If, like me, you are petite, (that’s 5’4” tall or less for the uninitiated), you will know that dressing fashionably can be extra difficult. Designers tend to create clothes that look fabulous on a 5’10” stick-thin model, which means they often don’t suit normal shaped women. The clothes can look even worse if you are truly petite.

The bad news is that this season designers have presented us with a number looks that don’t do us any favours. The first look to avoid is a 1980’s retro look that was big on the catwalks for this season. The big baggy sweater over tight leggings or skinny jeans look will simply swamp anyone with a small frame. Trust me this look needs big shoulders to carry off successfully; I should know I wore it first time round and it didn’t work then!

The next look that the petite woman should give a wide berth to is this season’s hot silhouette, known as the ‘cocoon’ or the ‘egg’, which may be a coat or tulip shaped dress or skirt. From the shoulders or waist the garment balloons out then is pulled back in at the bottom. Again the smaller woman will be swamped by this type of style. Without long legs to balance the proportions you will simply look like an egg.

You may want to wrap up warm as the weather gets colder, but you should also think hard before buying into this season’s chunky knits and voluminous parkas. Cosy they may be, but you may find you simply disappear under all those thick layers.

The catwalks were also awash with large checks, a design guaranteed to overpower anyone not blessed with supermodel proportions.

Is there any good news? Yes, a little. There were some slimmer fitting, more elegant trends on show. There was an abundance of smart tailored suits, neat blouses, shift dresses and pencils skirts which are all more flattering for a petite woman. If you can show your legs there were plenty of mini dresses and skirts, and waists were cinched-in with belts of all widths to give a much neater silhouette.