For the Love of Shoes

Food, shelter, and clothing; these are the three basic needs for any human. Within the subject of clothing falls the category of shoes. Many people view shoes as a mere necessity, granted there are tribes of indigenous peoples, worldwide, who have never worn shoes, but for the majority, they are a necessity. They have developed through the ages either to serve a purpose, or to serve as a status symbol. Ancient civilizations created shoes such as flip-flop style sandals out of necessity. However, as villages grew to cities and the people became pided by status, the shoes became more elaborate.

As time progressed, so did the styles, and the ideals of what was sexually pleasing. In ancient China, the process would begin at around age three, creating "lotus" foot. The most pleasing was no more than 3" in length, and the process involved broken bones, a lifetime of problems, inability to stand without help. This barbaric tradition was reserved for the rich, but was later outlawed. In Europe, a similar procedure was done, to a lesser degre.&np;

In Europe, around the time of the Renaissance, people became more enamored with their personal presentation, and shoes of the time followed suit. Royalty and Nobles were quick to jump on the latest bandwagon such as Chopine style shoes, a dreadfully horrid design for shoes that involved a raised platform, without a heel; apparently, the style has tried to make a comeback. They did serve a minor purpose of aiding the wearer in keeping their skirts out of the mud and muck as they traversed the roads.

During the Baroque and Rococo periods more stylishly heeled shoes for both men and women were developed.  Again, the shoes were useful in salvaging dresses and clothing from mud, they also became the pattern for more modern footwear enjoyed today.

Skipping along into the future… 

Today’s society is not much different than yesterday’s, with regard to shoes, their need, and the status symbol of some brands. The fashion industry has become one of the largest venues of worldwide domination. What a person wears can make or break them in certain social settings or groups. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the shoe industry. Names such as Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Prada, and Valentino grace the red carpets of Hollywood.  Their shoes sell for upwards of $1000 or more. Occasionally one could hit the sale rack at Nordstrom and score with a pair of last year’s shoes for $500…if you are lucky enough to wear a size 11 or below.

Ah yes, herein lies the greatest form of discrimination the world has ever seen. Women who stand proudly above the average height of 5'8" and wear shoes sizes beginning with 11 and reaching up to a size 15, some even larger than that. These proud Amazons of the modern world find themselves scouring the planet for simple necessities. Clothing is painful enough. Average and petite women complain that they cannot find anything to fit them, garnering looks glowering with an “are you kidding me” ire. Sorry girls, you can hem things up, but once a finished product comes out of a factory, it cannot be let out.

Shoes present an entirely different set of issues. Many women enjoy wearing a nice pair of dressy shoes out to dinner or to Church on Sunday mornings. They enjoy dressing up, shucking the attire of the daily grind, and transforming into beautiful swans ready to impress others out on the town. A typical Saturday night for most women includes picking the perfect outfit, stunning shoes, makeup, hair, and accessories. For women with larger feet…the shoes become a painful reminder of their stature.

Let us begin with picking the shoes at a store, if they are lucky enough to find a store carrying their size. First, the lady (who does not have funds to pay $1000 for a pair of shoes) will go into said store, briskly walking past the beautiful racks of designer shoes all size 10 and below. They saunter to the back of the store where perchance there is a tiny display with approximately three styles in her size. Mind you, there will be the styles in perhaps one or two colors, that’s it, end of story. One style will be the God-forsaken old woman style orthopedic pump that comes in an awful shade of nude, that’s out. Next will be a classic pump in navy or black, but it is more suited for a business suit at the office. Then there is the third choice. It is the distant cousin of a beautifully crafted heeled sandal, however, this one appears to be designed by and ancient person with the design taste of dung beetle. Our lady begrudgingly chooses the pump, and looks at the boxes for her size. Typically, she wears a size 13 W, today however, she lucks up and they have one pair of regular 13's in stock. Anxiously she grabs the box, and sits uncomfortably on the miniature stools provided. She then pulls one shoe out of the box, crosses the corresponding foot over the knee and attempts to insert Tab A into Slot B. The toes slip easily through the leather, or extremely well made wannabe leather, then comes the heel…our lady scrunches her toes up as tightly as possible in a desperate attempt to fold her foot in half, slipping the heel into the back of the shoe. Perhaps the Chinese had something with the whole foot-binding thing. With a deep breath and a prayer, she releases her toes, and her foot is in! Oh, these are actually kind of cute, in a grotesque, torturous way. Our heroine, psyched that she actually got the shoe on, attempts to stand up. At this point, all her weight shifts into the shoe with its unforgiving leather upper. The toes gasp for breath, the heel shrieks in agony, and our lady sits with a resounding sigh, knowing they will not do.

