Adela Mei, run by Stacy Leung and Sasha Moyer, is a California-based, online boutique with a very special focus – petite women under 5’4″. While their pieces are, for the most part, NOT petite-exclusive (as in the clothes are not petite sized), the aim for Adela Mei is to be a one stop (or rather, click) shop for shorter women – a place where they know that items would be of proper length. DelectablyChic! recently had the opportunity to speak with the founders and here’s what they had to say about their boutique and concept, including size issues, finding the right models (very hard!) and more:
Heidi Dress
Tell me a little bit about your concept and what makes you different from other petite or petite-friendly online shops?
Our store wants to make shopping for the petite woman a little easier by offering a tight edit of the season’s fashions and showing more realistic images of the clothes by using models that are 5’4” or shorter. Not only do we use petite models to show the clothes, we also personally try on every single piece and measure all sizes to help provide the most accurate fit information for our customers.
Our online store is a curated assortment of contemporary clothing that we’ve selected because we believe they flatter petite figures. Our aesthetic and assortment of clothing is a little edgier and we don’t shy away from trends. We don’t believe in rules for petite women and think people should dress for their body type, not their height.
Both of you are petite. May I ask how tall you are?
Sasha is 5’4″ and Stacy is 5’3″. We’re also two very different body types, which helps us in taking different shapes and sizes into consideration.
How has marketing been? Do you find it difficult for people to understand what “petite” is and do you think it’s easier to market plus sizes?
The petite market has given us great, positive feedback. Social media is a big part of our marketing campaign, and we are seeing our audience on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest grow as the word of mouth spreads. It can be a little tough since a lot of people don’t realize the petite market is under-served, or they consider petite to be short and skinny and therefore aren’t as sympathetic. That being said, the industry is realizing that specialized sizes are wanted by the population whether it’s plus, petite, tall, etc. and we’ve noticed a positive growth in the marketing around all of those.
Pleated midi skirt
Your models are all 5’4”, on the taller end of “petite.” Was this by chance or do you think it is better, visually, to use someone that height versus 5’0” or shorter?
One of the hardest things has actually been finding models and we’re so happy to have found the girls we’ve been working with because they’ve been amazing. It’s chance that they’re all 5’4″. We’d love to work with a range of heights and if we found the right model and she was 5’0″, we’d hire her!
Was it difficult to find models that were not over 5’8”? Did agencies give you a hard time?
It’s definitely been tough because most agencies don’t have anyone shorter than 5’7″ or 5’8″. There have been quite a few ‘we don’t have short models’ rejection emails. We do wish agencies had a broader range of heights!
How do you decide on which brands to sell? Do you have any “dream” brands?
We believe in mixing big brands with up and coming designers, as long as the petite fit is perfect and pieces are on trend. Our list of brands is constantly evolving and we’re always on the hunt for new ones to add into the mix.
Some of the brands are ones that we’ve had experience with personally. Others are brands we’ve found and have gotten excited about and want to share with everyone. When we find a brand that fits our aesthetic, we then see if they have pieces that will suit a petite body type. Not all of the pieces in a brand will fit, but we go through and curate the ones that we think will. Adela Mei is stocked with under-the-radar designers such as Shades of Grey and N/TICE, as well as bigger names in the contemporary market, including Cameo, Keepsake, and DL 1961.
Our dream brands are probably the high end designers we admire: Alexander Wang, Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga…if they one day decided to start doing petite clothing!
What are your best selling items?
Dresses and skirts do really well for us overall. We have received wonderful feedback from our customers letting us know that the lengths and fit work well for their body types.
Denim seems to be more “petite-friendly” than other types of clothing. Why do you think that is?
Basically, it makes financial sense for a lot of denim companies to include petites. It’s become the most basic wardrobe staple that every person has so the market is huge. People are also willing to spend more on denim which justifies the work behind re-sizing it for petites.
What should we expect for Fall 2014?
We’re really excited about fall. Our assortment is a little edgier with lots of modern shapes and mixed textures. There are also a handful of awesome new designers that we’ve discovered and can’t wait to introduce to everyone. We’ve learned a lot in our first season and we’re more willing to take risks with the pieces we’re carrying.
Star Eyes Pants
Any chance of a house brand? Plus sized petites? Items from petite-exclusive brands like Lotus Premium Denim or Jeetly?
We’d love to do an Adela Mei line and are currently looking into the logistics of it. It’s been one of our goals from the beginning and we have a pretty solid idea of what we want to do with it. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, it’ll be on the site next year. We’re also definitely open to plus-size petites if we find the right brand. We try to carry a full range of sizes in all of our styles since petites come in all shapes and sizes. Lotus Premium Denim and Jeetly are on our radar – we’re about to start shopping for spring so they might end up on the site then!
Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten?
Hopefully still doing this! In five years we’d want Adela Mei to be on a much larger scale, with a house line and customized designer pieces from the designers we admire.
Anything else you want to add?
Online shopping is one of our passions and we hope our vision helps petite women find fashionable clothes that fit and flatter them. We love fashion and don’t believe women should be relegated to cutesy or matronly styles because of their height. Fashion rules are meant to be broken and it’s fun to experiment with different shapes and silhouettes! This store, and owning our own small business, has been a dream of ours for a while and we’re so happy that we can share our experience and love for fashion with everyone.
Images courtesy of Adela Mei
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