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EShakti Quality Custom Clothing for All

While daydreaming as a tall woman, a reoccurring scenario plays in my mind. It is one that I come across the dress of my dreams *in my size* for whatever event I have upcoming. What a wonderful thought, right? So often while dress shopping Caitlin and I have tortured ourselves by scrolling mainline options, only to walk away disgruntled after finding something we like and knowing better than to think it would fit our frames. Cue EShakti messaging us and asking if we’d like to try one of their custom ordered dresses. FIRM YES. 

We’ve long admired EShakti and the way their company works. You have a couple of options. You can just put your height in and pick whatever size you know you are for option number one. Option two is what I obviously had to try out, which is where you take a ton of body measurements and then have them make the dress to your exact specifications. Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?

Even while purchasing actual tall dresses, both Caitlin and I have struggled. If you have two different sizes on your upper and lower body, there isn’t much that can be done without employing a tailor. We are very used to buying a “size up” which is basically our lower half size and then having some key alterations to take it in up top. Or maybe you’ve always bought a certain style of dress, like A-line for instance. You know it only has to fit your upper body, so you can size down and still have it skim over your hips. 

But enough struggling with that! Eshakti to the rescue, making sure that every inch of your dress is cut to your specifications. I did try to do my measurements myself. I would advise strongly against it. I ended up having my husband spot check and I was off by a good inch or two in most areas. It’s just not easy when you have to bend over to reach your legs or twist. Have a friend help you and it will also go much quicker! Plus you only have to measure once and they will have the measurements saved for quick access in the future. Also no need to pad your measurements. At first, I was worried, thinking I should go looser than it said to ensure the dress would fit well. No need, EShakti tells you exactly how to measure and how to pull the tape. 

The other key piece of advice to share is to have an idea of what type of dress you’re looking for before browsing the website. They have it all. Do you need a ballgown? They have it. Do you need a casual denim dress? No problem. If you’ve always yearned for the perfect sheath dress for work, also available! You can spend hours browsing their website, very easily. 

I almost forgot to mention another ridiculously amazing perk. If you’re looking at one of their dresses and you’re thinking, “I actually want sleeveless, or maybe I want a lower cut neckline,” GUESS WHAT?! You can change the dress to suit your needs! So unreal, right? Caitlin and I have had so many chats about how this dress would be perfect if you just brought the neckline up or did it midi length. 

If you haven’t heard of EShakti before today, your mind is probably as blown as ours. It seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well good news, my dress is proof of their greatness. I have recently been longing for a slip dress. I’ve struggled to find one but knew as soon as I saw this print, this is what I had been searching for! There wasn’t a ton that even needed to be changed about this dress, so I just entered my measurements and pressed order. I will have the perfect cocktail dress that I can wear into fall layered with a turtleneck or a leather jacket! 

The last part about EShakti that we can feel confident sharing with our tall sisters, is their size range. We often get asked about the Plus Tall sized options. They have a great inclusive range to cover everyone. Plus the price point for a custom dress isn’t really any different than shopping at a fast-fashion store. So all of that makes EShakti super exciting to share with you!

Link to the slip dress, here.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried EShakti before, and how your experience was!

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Reconnecting with Nature with Lake Effect Co.

I know we don’t have to say it because everyone is feeling the effects. But man 2020 has been a hard year. It feels like the world continues to divide more sharply and it hurts our hearts. Probably has a lot to do with it being an election year but it has gotten to a point where I don’t want to hear another word of “truth” from anyone. Honestly the saving grace this year has been the amount of time we’ve been up north at the lake. 

We haven’t written about Lake Effect Co. in months now, but don’t worry they are still our favorite. If you’re on Instagram you’ve seen them continue to pop up on our feed. Unfortunately, they too have felt the negative aspects of 2020 and will be closing their shop in Pewaukee at the end of this month. I’m sure it’s next to impossible to maintain a brick and mortar shop, let alone when you’re more of a niche business. 

Our values haven’t changed this year, regardless of what is going on. We still rest in knowing God will bring us through all of this when the anxiety and fear threaten to get the best of us. But it sure is easier when you’re disconnected from social media and connected to nature instead. 

That’s why we think the Lake Effect Co. is still so important. Katherine has been a champion of lake life and Blue Mind, which is that people need to be around water to survive. Now more than ever, when everyone is limited in what they can do this year should we all be prioritizing outdoor time. Whether it means getting to a lake or even just finding a local green space or a park to attune to nature. 

Take off your shoes and stand in the grass if it’s an option. Go for a dip in a body of water. There is nothing like the refreshing and maybe even startling temperature of fresh or saltwater to awaken your spirit and keep you in the moment instead of fretting about the future. 

Many people think back to school and the start of September or Labor Day as the unofficial end to summer. Our slightly cooler temperatures certainly haven’t helped with the mindset shift. We will always hold out on shifting to Fall until we truly have to, and want to encourage you to do the same. 