She leaves this store empty handed, grabs her trusty smart phone, and frantically searches for women’s plus size shoes. Instantly 3-4 store names pop up, unfortunately none of the stores are anywhere nearby. Then, she sees one more entry, a store 20 miles away, SCORE! Hurriedly she hits the road on a quest to procure shoes for the night.  Entering the store, a specialty boutique for plus sized women, she’s not quite plus sized, but her feet are. She browses the store for the shoe section, again tucked far in the back. She makes her way to the displays a notices a slightly larger selection of shoes, some cute, some ugly, but that is typical. She peruses the selections and finds a nice pair of heeled sandals, much nicer than the previous store’s offering. Looking at the shoe boxes, she finds a pair marked 13W, double score! Again, she lowers her frame to the little bench, and begins the arduous task of testing the shoes.  She slips her toes into the leather straps, the ball of her foot sitting easily on the sole of the shoe. Next, she finesses the heel strap over her heel, easy enough. Lastly, she buckles the shoe on and stands… they fit! Well, sort of. There is a slight hanging over of padding, like a muffin top bulging over the waistband of a pair of jeans. However, they will work. Delightedly she pays the $100 for the slightly ill fitted shoes, and walks out the door with a renewed bounce to her men’s sneakered step!

So, to conclude this diatribe of shoe history and adventure, why is it that women of larger foot proportion are so tortured by designers? Why is it they cannot walk into a local department store and pay $20 for a decent pair of cute shoes that may only last the season, but hey, that’s all she really wants. To be in style for a short time, instead of being force to purchase higher priced shoes that she must then use kid-gloves and guard with her life. Let’s face it, beautiful, affordable shoes are a commodity for any woman wearing a size 11 and up.  Most companies will produce only 2-3 styles, with limited colors to sell. To add insult to injury, they will produce such a limited amount of these shoes that women will engage in arguments with store managers, and will even have to fight off Drag Queens to secure the goods.

Dear Designers,

Please hear us!! IF YOU MAKE THEM, WE WILL BUY!!! But understand, not all of us want a pair of shoes that cost 2 mortgage payments. Not all of us want to buy shoes that we will be afraid to wear outside; for fear they might be scuffed. We want shoes; we want selection, color, and styles as varied as the cities and towns in which we live. We want what every other fashion forward woman wants…to be able to shop in stores where we can try on the product before purchasing, walking around admiring the look and feel before we buy a pair that will give us blisters the sizes of small islands on the backs of our heels.  We want as much choice as other women, the petite women and average women to which you cater. This plea does not apply only to dress shoes; we want flip-flops, sneakers, house shoes, and heels. We want to be on an equal playing field in the fashion industry.

How do skinny people do it???

How do they maintain the physique that creates an are of perfection around them? They strut around in their size 6 jeans, thigh gap allowing for air circulation between their taught legs. Their shirts hug their torsos, their perky bosoms front and center for all the guys to gawk at. They complain about the 2 ounces they gained when they ate the whole order of a triple cheeseburger with large fries and a diet coke. HOW DO THEY DO IT???

I have come full circle in my struggles with weight loss. Having been overweight my whole life, I decided to have lap band a few years ago. Everything was going great, I managed to lose 176 lbs...and I gained albatross arm flaps (I think I can fly now), super squishy inner thighs, a double muffin top, and somewhere I lost my ass...it's flat and goes numb when I sit or lay on it too long!!! The time I spent in Australia was going great until the moment I contracted stomach flu. The Porcelain Throne Homage paid was enough to cause my band to prolapse, and given the medical care available, I was unable to have fluid pulled off my band...thus the Australia journey ended. I was sent home where I underwent corrective surgery for my band, in hopes of saving it...alas...it had to be removed.

The prolapse caused scar tissue to build up, and with the revision done...well, my lap band didn't quite work the same as before. The scar tissue built up some more, my band slipped, I went for about a week without anything to eat, coughing and throwing up, and well...it had to come out. I was devastated...still am to some degree. But I will be OK. The following week I had surgery on a ganglion cyst, which had decided to play with the nerves of my foot. So, I was put on these wonderful medications...Steroids, Celebrex, Nerurontin...all of which cause weight gain. And gain weight is what I did.

So here I sit about a month later trying to figure out how to prevent my jeans from getting any tighter. Yea, I put on a pair to come back to work after the surgeries, and well...let's just say a pair of needle nose pliers, some Crisco, and extremely shallow breathing were in order. If you have ever been laced into a corset (properly) you know that one does not SIT in a chair, but rather gracefully and delicately lights upon a perch like a swallow on a blade of grass. The same holds true for tight fittin jeans! Yea, well, my arse was sitting in a chair, stretching the fibers of my jeans, testing the supple forte of their fibrous makeup. The seams were screaming in resistance, my legs fell numb from the pressure of being forced into a bent position under my desk (I won't describe the horrors of getting into my Mustang). My midsection hanging over the taut waistband, like the top of a delectable muffin! I feared for the lives of those around me, waiting anxiously for a single breath to fire my button at some poor soul's forehead, like a lead round fired from a musket!!! Alas, all my colleagues are alive, and my jeans hold true.

