymore at the risk of flashing someone. This skirt hits mid thigh but definitely still packs the punch of a tasteful miniskirt. Plus the coated faux leather look dresses it up. We’ll drop a picture at the bottom of me wearing it as well so you can see the difference in where it hits on 6’4 vs. 5’11. 

One thing we love and think ASOS does really well, are their feminine blouses. There are still never enough in our opinion especially compared to mainline options, but we’re happy to snap up the ones they do have. Give us lace and we’re pretty much satisfied. You find a well-fitting lace blouse and you have a timeless statement piece you can wear endlessly. We see the high fashion versions worn with just a bra underneath. While we admire the fearless look, in our day-to-day lives it isn’t appropriate. So we style our all lace tops with a cami underneath. If you need any tall camis for layering we’ll link some options below. If it’s truly freezing we wouldn’t think twice about adding some tights for warmth to this look. Plus, finish it off with some booties and you’re ready to take on a winter’s night out.

Let us know below your feelings on rocking mini skirts. Do you love it? Have you given up on them? What do you like to wear when you have a night out?

Outfit Details

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Large Sized Winter Boots for Women

“Larger size winter boots for women. Big boots for women. Okay, be honest. How many times have you had to search for some variation of that in Google? Or something similar: Large size flats, large size rain boots, large size whatever you’re looking for? My guess is usually you come up with a very short list of results or have to defer to men’s shoes/boots in certain instances. 

So in an effort not to waste too much of your time, all of these boots are only available up to size 12. So if you are beyond that sadly I would defer you to some mens options. The good news is that a lot of men sorels could be equally as cute and just as wonderful in quality. For each section, I am going to include the men’s alternative if I can! 

My collection of Sorels has grown quite a bit this year due to some unforeseen sales, ha! I hate when that happens…said no me ever. They all play a different role in my Wisconsin lifestyle though. 

Women’s Out ‘N About 

These are by far my most worn boot. They are the perfect boot for romping around through the muck, mud, and heavy rainfalls. They aren’t going to be the warmest option but my feet still tend to stay nice and toasty. I throw these on every morning for my work commute in an effort to save my work shoes from getting destroyed by the salt on my car mat and on the roads. They are easy to slip in and out of for errands, running out to your car, walking the dog and pretty much anything else. And the added perk is that they are adorable! My mens alternative for this one isn’t from Sorel but they are a men’s shoe from another reputable company and they offer narrow widths which are probably a big win for women! You can shop them here: Duck Boots

Women’s Sorel Explorer Joan Boot

These are also great for heavy rain or light snow. I wore them on a carriage ride in Northern Wisconsin and it rained on us the entire time and these barely showed a few drops of water by the time we were finished. My feet were toasty and I think they are my cutest option to complete an adorable outdoorsy look. The mens alternative would be the Madson Caribou Boot.

Emelie Chelse

these are going to be your go-to for heavy rain. These are going to be your most fashion-forward and mellow if you ask me. They just look like any other leather boot that you could pair with jeans and a sweater. If you’re into a more subdued look these would be your best bet. These ones don’t have much insulation so pack some heavy socks and maybe if you’re in a slightly warmer climate they will be perfect for you! The Men’s alternative would be the Madson Chelsea Boot. 

Joan of Arctic Boot

I also have the Joan of Arctic Boot as my true winter boot. I have had these since college and they are the boots I wear to shovel the driveway, build a snowman, go into work when we are in a polar vortex, you get the picture. When the going gets cold, the cold get Joan of Arctic. The fur trim on mine has held up really well for years and they always keep my feet warm. These are awesome because you can actually change the felt liner on all of the boots if it does ever get too worn. The Men’s alternative would be the Men’s Caribou Boot or the 1964 CVS Boot.

I want to bring it full circle in saying I am not happy to be providing most of you with men’s options because it’s not fair. And it’s a bandaid on a real problem that one day we will have real fixes for. But for now, hopefully, your feet can stay toasty and comfortable in any of the options above. All boots are linked above!

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Tall Tunics From Elevated Closet

Have you heard the news? Elevated Closet has been bought by Jordan Adams Smith! If you haven’t heard of Elevated Closet, you’re missing out on a great shop for tall tunics. Smith is a former WNBA player for the Minnesota Lynx and was drafted in 2003. For her collegiate career, she played in New Mexico for the Lobos and put up ridiculous stat lines all four years. I just had to throw in that admiration for her basketball career, as a former player myself. Now that her time playing is over, she’s turning her interests to her family and to helping tall women shop successfully!

Standing at 6’3 she definitely understands the struggle to find well-fitting clothing. I look at all the WNBA game day looks now and think how much more of a struggle it would have been in 2003. A lot more of settling (in our case at least) to make do with what was available. Now at least, more sports brands are taking on female athletes as partners and providing them with well-fitting clothing! Still, a struggle to find tall items at sports brands like Nike and Adidas, but we’re taking our battles one day at a time.