There are weeks, if not longer to enjoy some seriously gorgeous days outside. As of right now, we’re staring a dark socially distanced fall and winter in the face, where it might not be as easy to bundle up and spend time in nature. This isn’t to scare you, it’s to make sure you make the most of the days you do have!

I went camping last weekend, which is another perfect way to socially distance while communing with nature. I wore my Chase More Sunsets tank top from Lake Effect Co and enjoyed two spectacular sunsets on the bluffs overlooking the delta of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. 

We can all use this weird time how we want to. I’m choosing to reconnect with things that prior to COVID I might not have made as much time for. It’s an opportunity to slow down and reflect on your priorities and values.

Lastly, small businesses still need our help. If you’ve been eyeing up any of the Lake Effect Co. merchandise, now is a great time to support! You can still use our code THEREALTALL15 for 15% off your purchase!

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New Small Business Share: A Fierce Beauty Boutique

One of the best parts of starting our blog is all the incredible small businesses we’ve been introduced to and have loved! Even better is when we can create friendships with said business owners and mutually support one another. We’re happy to introduce you to Mandy who runs A Fierce Beauty Boutique! Luckily we attended an event and introductions were made. It’s always a relief to meet like-minded creatives. 

From there, our bond was forged and we’ve been able to meet up and take some blog pictures together. We had known about her Etsy boutique, but once we took the time to peruse A Fierce Beauty Boutique, our love was solidified. This girl’s got taste!

One thing you can’t have too many of in your closet are graphic t-shirts. The unfortunate thing about that for us is how picky we are about which graphics we’ll invite into our closet. They either need to be like one color family (like this coffee t-shirt) or it needs to have multiple colors that will pair well with various other pieces in my closet. A good example of that is my Queen bodysuit from H&M. I don’t think I quite realize how much use I was going to get out of it, but it has really helped set a standard for future selections!

Another thing fun about adding graphic/slogan t-shirts is how current and relevant they can be! I know you’ve seen my YAASSS shirt floating around on the blog/insta several times over the years. Mandy has a ton of quarantine specific options, as well as encouraging sayings. The versatility is everything to us, as sometimes we want to bring a little sass with our shirts and sometimes we like to drop a bible verse or some USA pride. Just saying, she does it all!

So when we ordered our t-shirts I feel like you never know what to expect for sizing. That’s obviously no knock on A Fierce Beauty Boutique. More the experiences of most tall women when dealing with women or unisex shirts. We both went with a large size to be safe and were totally thrilled when they arrived and there was ample space. There is great length in the body and as you can tell it made it easy to knot it up for a super cute look! The shoulder space is super great as well. 

The shirt fabric itself is also super soft. None of the scratchy material that needs to be washed 100 times before it finally wears well. Depending on how we’ll wear any of the shirts in the future I will consider sizing down to a medium, which normally isn’t an option so that’s exciting! We both were all about the coffee graphic, and we loved that you can choose different shirt colors to customize it a bit more but still a fun way to all choose one shirt with your girlfriends next time you get together.

A Fierce Beauty Boutique also has several sweatshirt options as the temperatures start to drop that we are super interested in, as well as some coffee mugs. Can one have too many cute coffee mugs (me talking to myself as I add to the cart)? Totally rhetorical but the answer is no. 

So go check out A Fierce Beauty Boutique. We always love to find new Etsy shops. It can get overwhelming sometimes just browsing on there, and we wanted to share our stamp of approval to make your shopping a bit easier! Shipping is free over $35, so snag a couple of t-shirts. Let us know what you grab in the comments below.


P.S. a little birdy may have told us to be on the lookout for some cute fall inspired tees coming soon! And as a special treat to our followers, you can use code THEREALTALL25 for 25% off your purchase (SO GENEROUS!!)

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Real Tall Talks: Your Body Has No Explanation Required

Recently I’ve begun to notice this narrative of “realness” being called out. As someone who named their blog after being real, it’s begun to rub me the wrong way. Our blog presence is built upon the premise of keeping it real with our audience. What does that mean to us? It means not misleading you by overediting our pictures, taking out blemishes, cellulite, anything that women might find unsavory about themselves. If there is stray hair blowing in the wind, you’ll probably see it on here. If you catch us at the right angle you might find that extra 5 or 10 pounds we as tall women can hide easier than most!

What I’m struggling to understand is, when the narrative has changed in social media with the calling out of moments of realness about our natural bodies. It has become so out of the norm that we have to call attention to how brave we are or maybe it’s masked in discomfort of showing our authentic selves.

You probably won’t see Caitlin or I make apologies or explanations for our bodies being the way they are. We understand that many people struggle with body image issues and respect their journeys towards acceptance. On our blog, we want to normalize being in our skin and not having to explain why we posted something despite our perceived flaws. 

It’s been said often but something you complain about on yourself is something that someone else is envious of about you.

All of this to say, stop photoshopping your pictures to beyond recognition. Our society has become obsessed with a version of celebrity/public figure that doesn’t exist. Fast fashion has evolved into fast fixes for anything you don’t like about your face/body. We’re not saying if you have something that causes you pain or embarrassment that you can’t/shouldn’t fix it, but it feels like days of embracing yourself flaws and all are past us.