I began the dieting regiment that had worked before...NO SUGAR!! My body screamed in rebellion, my heart trying desperately to form a coup against my head...demanding the delicious, tantalizing flavor of chocolate, cookies, cake, Tirimasu, Cheesecake, Banana Pudding, Chocolate, CHOCOLATE...mmmm...chocolate....*DING* sorry I digress. But I have managed to keep these evil thoughts from materializing themselves into reality. I have knocked out the gooey yummies I so enjoy, and have instead forced myself to enjoy the lower carb foods which usually lack taste. Somehow, I believe cardboard and glass would be more tasty, less healthy, but more tasty.

This endeavor has been ongoing for about two weeks, and, although I have partaken in the wonderful goodness of carbs over the weekend (it's a re-set people, calm down) my week has been filled with healthy foods, and a several prayers that they would actually taste like chocolate, but healthy nonetheless. The plan seems to be working, my jeans seem to be a little less like torturous enslavement devices, and more like an accessory to my desire to stay the course. Either that, or the plan to wash them and hang dry them has worked, forcing them to stay a little looser...that, and it avoids the malicious Dryer Pixies that sew my clothing tighter as it rotates in the heated confines of the contraption (not to mention the trolls that shorten everything too).

So back to my original question, how do skinny people stay so flippin skinny, yet eat anything they want? Drugs, it has to be drugs...or tape worms, or some other device that prevents them from gaining weight. It's just disgusting!

Stefanie Drew wants a pair of leather pants. “I saw some at Zara a while ago and was like, ‘Oh, my God, these are beautiful,’ ” she says. “But I can’t wear them.” That’s not something you’d expect to hear from Drew, who’s 27, a size 6, and dresses like someone who can tell you a lot of stories about going to Coachella. In other words, she’s Zara’s ideal customer. Except for one thing: Drew is 6 feet 2. That sizes her out of pretty much everything in the store, as it does at other retailers she wants to shop at, such as H&M, Forever 21, American Apparel, and even the small boutique where she works in Toronto. “If I bought pants there, I’d just look like I was walking around waiting for it to flood,” she says.

Most discussions about fashion’s refusal to acknowledge diverse body types focus on plus-size women, who struggle to find brands willing to cater to their frames. But tall women may be even more underserved. “You wouldn’t think so, because models are all so tall,” says Clary Hilliard Gray (6'1"), who runs a fitness studio in Charlotte. “But most stores don’t sell that many clothes to supermodels.” Or to tall women who don’t walk runways: Women who are 5'8" and taller make up only 5 percent of the U.S. female population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And making clothes to fit them takes more than just adding a few extra inches to existing patterns. Buttons need to be moved. Jean pockets may need resizing. “A cute flair may look good on a petite blouse, whereas on me it’ll look like I’m wearing a dust ruffle,” Hilliard Gray says. For most brands, changing designs for such a small pool of potential shoppers isn’t worth the effort. “When everything got tough during the recession, retailers took a step back from ‘tall.’ Now you almost never see it in stores,” says Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for NPD Group.

A few months ago, frustrated by her lack of options, Drew searched online for what she calls “tall-girl shops.” Up popped the name of U.K. retailer Long Tall Sally, which has one of its few North American stores in Toronto. Drew visited and tried on a few pieces - the kind of simple shopping trip that’s usually impossible for her. “I was like, ‘What? Clothes that actually fit? This is fantastic!’ ” Now she owns her first pair of overalls.

“Clothes that actually fit” towering women are Long Tall Sally’s specialty. The company, which is named after the 1956 Little Richard hit, sells a lot of T-shirts, long skirts, and cotton blouses - stripes and polka dots are popular, as are flower patterns - at prices higher than the Gap’s, but not as costly as Banana Republic’s, to those 5'8" and taller, though 75 percent of sales are to women above 5'11". The clothier has long relied on brick-and-mortar sales in Britain, but now it’s making a push online and in the U.S., mostly in the Midwest. This expansion has helped sales rise about 30 percent in the past 12 months, and Sally expects to bring in about $80 million in revenue this year. “We’re serving a surprisingly small customer niche,” says Andrew Shapin, Sally’s chief executive officer. “But if you can reach people all over the world, suddenly that niche doesn’t seem so small anymore.”

