Cute Outfit Ideas for Women with Short and Curvy Figures

A young woman wearing a top with a skirt

Short and curvy women often have a hard time finding flattering clothing in their size. At The Willow Tree Boutique, we find it totally unfair that your body type is keeping you away from feeling confident, beautiful, and elegant!

To correct this oversight from the fashion world, we’ve put together a selection of cute outfit ideas for short and curvy figures. With this breakdown, you’ll find a ton of inspiration and shoppable attire to help you build out your wardrobe!

Your Goals

As a petite, curvy woman, your fashion goals are likely to elongate your shorter frame. So you’ll want to wear styles that make you look leaner and taller.

Whatever your silhouette or measurements, consider outfits that make your waist look slender, draw attention to your face, and highlight your favorite assets. Here are some outfits that can help you accomplish your goals.

High-Rise Pants & A Blouse

As a petite, curvy woman, one of the best styles for you is actually the high-rise trouser. The high-rise waistline is an amazing style for any shorter woman in every type of clothing, whether it’s denim, shorts, pants, or skirts!

There are a few reasons why a higher waistline is one of the most flattering styles! Wearing mid-rise or low-rise styles highlights the widest part of your body, making you look even broader and smaller.

Instead, a higher waistline extends your natural waist and creates the illusion of longer legs. You end up looking taller, slimmer, and sleeker with a higher waist. Even better, high-waisted clothing also helps you smooth your stomach and hips like shapewear does!

Color-Blocked Tops

One of our favorite cute outfit ideas for short and curvy figures uses color blocking for a leaner, taller silhouette. Whether you accomplish this with a jumpsuit, dress, or separates, you can emphasize certain areas while minimizing others.

Instead of too many shades and hues in a wild pattern, choose a dark bottom and bright top to create balance in your silhouette. The bright-colored top will draw attention to your face, while the darker bottoms can disguise your shape below.

Use the same theory when choosing dresses, rompers, and jumpsuits. Cute outfits for a short and curvy figure will have a combination of two very contrasting colors with a lighter top and a darker bottom to direct the eye where you want it.

Dresses With A Defined Waist

A young woman wearing a short gray dress

While you might be drawn to the trendy oversized silhouette, they’re not a good look for short and curvy women. Shapeless dresses will overwhelm your figure and often make you look even shorter!

When you choose a dress with a defined waist, you get a cute outfit for a short and curvy figure that draws the eye to the right spots while simultaneously slimming and elongating your entire body.

If you absolutely love the color or material of a certain shapeless dress, you can create your own waist with a belt. To enhance this strategy even more, you can also look at dresses with detailing on the waistline.

Cropped Pants

When you’re shopping for pants, you might be drawn to pieces that feature cuffed hemlines or baggy finishes around the calf or ankle. These are absolutely vetoed! All that extra material will weigh you down and make you look shorter.

You can totally wear cropped pants to create a cute outfit for your short and curvy figure, but you need to do it strategically. Instead of styles with extra materials and shape at your calf, look for pants cropped at the thinnest part of your ankle without any extras.

Simple tailoring and minimalist bottoms will elevate your look and flatter your natural curves.

Blouses with Fitted Sleeves

To complement your cropped pants, petite, curvy women should wear blouses with fitted sleeves. Balloon sleeves or peasant blouses will do the same thing to your body as oversized dresses—hide it!

When you wear slim-fitting tops, you create more vertical lines to boost your height and avoid bulking your silhouette with big sleeves.

Wrap Tops with Any Bottoms

Really anything in the wrap style is the perfect base to deliver a cute outfit for short, curvy figures. The wrap silhouette does a few things to help you out, including showcasing a v-neckline that adds length to your neck and torso.

Wrap styles also bring extra focus to your waistline to elongate your petite frame and make it look even slimmer.

Bonus Tip: Wear The Right Size Clothing

A young woman wearing a short black dress

Anyone under 5’4” is considered a petite woman. However, there are many misconceptions about what it means to be petite. Many people think petite also means you’re super slender, but you can be both short and curvy!

If you’re a petite, curvy woman who’s been shopping regular extended sizing and is frustrated that your clothing still doesn’t fit, you’re shopping in the wrong selection! Look for curvy sizes in the Petite category to find clothing actually designed for your body.

Creating cute outfits for short, curvy figures rests on finding the right sizes. It’s essential that you don’t wear too-long, too-baggy, and too-big styles, as they will add bulk to your silhouette, making you look sloppy!

Making Your Outfits Work

With these cute outfit ideas for short, curvy figures and a little guidance in the sizing department, we’re sure that you’ll be able to build a better wardrobe. And with clothing that actually fits right, your confidence should shoot through the roof!

We also have tons more style inspo for curvy women that cover everything from workwear to summer vacation styles. Browse our blog to find cute outfit ideas for short, curvy figures for every reason and season.

If you’re looking at our recommendations and realizing your closet is missing a few items, we have what you need. Browse our women’s clothing boutique for styles designed to make you shine!

Kim Kidd

Kim Kidd founded The Willow Tree Boutique in 1992 with a mission to help women of all ages and sizes feel confident and appreciated. The boutique offers a wide range of clothing options, including tops, bottoms, and accessories from top brands at affordable prices. Over the years, The Willow Tree has grown from a small clothing boutique to a beloved fashion destination.