Please don’t mistake this as either Caitlin and I getting on a soapbox of being holier than thou. It has just been weighing on my heart recently and a teammate from college posted a picture/stories talking about the same thing. Know that if you have imperfections, like acne or bags under your eyes or cellulite or whatever it may be; you don’t have to call it out preemptively or make any apologies for it. If you had a baby and your stomach isn’t as tight as it used to be, you can still wear a bikini and not have any explanation.

The beauty standard is impossible and you have no obligation to live up to it. As women we feel beholden to explain our existence, and we’re here to encourage you to drop that habit. Wash your hands of it and live free. Obviously it’s easier said than done but just start testing the waters of not coming up with an answer if someone says you look tired and you just happen to not be wearing makeup. Let them be a little uncomfortable for asking questions they have no business asking. 

It ties in closely with all of the height/body comments we get regularly, so we’ve had more practice than normal. Just because I’m in relatively good shape, doesn’t mean I “had to” have played basketball or volleyball at my height or it’s a waste. Same as short women being referred to as “cute” automatically because of their size. 

Let’s do away with the assumptions and societal pressures for all women. We’re here to celebrate you being you, beautiful flaws and all, no explanation required. If you liked this Real Tall Talks, check out our last post, here.

Lastly, all of the swimsuits pictured are from Figleaves! The one piece swimsuits are obviously not “tall,” but the rise on them is great for our longer butts to still keep everything covered. The one piece swimsuits are tall sizing and they are super comfortable and well-fitting. If you haven’t tried them yet they have some really great timeless options!

Link to two piece suits, top here and bottom here.

Link to Caitlin’s one piece black suit, here.

Link to my (Jenilee’s) polka dot suit, here.

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New Boutique: The Tall Look

It’s always an exciting day to find out there is a new tall retailer on the block! The day still remains a distant dream when tall women are able to easily find clothing made for our bodies. In the meantime, we celebrate and champion the new small businesses in the hopes that they will expand as they’re able to. Such is the case with introducing The Tall Look boutique. 

Jennifer recently launched her online shop and we are here for it! They have some really great basics, at some even better price points. The Tall Look is for women who are 5’8 and above and all their garments are tested on ladies taller than that, so you know you’re getting something well fitting!

We’re also super excited that The Tall Look is carrying some new denim options! Right now they only have two styles, and Jennifer was kind enough to send us a pair of each to try out. We can wholeheartedly confirm we love them. Both pairs are 36 inch inseam but my pair is the Kendra straight leg jean, while Caitlin’s is the Molly bootcut jean.

I (Jenilee) wear a 38 inch inseam to the floor. If you haven’t measured your inseam yet but find yourself frustrated by the guessing game of jeans shopping, you should prioritize doing it and writing it down in a note on your phone for easy access. At this point I have mine and Caitlin’s memorized from how often we use it on the blog and for shopping. Caitlin’s inseam is 35 inches to the floor so the bootcut option worked perfectly on her height. In fact, you could measure a couple of ways so if you prefer to wear an ankle jean or if you loath anything shorter than necessary you’ll at least have an idea what inseam works for your needs.

So once you have that figured out, you’re ready to order jeans! Great news, both of these jeans are on sale for under $50!! How amazing is that?! I know we’ve all been rocking skinny jeans a ton in the past years, especially as they get softer and more buttery, but this is the time to step away and buy a pair of seriously polished pair of tall girl denim. There is nothing more timeless than a bootcut or straight leg jean to add to your rotation. They are both a great mid to dark wash so they will go with anything. 

We both went with 31 for sizing. The jeans are also ridiculously comfortable and have great stretch to them so you could size down if you’re in between sizes. The straight legs say 10 inch front rise and are called high rise, but they feel closer to a mid rise to me as they are below the belly button. The bootcut are considered mid rise at 8.5 and feels borderline low rise to Caitlin. Reminder that is our personal opinion, we know many women love the mid rise and definitely don’t want jeans above their belly buttons.

So enough singing the praises of these jeans! We’ve long been of the opinion that it is terribly difficult for one tall retailer to fit the needs of all tall women when we’re a completely diverse group of individuals at all ages and sizes. Especially when you’re just launching your company, and have to be selective about the pieces you lead with. The good news is, Jennifer is already carrying some plus sized pieces up to 3X. Check out this versatile swing dress here.We’ve had many conversations with ladies feeling ultra left out, because not only are you tall but adding plus size can make shopping nearly impossible. 

So not only does she have the jeans but she has a bunch of really cute tops and tunics as well as dresses available to order. Mostly everything is under $30 which is incredible, as we all know the price tends to rise the smaller the business! Y’all have got to check out The Tall Look if you haven’t yet, because we need to support small businesses we’d like to see more out of! Last thing we’ll mention is that shipping in the US is free over $59 orders so if you order jeans and a top you get free shipping, YAY! She does do international shipping for our tall friends outside of the United States. 

Check out The Tall Look for yourself here, and let us know what you think!

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