Judy Rich, an American expat living in London, founded Long Tall Sally in 1976, when she couldn’t find pants long enough to fit her 5'11" frame. “I used to have to go to men’s clothing shops,” Rich says. “Who wants to do that?” She ran the company for almost three decades, until the early 2000s, when Sally, unable to stay competitive in the digital age, went into administration (the British version of bankruptcy). It was purchased in 2005 by Amery Capital, a retail investment firm backed by brothers Maurice and Michael Bennett, who’d made a fortune decades earlier selling floral-print dresses and frilly tops to the British masses through Warehouse, Oasis, Phase Eight, and Coast stores, which they’ve since sold.

Shapin became Sally’s CEO in 2007. He knew how to sell online - he’d co-founded the Cotswold Co., an online furniture retailer, in 1997 - but he had a couple of shortcomings: He wasn’t a woman, he wasn’t tall, and he didn’t know fashion. “I had zero awareness,” says Shapin, who’s about 5'8". “There is no lower level of awareness that I could’ve had about this industry before I started.” He spent six months sitting in on “at least 30” focus groups, he says, listening to hundreds of women talk about how hard it was to find clothes. They told him about being gangly, awkward teenagers, and about slouching so they wouldn’t be taller than men. “One thing that surprised me was how many tall women said they don’t like shopping,” he says. “It becomes a very emotional experience because they can’t find anything that fits.” Instead, they buy clothing that’s too small and MacGyverit so it appears to fit. Jeans too short? Hide them with tall boots!

The struggle is real. Diana Runkle, 5'11", Sydney: “I typically wear a long tank top under all my tops to keep my stomach from showing.” Jessica Brommelhoff, 6', Los Angeles: “I pretty much do not own any tops with full-length sleeves that actually go the full length of my arm.” Claire Burns, 6'1", New York: “I actually used to own two petite-sized, floor-length skirts that hit the base of my kneecap.” Tasha Watt, 6'1", Southaven, Miss.: “I can’t wear cocktail dresses because the waist hits me in my stomach area.” Says Shapin: “When I talked to women, I realized this was something that had the potential to go way beyond the U.K. market.” Instead of just moving Sally online, he thought, why not move it overseas?

How to tap into such a fashion-starved niche seems like it would be a case study taught in Marketing 101. (“Too tall for other stores? Go see Sally!”) But the company’s customers are more diverse than a typical retailer’s. They range in age from teenagers to grandmothers, have all sorts of jobs, live in all sorts of places, and have nothing in common with one another aside from their height. “We’ll hear from women who say, ‘I’m 6 foot 2, what do I need high heels for?’ Then women who say, ‘Why don’t you make more high heels? Just because I’m 6 foot 2 doesn’t mean I want to wear flats,’ ” Shapin says. Older women complain that Sally’s styles skew too young; young women write to ask for specific trends. “It’s a real challenge,” he says. “We try to focus on that sweet spot: women between 25 and 55. Middle class.” Some of the more popular offerings are supersoft legging jeans ($79), the crinkle tiered maxi skirt ($89), high superskinny jeans ($109), and the relaxed-fit pocket tee ($27). It’s not groundbreaking fashion, but at least the sleeves are long enough.

When Drew first visited Long Tall Sally in Toronto, she says she may have been more excited by the prospect of clothes that fit than by the actual clothes. She saw mainly work-appropriate skirts for women who commute to desk jobs in sneakers. “I like them now, but I was kind of discouraged when I first found them,” Drew says. Online, though, she says things are sleeker and more contemporary. The work skirts are still there - but so are skinny jeans, floppy hats, and gray tees that she’s more likely to buy. The company has teamed up with British designer Irene Agbontaen’s TTYA (Taller Than Your Average) label; last year the brands collaborated on a line of silk maxi dresses and, yes, leather pants, which sold out before Drew could snag a pair. “Long Tall Sally ... hasn’t always been the most fashion-forward name,” Glamour’s U.K. edition wrote about the collection. “But that’s all changed now!” Shapin is more reserved in praise of his accomplishments. “We’re trying,” he says.

In 2009, Sally started acquiring North American competitors, such as Tall Girl, Long Elegant Legs, Long Fashion, and large-size shoe seller Barefoot Tess, which had all somehow managed to sell clothes to women despite names that seem straight out of a 1992 Sears catalog. Sally also opened seven stores in Canada and four in the U.S., in Chicago, Denver, Detroit, and at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. (There are 26 in total, including in Europe.) But it’s still not a well-known name here. To drum up awareness, the company has hosted pop-ups in 40 cities, from Boston to San Francisco. Online, it advertises mainly through sponsored ads on Google and social media. About 7 percent of people who see its posts on Facebook click on them, which Shapin says is a higher engagement rate than those of J.Crew, Nordstrom, or most other retailers, who average anywhere from 0.2 percent to 4 percent. So far, Shapin’s tactics have worked; almost 65 percent of the company’s sales are from people outside the U.K. who are shopping online, often in places where Sally doesn’t have a physical store.