Jordan decided to control what she could and took over Elevated Closet. We talked about Elevated Closet first last Winter, here. They are known for their great jersey basics. We tested out their tie front top with ruffle sleeves and loved it. It is super easy to style many ways as evidenced by our post. Now we’re back today to show the Tall Ribbed Ruffle Tunic and the Tall Front Seam Tee. 

We’ve got a fair amount of questions on where to shop for tunic length shirts aside from buying a regular length dress and wearing it as a tunic… haha. Worry no more, because Elevated Closet has a great variety of options PLUS they are all priced under $30! There is nothing that excites us more than having a tall retailer be priced the same as mainline options. 

Elevated Closet also used to be branded solely as tall maternity wear. Any of their long tunic shirts can still easily make the transition from maternity wear to everyday wear. They also have some tops that are branded specifically just maternity, but again we feel like you could make the case for wearing pregnant or not! Also – we haven’t experienced the need for them yet but they even have maternity jeans available and are on sale! I can imagine finding jeans that fit and have enough length is nearly impossible.

If you’re getting a feel for what Caitlin and I value in our closets, it’s having pieces that can be worn extensively and these shirts definitely fit the bill! Another key component of them is the sleeve length. There is nothing worse than having a short sleeve top cut you off at an unflattering spot. Clothes should make you feel good, not uncomfortable. These shirts also have a long cut so you don’t have to worry about your arms. 

They are also a lightweight jersey fabric, as mentioned above – so they’re super easy to layer. Did we mention that Elevated Closet also has a great grey cardigan that would be perfect to throw on over any of these shirts? Plus it is still under $40!! AND they have a couple of great dresses as well, all under $50!

We can’t wait to see what else Jordan comes up with for Elevated Closet’s future! But snap up any of these pieces in the meantime. We’re super excited to share that we have a 30% off coupon for y’all to use on these already amazing prices. After trying out several of their pieces they have been true to size. We both wear a size medium in all of the tops. 

Use THEREALTALL at checkout for 30% off your order! Let us know what you get! Click Here to Shop at Elevated Closet.

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The Best Tall Workout Leggings

We’re back y’all. I think we’re all in agreement that the last two weeks of holidays were no man’s land as far as remembering which day it was or being our most productive selves. The brief hiatus from posting on the blog has been refreshing, to say the least. We’re glad to be back to share with you the best workout leggings from Tall Long and Curvy and hope you noticed the absence as well, as it means you care! Today we’re sharing more of an opinion post if you have to define it. To be clear, all of our posts are just that: our opinions. It’s our page and based on our personal experiences so it would be difficult to be anything other than ourselves when sharing with you. That’s also the basis of our name – the “real” tall. We’re not here to sugarcoat things for you either. 

Today that means being passionate about certain topics. Over the last couple of weeks, we were each gifted a pair of workout leggings from Tall Long and Curvy. we’d been anxiously anticipating. We’d wondered if they were too good to be true based on the price point alone, but were happy to test them out. Once we received them and tried them on, we were smitten. Actually, Caitlin received the package and put them on first. She immediately sent me a text saying that I was going to die over the leggings. At that, I was thinking – hand them over ASAP! So once I got my pair and put them on, I was elated at the fit, the length, the details, all of it. From there we were plotting to buy many, many more pairs, as long as Tall Long and Curvy was in business. They are so good that our mom even ordered two pairs upon us receiving ours.

A few days later, I saw that Chelsea, the owner of Tall Long and Curvy had shared a post on the Facebook group for buy/sell/trade tall women’s clothing. To sum it up, it was letting women know that a new retailer was available to buy workout leggings. Apparently, that was frowned upon, because the next day as I was scrolling Facebook, I saw an additional post apologizing for the previous post. It took me a second to understand what was going on, but as it dawned on me I grew more and more irate. It’s considered bad form or inappropriate to share your company within the group. This is perplexing to me, considering most women browsing within the group confines are already desperate for answers on where to find x, y, z items. 

As I thought about it more, I reflected on how long I had been a member of that group and not once self-promoted our blog. That’s despite the fact that most of the questions people are asking have been covered repeatedly within this URL. I didn’t want to appear pushy or all about us when the point of the whole blog is to assist tall women! How ironic indeed. Which led me back to how closely this paralleled Chelsea’s experience. She created a company of ridiculously amazing fairly priced leggings for the sole purpose of helping tall women not have to pay a premium (which is a constant thorn in our sides) for well-fitting garments. Instead of getting thanks, it was more like “take this down.” 

Ladies, we’ve been crying out for leggings this good and fairly priced to make their way to the market. I’ve worn them to work out several times and I cannot emphasize how good they felt, no matter how I was moving. They have the high-waist, which is a requirement for Caitlin and me at this point. There are two pockets, for anyone in need of keeping their phone or a key or whatever you need on your person. They are long enough, and the hip to waist ratio is spot on. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we all need to share our good finds by shouting as long and as loud as we can until all of our fellow tall sisters can easily find clothing.

