What I wore this week: the perfect fit for petites

I love fashion – in a “poring over pictures of Kate Moss in the 1990s and finding joy in Alexis Carrington’s shoulder pads” kind of way. But as for actually buying clothes? To be honest, I find that part about as delightful as a flu jab. We all have our reasons for changing-room despondency. Mine is my height. I’m 5ft and, ahem, half an inch tall. Getting dressed has always been a pain, but the challenge has only increased since I reached my 30s and left the spaghetti straps of youth behind. But while I covet the grownup chic of Whistles and Cos, their designs just don’t fit: I look like a 10-year-old child trying on her mother’s trousers, a foot of fabric trailing behind me. I’ve yet to find a petite range I love, so the answer – boringly, time-consumingly – is shopping around to find clothes that look OK even if the proportions are not what the designer intended, or discovering something so ace it’s worth getting it altered. That brings me to the perfect summer dress: the easy-breezy opposite of changing-room frustration. That item that can be worn without any thought, and will always look decent; no styling, tucking or layering required. Once you find one, keep it close. And this summer, I have found one. It’s made of chambray – denim’s slinkier, more pliable cousin – a material with all the rock’n’roll, on-the-ranch connotations of light-wash blue jeans but without the heft. Of course, on the model, this was practically a mini-dress, but in this case I think midi length is better, elevating it from super-casual to slightly Grace Kelly. And if there is one thing I have learned, in those long, boring changing-room hours, it’s that, contrary to popular belief, a midi skirt really can make a short person look taller, as long as it hits your leg just so, and particularly when worn with heels. You just might have to try on a few dozen before you find the one that does it for you. Sorry. • Hannah wears dress, £195, by Chinti and Parker, from net-a-porter.com. Shoes, £44.99, newlook.com. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Laurence Close at Carol Hayes Management. Jess Cartner-Morley is away.