Long Tall Sally has another major marketing hurdle: its name. On the one hand, having “long” and “tall” built into its brand makes it easily searchable online; it’s the fourth-highest Google result for tall women’s clothing, after the much larger retailers Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and New York & Co., which offer limited selections. But women don’t always want to broadcast that they shop at a specialty store. “Men can go to big-and-tall stores, and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m big! I’m virile!’ But I don’t want to carry around a Long Tall Sally shopping bag,” Hilliard Gray says. Shapin says he’s aware of this problem, but so far he finds the Google-able pros outweigh the cons and has no plans to change it.

Long Tall Sally intends to open more stores in the U.S. and is also making a push into Germany, where the average height of a woman is 5'6" - 2 inches taller than in the U.S. After that comes the Netherlands, whose average height of 5'7" makes it the tallest country in the world. Currently there are no plans to expand into plus sizes for women, or into clothes for tall men. Although who’s to say Long Tall Stan’s leather pants wouldn’t be a hit?

Read the original article

Updated: January 5, 2017 - 11:37 AM EST

by Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist @JeniceArmstrong

For us tall women, the struggle is real. Clothes don't fit right. Strangers on the street say the most idiotic things to you, every single day. You're expected to sit in the back.

So I'm not completely surprised that a principal dancer for the Pennsylvania Ballet was fired because of her height.

Sara Michelle Murawski, most recently the Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, has been cut from the company's roster for the upcoming season because she's too tall.

Yes, you read that correctly.

And at 6-foot-2, I'm taking it personally.

She's only 5-11 - a bit taller when she's standing en pointe — but still, Murawski's beautiful limbs were considered too elongated. Her one-year contract will not be renewed.

That stinks, because Murawski left a job she loved as a soloist at the Slovak National Ballet to come all the way to Philadelphia to perform. Needless to say, she's devastated.

"It should be about the dance. That's what I was always told," Murawski said sadly Wednesday evening when I reached her by telephone. "Just to be told that it's your height, that's disheartening."

"They said it's a budget problem and they can't get a tall male," as her dance partner, she added.

She'd just performed the starring role in The Nutcracker the previous night, when she wascalled aside and told the devastating news — less than an hour before she was scheduled to perform again. She broke down in tears, but had to pull herself together.

"It came absolutely out of nowhere," said Michelene Murawski of Philadelphia, Sara's mother, so stressed by the firing that she's become ill.

Her daughter's biological father is 6-feet-4-inches tall, and Michelene knew early on that Sara would be tall. She tried getting her daughter into basketball, but Sara fell madly in love with dance. She was doing ballet in her sleep.

In the dance world, Murawski is what they call a "bunhead." (I heard her refer to herself that way, so I'm not out of line.) She knew early on that it would be harder for her than for other dancers, so she poured all of her energy into being the best.

"I always have to be so much better in order to be accepted," she told me. "In Russia, they love it.... They think this is the ideal for a ballerina, that you have long limbs on the stage. In America, it's very different."

Murawski's dancing abilities don't appear to be in question. So if ballet officials had an issue with a tall dancer, why woo her here? Now that she's finally here and performing beautifully, she gets a hard toe shoe up her backside, because they apparently don't like the idea of a tall female looming over shorter male dancers.

When Americans go to the ballet or to any other artistic performance, we expect to see this great nation reflected on the stage. That means performers of all sizes, races, ages. The only criterion should be whether they can perform. Yo, it's 2017. I shouldn't have to point this out.

David Gray, the Ballet's executive director, tried to defend the company's action in a statement: "Building a world class ballet company is similar to building a world class sports team. Just as there are excellent athletes whose careers are better fulfilled at one team than another, there are excellent dancers who will better fulfill their potential at different companies. Just as a coach must make difficult decisions that they feel are in the best interests of the team, so does an Artistic Director."

But coaches judge players on athletic ability. Not on appearance.

The company should get taller male dancers if officials are hung up on the outdated notion that a man is supposed to be taller than his female partner. How many celebrity examples have we seen lately in which the female is considerably taller? Comedian Kevin Hart and his gorgeous bride Eniko come to mind. First Lady Michelle Obama stands eye-to-eye with President Obama when she's in heels.

The way Murawski is being treated reminds me of African American ballerinas historically denied opportunities because of their skin color or the size of their posteriors.

"Dancers of color have gone through that and are still going through that every single day," said Kim Bears-Bailey, assistant artistic director of Philadanco, founded in 1970 to create opportunities for black dancers. "Sara will get another job.... But what about the women of color who don't even get in the room?"

