How a lifelong struggle to find clothes inspired a Surf Coast fashion label
By Google News Category Fashion ·
Alta Sophia's clothing range has been designed with taller women's proportions in mind, rather than simply adding length to existing styles. Photo: supplied.
By the age of 12, Grace Butler was already 1.85m tall, and finding clothes that fit was becoming a challenge.
Now 22, the former runway model has spent much of the past decade struggling to find fashionable clothing designed for her height.
Rather than continue settling for ill-fitting clothes, the Surf Coast local has launched her own fashion label, Alta Sophia, catering specifically to tall women.
Butler grew up as one of seven children, the shortest of whom stands at 5ft 11in, but even in a tall family, finding clothes that suited her frame was difficult.
While tops and dresses would sometimes fit, women’s pants were almost impossible to find in stores.
As a teenager, Butler felt she missed out on the shopping experience and struggled to feel stylish in the clothes available to her.
“That is probably the hardest thing about being a tall girl,” she said. “You can never go in store and try anything on.
“I have never looked very stylish as a teenager because getting nice stuff long enough was never really an option.”
Despite her experience in the fashion industry as a model, Butler struggled to find an affordable clothing range designed specifically for taller women.
After years of waiting for something suitable to become available, she began considering creating her own.
The idea remained on hold until the birth of her daughter, Sophia, earlier this year, when a comment from hospital staff gave her fresh inspiration.
“They measured her and they were like, ‘Wow, she is one of the longest babies we have ever seen’,” Butler said.
“She barely fit in her onesie because she was so long.”
While on maternity leave, Butler began developing the business, drawing on her fashion industry knowledge and sewing skills she had learned growing up.
She worked with manufacturers to develop clothing that fitted her own frame, with other tall women she knew also trying on samples to help refine the designs.
“There are three things that I wanted, which was affordability, quality and the overall fit to be actually custom to a tall girl’s frame,” Butler said.
She named the label Alta Sophia, meaning tall Sophia in Italian, after her daughter.
“It is really, really nice to have exactly what I want and it’s custom-fit to me,” Butler said.
“It is great, I wish I had done it sooner because I get exactly what I want in my wardrobe.”
Butler now hopes to give other tall women the shopping experience she missed out on, with plans to hold an Alta Sophia pop-up event in Torquay in December.
A date is yet to be confirmed, with details to be announced on Instagram at @altasophiaa
Alta Sophia clothing is available online at altasophia.com
Originally published by Google News Category Fashion
