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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!

Outfit Details

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Intentionality Through the Holidays

If you’re trying to find a keyword to get you through the holidays, might we suggest intentionality? Recently Caitlin shared a post on Facebook with a cry for help. Our Mom had let us know that our 90-year-old Grandma was quite depressed. She had tried repeatedly to put up her Christmas tree herself, to no avail. Being that she lives four hours away from us, it’s not a quick trip in which we could help her out. She’ll have some family visiting for Christmas, but in the meantime, she was cheerless without some twinkling lights to sit beside. 

Luckily, social media has its moments of magic. Within an hour of posting a plea for paid assistance, she received countless offers of support and all of them refusing payment. By the end of the very same day, we received the best picture of her standing beside her beautifully decorated tree, smiling proudly. Not only that, but the two women who came to help her out walked away feeling like they made a new friend, someone they can continue a relationship with. 

That blesses all involved tremendously. Our Grandma, who wants to continue to live in her home even as it’s more difficult for her to get around, now has other people who care about her well-being and friendship. I’ve been reading a devotional and it keys in on how much more generous and forgiving people typically are during the holidays. Then it goes on to question how much our lives could improve if we carried that mindset throughout the rest of the year. It requires intentionality, to be sure. Letting those little things slide off your back because you’re just glad to be able to be in community with friends and family. 

Those two women had to be intentional, saying yes to the request of help, and then sacrificing their time to actually follow through on it – to someone they didn’t even know! If we could all be a bit more open to helping a neighbor, we could do a lot of good. Tis’ the season for giving, and that doesn’t always mean monetarily. Help out with something a bit outside of your comfort zone. People will be sure to appreciate the extra effort. If they aren’t in the right mindset to express their appreciation, giving them grace in this sometimes difficult season can be the right thing as well. 

All of that to say, a little intentionality goes a long way towards relationships. Letting people know you care about them/love them is never wasted breathe. The holidays can be tough on people for various reasons. Especially as I get older, I just want to be together with the people I love and enjoy their company. So how does that all relate to clothing, you might be wondering? If you guessed that we appreciate companies who illustrate intentionality, you’d be spot on. We would be talking about none other than Amalli Talli (yes again!). 

A lot of people are dressing up and showing off gowns and sequins and everything fancy. While we love a good dress-up sesh just as much as another girl, it simply isn’t realistic to dress that way in our lives. We absolutely wear something nice when we attend church on Christmas Eve, but it’s a bit more covered up and less glamorous. As for the rest of our Christmas festivities; they just aren’t that fancy! So when we’re gathering with friends/family, it tied closely with comfort level. 

This outfit covers comfort and cute in one go. Caitlin is wearing her Amalli Talli dark smokey wash denim in the 35’ inseam and a size 31. If you haven’t tried their jeans yet, you must! They have a great stretch to them but don’t lose their shape. Plus, if there is such a thing as denim that’s too long for tall women, they’ve done it! This wash is so versatile and we’ve been wearing it with EVERYTHING. Plus we can’t forget their Hollis jean jacket. Ladies, you simply will not find a better quality, better fitting denim jacket. That’s why Amalli Talli epitomizes the word intentionality. They take our needs into consideration and then cover every little detail to make sure our clothing fit is incredible. She wore one of her favorite button-front waffle shirts from Urban Outfitters and her Adidas sneakers to finish off this perfect versatile look. 

Don’t forget you can use our code THEREALTALL15 for 15% off your purchase. If you or a loved one has been eyeing something up for a while, a tall woman would be overjoyed to receive as a gift. Let us know in the comments below, do you have a word or a mantra you’ve been focusing on this season?

Outfit Details

Link to Jean Jacket

Link to Blakely Jeans

Thermal Top

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Finding Tall Items on Amazon

We’ve seen Amazon really ramping up their fashion section over the past couple of years. It has been super interesting to watch and see it evolve. All along the hope (as usual) has been that they’d provide a tall section where we would gladly continue to shop online. Especially with the introduction of Prime Wardrobe where you can fill a box and try everything on and return what doesn’t work, it seemed like a dream come true. Alas, they haven’t introduced anything specific for us yet, tall sisters. So it remains a dream for the time being. But if anyone is large enough to make our dreams come true, it should be Amazon! 

I know we’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed by browsing through the endless pages of options on Amazon either. It seems you can find 20 sellers who are within a dollar or so selling pretty much identical items. That always leads me to the reviews. I check for the total number of reviews and scour the pictures and descriptions of sizes as well. 

People who take the time to leave reviews, bless you! We definitely appreciate you taking the extra minutes to share your experience so we might have an easier time purchasing or moving along. (Take notes, ASOS) That’s always been our intention when sharing on the blog as well. We hope to make your shopping experience a little (or a lot) easier than ours was. The frustration I’m sure we’ve collectively experienced growing up has made shopping a burden enough times. 

Recently we’ve started to browse Amazon a bit more than usual for clothing. There are some very reasonable options that always lure us in to try. Plus, even without Prime Wardrobe, we’ve had no trouble returning items as long as they are Prime. But always check that specific seller out to make sure you’re not going to get stuck with an item if it doesn’t fit! One area of clothing shopping that has been a bit easier on us, has been sweaters. A lot of the sweaters are made for an oversized fit, which ends up working well as far as sleeve and body length.

So I came across this gorgeous colored chenille sweater and had to try it out! It arrived in a vacuum sealed package, which was disconcerting because it was shaped nothing like a regular sweater. Once I pulled it out and unsealed the package, it quickly regained its size. It is the softest, coziest fabric. I tend to struggle all Winter long to find sweaters that won’t instantly irritate my skin and this one fits the bill! Plus the body length is nice and long, it hits about my mid butt. The sleeves are the perfect length on me at 6’4 without any tugging as well. I didn’t have to size up either to accomplish it, so I ordered my regular size large and me and this sweater will live happily ever after together.

Caitlin ordered the other version they had on the same page, and everything is ideal for her as well. It’s a gorgeous green color, which is one of our favorites. The mock neck is always appreciated because she doesn’t want her neck to feel super constricted. The difference between the two is the sewing of “stripes” on mine versus a just plain design, otherwise, they are cut the exact same. Plus they are under $35, which for a sweater is really reasonable. 

The other thing we’ve appreciated Amazon stepping their game up on is shoes! One of the messages we get most often are women bemoaning the lack of large shoe options. We hear you loud and clear. Our goal for 2020 is to be able to provide better options/lists of retailers for you to shop for your size footwear. We hope to include shoes in our series on grading retailers for tall friendly/large shoe size friendly. Luckily, Amazon’s own brand Amazon Essentials has several basic shoe styles we’ve shared recently in up to size 13! I ordered three different options, block heeled sandals, ballet flats, and loafers, and all were true to size. Therefore, I feel comfortable recommending them. Especially with the price point being so reasonable, they are all under $30 which I can barely find anymore!

So let us know below, have you shopped Amazon for clothing at all? Drop any of your tall finds in the comments to share with everyone! Also, let us know any other retailers you want us to grade in 2020 whether it be for shoes or clothing!

Outfit Details

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