A friend of Murawski's put together a GoFundMe account [https://www.gofundme.com/season-pay-for-philly-ballet-couple] to raise $100,000 to keep her in Philadelphia and to help the company hire a tall male dancer to partner with her.

Please be generous. Talent knows no shape, size, or hue.

@JeniceArmstrong
Blog: ph.ly/HeyJen
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Read the original article

I use this section to remember my good friend Ashley Britt who died November 1st 2015

I first started talking to Ashley back in March of 2007 when she filled out the Tallwomen.org Questionnaire. I thought long and hard about whether or not I should be publishing this, but I think it helps to explain what kind of person Ashley was. Please learn more about Ashley by visiting the pages below:

By Harold Gutmann | Apr 9, 2015
Special to espnW

It all finally got to be too much, so Nancy Mulkey sat down. Right there on the spattered sidewalk in San Antonio.

Gawking bystanders were taking pictures of the 17-year-old kid because -- sure as her name is Nancy -- she stands 6 feet, 9 inches tall. So if even for just 10 minutes, before heading off to her next destination down the road, Mulkey needed a break, an escape from the scrutiny of all these strangers.

It was the kind of experience that, believe it or not, is relatively routine for Mulkey -- for tall women everywhere -- and Mulkey says that San Antonio scene could be included in an upcoming TLC show featuring Mulkey that is scheduled to air in August. It is tentatively titled "My Giant Life."

Mulkey, who has been pushing 6-10 since a nine-inch growth spurt before her freshman year in high school, is still sometimes annoyed by the gawking, but she's also become more confident about her stature. Success has a way of doing that.

"I'm not as shy about my height," said Mulkey, who just polished off her junior season at Cypress Woods (Texas) with a girls' basketball state title. "I strut more. I'm not slouching as much. I want to stand tall."

And a big reason for her transformation, Mulkey said, has been basketball. The Oklahoma-bound junior post player is the No. 21 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 for the Class of 2016. She has agility, good hands and an emerging midrange game. On defense, she's a dangerous shot-blocker who alters opponents' offenses merely by her presence.

"When you're a tall female and a teenager, that can be awkward at times, but what has really catapulted Nancy to a place of confidence has been her ability to do well on the basketball court," Cypress Woods coach Virginia Flores said. "When she walks the hall in our school, there's a sense of respect and even reverence for what she's been able to bring to our basketball program, and of course that's a confidence-booster for Nancy, and in turn it's made her hungrier and want to improve her game even more."

When the producers of the TLC documentary were looking for potential subjects, they typed "tall women" into an Internet search engine and found Mulkey.

After an audition with a producer over Skype, Mulkey was chosen as one of four subjects for the series, which is scheduled to air over four hours in August. She did not get paid and she received notification from the NCAA that appearing on the show would not jeopardize her eligibility.

The television show is meant to document the day-to-day hardships for tall women, such as finding clothes that fit (Mulkey was filmed trying on prom dresses) and dealing with constant -- and oftentimes uncomfortable -- attention.

The series will cap a whirlwind junior year for Mulkey. She gave a verbal commitment to Oklahoma in October and then averaged 10.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks as Cypress Woods won its first state championship in program history in Class 6A, the highest classification in the state.

"I didn't plan on committing this early, but people say, 'When you know, you know,' " said Mulkey, who plans to major in special education.

Mulkey was guided through the process by her mother, 6-foot-7 Dolores Bootz-Mulkey, who starred for Georgia Tech from 1985 to 1988 and still holds the school records for career scoring average (18.9 points per game), field goal percentage (.593) and blocked shots (245).

Mulkey, who started playing basketball in third grade, had initially told the Sooners that she wasn't interested, and Oklahoma wasn't included on her list of finalists. But Sooners coach Sherri Coale called Dolores and convinced the Mulkeys to visit campus.

When Nancy got there, she felt a welcoming atmosphere she didn't get from other schools.

"Usually when recruits go on visits, some players at certain schools don't really associate with certain recruits," Mulkey said. "The Oklahoma players devoted their whole weekend just to me. That meant a lot to me, and I felt really comfortable with them. I was there one day and I didn't want to leave."

Then came a historic season for Cypress Woods. Mulkey said a loss in the state tournament last year to Manvel and future Notre Dame standout Brianna Turner helped prepare the Wildcats for their first state championship this season.

"That showed us what we needed to work on and how we needed to play to win states," said Mulkey, who averaged more than 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks per game and was an all-state selection by the Texas Girls Coaches Association.

After winning gold medals on Team USA in each of the past two summers -- first at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and then at the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship -- Mulkey is now hoping for an invitation to the U19 tryouts next month.

"Her playing with the USA team the last two summers has really elevated her game," Flores said. "When you're around other people who are around your height, that can push you in a way that maybe your own high school teammates can't and made her step up her game."