We’re constantly surprised by someone telling us they haven’t heard about a company that carries tall clothing. It tells us that the job is nowhere near done, on our part. All we can do is keep answering any of your questions until you feel equipped to shop successfully! That’s what brings us joy and that’s why seeing this exchange brought our spirits down in a major way. We’ll never be exclusive to any one tall company because all of them deserve to be shared. Within the sisterhood of tall women, we all have our different flavor preferences. We haven’t found a company that covers everyone’s yet – so there is room at the table for all. 

Plus, as budget-conscious women, we know many of you have bemoaned the pricing at various retailers. It’s one of our core passions to not have to pay a premium price for something to actually fit your body. As we’ve continued to grow and educate ourselves, we also don’t want to spend all of our dollars contributing to sweatshops and the like. So while we find a happy medium, we’re thrilled that other women are taking on the battle as well to create reasonably priced products. 

A big thank you to Chelsea McDonald, creator of Tall Long and Curvy and you better believe you’ve made repeat customers out of us. We’re anxiously watching for whatever color/pattern you drop next! Link to Tall Long and Curvy here, she currently just has black leggings.

And although some of these pictures are slightly blurry-they truly captivate the joy and comfort we feel while within these leggings!

***EDIT*** We got a message from someone explaining the full situation on the Facebook group that it was an unnecessary comparison of another small business. It bears repeating, that we support all tall small businesses, and would never knowingly put down another company. We don’t condone disparaging other companies to elevate your own.

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Long Cool Woman in Black Jeans

Anyone else love that song? Ok, my title might be a slight variation, but it’s very fitting since I finally found the ideal pair of black jeans. They’ve been the one pair that I hadn’t been able to get quite right. It started with a pair from Express, back in my retail days. Those were jeggings, to be clear and I definitely had a good run with them, but they were a mid-rise not high rise. They also ended up fading quite quickly, because I wore them to work so much. All in all, I got a ton of use out of them. In fact, they still might be in my closet when I don’t mind the faded look. As a reminder, Express does carry a long inseam and it works fine for my inseam (at 6’4 and 38” to the floor) as long as you pay attention because they have a lot of “ankle” length pants that consequently don’t end up being ankle length. Anyone more Caitlin’s height, all of their pant options will fit you beautifully!

But anyways, next on my journey was a pair from Gap. I was lured in by the promise of a high rise waist. They were high rise for certain, but they also had an unfortunate material that attracted any and all fuzz/fluff for sweaters, etc. So despite giving myself a good fabric roller before leaving the house, they always ended up looking a bit disheveled. That of course, is never the ideal. When I choose to wear black jeans, I’m attempting to level up my look. Plus the stretch wasn’t amazing either, which again had to do with the unfortunate choice of material. I will say, they kept their color and haven’t faded whatsoever. So perhaps that’s the payoff. 

But finally, I wisened up and after falling in love with American Eagles stretch curvy mom jeans, I knew I had to give their skinny jeans a shot. That’s how I ended up with these crazy good jeans. They have a wonderfully high waist – in fact, I think the highest I own. So if/when I choose to wear a crop top, it’s no problem. Plus the stretch is amazing, no wearing out but also not feeling super constricted. As for sizing, I’m wearing the 12XL. I’m borderline about trying a 10 out but ultimately I’m more concerned about comfort and this way I can chow down without feeling like I have to unzip my pants! As you can tell, the inseam length hits perfectly at my ankle. All in all, super happy to have converted to these! Plus you should easily be able to buy them for under $40, which makes me a happy shopper.

I paired it with a sheer polka dot blouse I snagged for under $10 at H&M. I love an ultra-feminine blouse. I’ve been rocking these snakeskin booties I snagged at Nordstrom Rack. I will say they are a bit tight, so if you end up finding them in-store, don’t be surprised if you feel the same. In the case of these booties, I had to have them and as they say, sometimes beauty is pain – haha. Also, I got this gorgeous hat from Gigi Pip as a birthday present and it makes me feel like a rockstar. Instant badass status when I put it on. 

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the Hollis jean jacket from Amalli Talli. Caitlin and I are both rocking it in different ways this week! It’s so incredibly versatile with it being the perfect mid blue wash. A lot of other jean jackets I’ve bought have been weird undertones. So every time I wanted to wear it, I had to be super selective about which colors I paired it with. Not the case with this at all, and that means I’m wearing a jean jacket during the Winter months, which normally I never reach for. What can I say, I’m inspired! For sizing reference I’m wearing a large and find that to be true to size. My shoulders comfortably fit and I can reach for anything without ever being concerned about it ripping. 

Hopefully you like that we’re remixing our items to show the versatility. We get that sometimes things might be a bit more than you’re used to paying, but we promise you will get your money’s worth in how much you wear it! Use code THEREALTALL15 for 15% off and let us know in the comments your favorite way to style the jean jacket!

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