Spending another summer with Team USA would be an ideal finish for a big year in the spotlight for Mulkey, who found her future school, won a state title and will be featured on national television -- perhaps even that sidewalk scene in downtown San Antonio.

"It's been tough for her at times to be 6-9," Flores said. "When we first get to a tournament, people aren't familiar with her and they're staring and gawking. When she was a freshman that was hard for her to take in, but now she embraces that. She's like, 'Yeah, I'm 6-9 and I'm pretty darn good.'

"She now looks at it as a sign of respect."

Read the original article

At 75, Carol Mann’s legacy is more than a 'tall tale'

By Cliff Schrock

When nature and genetics conspire to put a person in a unique situation, the question is whether the individual can make something of it or let it be a distraction in life. Such was Carol Mann’s predicament. The most accomplished tall player in women’s golf, the 6-foot-3 Mann took on every cliché-filled golf story about “tall Carol” who “strikes a giant figure” as “the lankiest golfer on the LPGA” and “sees life and golf from a different perspective” and made a memorable Hall of Fame career out of it.

With Mann having turned 75 on Feb. 3, it’s a good time to review a career that produced 38 LPGA Tour victories and the 1965 U.S. Women’s Open. Mann could have written many of those golf stories herself. An opinionated player who made her thoughts known and who served as LPGA president and vice president for many years during her playing prime, she also has done guest-column writing since her career wound down, including with the Houston Post starting in 1990.

That was 10 years after the final tour event of her playing career, which had begun in earnest as a teenager in Chicago with a membership at Olympia Fields. Early on, Mann wasn’t entirely comfortable with her extra height, and early in her career admitted to being self-conscious, awkward and shy. But the oft-used phrase “comfortable in her own skin” did eventually apply, and she won her first tour event, the Women’s Western Open, in 1964 at age 23. As she matured, her comfort level went up. In 1971, LPGA player and teacher DeDe Owens described Mann as “so bubbly, so friendly with a big warm smile for everyone. She has a good, inquiring mind and a sharp wit.”

Mann won four events in 1975, but they were to be her last. She couldn’t overcome the toll of being involved in tour politics and working hard to make the modern LPGA Tour a success. Exhaustion and a tall person’s worst enemy—chronic back pain—worked against her. She had previously had serious neck and back troubles dating back to 1967, and had been told in 1969 not to play competitive golf for more than two or three years because of her back. In 1981 she tried to transition from a tall person’s high-handed, arching swing motion to a shortened, hold-the-angles movement but she didn’t excel with it.

Including her writing, Mann’s post career included work with the Women’s Sports Foundation, expanded teaching to a busier career at The Woodlands in Houston, an ambassador and special consultant to the World Golf Hall of Fame, a TV analyst, and she ran the first woman-owned course design and management firm.

In 1969, at the apex of her tour success, Mann had fun with her height and, feeling she resembled a giraffe, adopted the animal as her symbol, having it printed on business cards. But better labels were to come: 1976 recipient of the Babe Zaharias Award, the 2008 PGA First Lady of Golf, and inclusion in a ranking of the “100 Heroes of American Golf.”

Read the original article

Australia's tallest female basketballer Sue Geh inducted into ACT Sport Hall of Fame

November 20, 2015

Chris Dutton, Sports Reporter at The Canberra Times

She was the gentle 206-centimetre giant who stood out because of her height, but ACT Sport Hall of Fame inductee Sue Geh helped build a legacy for women's basketball in Canberra.

Seventeen years after the Olympian died from heart failure, Geh will be one of nine athletes and officials added to the Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Monday.

Geh will be inducted alongside retired Sydney Swans champion Craig Bolton, lawn bowler Adam Jeffery, Paralympian Lisa Llorens and multi para-sports star Michael Milton.

Former Canberra Raiders chairman John McIntyre, Brumbies president Geoff Larkham, hockey administrator Graham Carter and para-athletics coach Chris Nunn will be honoured as associate members.

Geh's recognition comes with a touching twist. Officials sent a letter to Geh's mum Inge and it arrived just days before Inge died earlier this month.

Geh's career was cut short by knee injuries, a potential stint with the University of Alabama Birmingham was thwarted by a heart murmur and Mafran Syndrome led to her death after her 39th birthday in 1998.

She remains the tallest player to have represented the Australian Opals. She scored 69 points in an ACT premier division match and helped the Capitals gain entry into the WNBL.

"In those days [1985] she was unique because there weren't that many tall players, she certainly was intimidating because she altered shots and was athletic enough to get up and down the floor," said former coach Jerry Lee.

"She was a super person and you couldn't ask for an easier person to coach.

"Most of the centres for Australia were six-feet one, two or three. She was six-foot nine. There weren't many that could match her height."

Sport and Recreation has taken over Hall of Fame operations after ACT Sport was disbanded in July after more than 30 years.

Geh left her mark on courts around Canberra, dominating opponents after a coach plucked a then towering nine-year-old off the sideline and added her into an under-14s team.

Geh was the tallest female player in the world and was poised to play in the US, but a medical examination revealed a heart murmur. She was prepared to sign a waiver to absolve the university of any responsibility but Alabama Birmingham officials weren't willing to let her play and sent her back to Australia.

Geh was then picked up by the AIS and made her Opals debut, playing a pivotal role at getting Australia's first Olympic Games win.

She scored 10 points, had four assists, blocked three shots and grabbed three rebounds as Australia beat Yugoslavia.

"If it wasn't for [Geh] and Jenny Cheesman and that Canberra team that won 19 straight games [in the Women's Basketball Conference], the Capitals wouldn't be in the WNBL," Lee said.

"Sue and Jenny were probably the reason we stepped from division two into the WNBL. Sue passed away at a young age and she was frail. She was long and lanky, but certainly had it."

Former Basketball ACT general manager Brian Franklin spoke at Inge's funeral on Friday and will accept Geh's award on Monday alongside Errol Raiser.

"[Inge] was pretty pleased when she got the news and I understand she got the official letter [of Geh's award] three days before she died," Franklin said.

"[Geh's] height was the advantage, she was the tallest woman in Australia. She wasn't what you'd call a player with all the moves. But she was very effective and established her reputation in the game with a blinder at the 1984 Olympics."

Read the original article

Basketball Great Anne Donovan Dies at 56

By Doug Doyle • 12 hours ago

Not only was Anne Donovan a legendary and pioneering figure in women's basketball, she was also one of the kindest and thoughtful people I have ever met. 

Donovan, a native of Ridgewood, New Jersey who dominated play at Paramus Catholic High school, won Olympic gold as a player and as a coach for the United States.  

Donovan died Wednesday of heart failure. She was 56.

Anne was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and also was part of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.  I asked her back in a 2012 episode of SportsJam with Doug Doyle if the women’s hall meant more to her.

"Gosh, it's tough because of who I went into that class with.  I went in with all the people I admired, respected and looked up to from the first concept of women's basketball for me.  So, going into that class was very special with the company I went in with.  The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was something I never aspired to, I just never thought that would be possible, and going in with Kareen Abdul-Jabbar and Cheryl Miller who was one of my peers, made that class very special also."

Donovan, a 6-foot-8 center coached at Seton Hall University and in the WNBA.  Why did she coach?

"I never aspired to be a coach even through college.  I played six years of professional basketball and didn't aspire to coach and kind of fell into it by chance . When my basketball player career came to an end, I got roped into being a volunteer coach, but I found that I really loved it.  I loved feeling like I could make a difference in these ladies lives and having gone through a pretty long career myself, I felt like I had something to offer."

To give you an example of the type of person Anne Donovan was, here's what she did for me when I was doing the PA announcing for her Seton Hall women's home games.  Each year she got the all the players on her team to sign a card for me, expressing their thanks for helping announce their games and being a part of the Pirates program.  That's class.  Who does that?

I told Anne during our 2012 interview that I first saw her when Old Dominion came to Penn State to play a big game that season.  I looked up and saw the tallest woman I had ever seen at that point.   I came to learn many years later, that her heart was actually bigger than her height.  She made me feel special and part of her squad.  I will never forget those games.

At Old Dominion, Donovan won an AIAW championship and lead ODU to the NCAA Women's Final Four as a senior.

Prior to her days coaching at Seton Hall, she had an terrific coaching career in the WNBA, becoming the first female coach and youngest person to win a title in the WNBA, helping the Seattle Storm to the 2004 championship.  She coached five WNBA teams including the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun.

Donovan was named The Star-Ledger's Player of the Century in 2000.  She scored 1,000 points in a single twice at Paramus Catholic High School, won four state titles and was the nation's top recruit.  

Her family confirmed her death in a statement. "While it is extremely difficult to express how devastating it is to lose Anne, our family remains so very grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful human being."

Read the original article

By CHLOE LAMBERT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 23:13 GMT, 11 May 2015 | UPDATED: 08:06 GMT, 12 May 2015

• Study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found shorter men have more sex
• Research suggests tall people are less likely to develop heart disease than short people
• Height may also be linked to our emotional state and taller people are happier

Being tall may come with practical problems, such as the lack of legroom on aeroplanes, but there are some perks, too. Last month, researchers at Ohio State University reported that tall people are, on average, cleverer and have better social skills. They said this could explain why studies in the past have found that tall people tend to earn more — as much as an extra £100,000 over a 30-year career. That study followed research showing tall people are less likely to develop heart disease than short people. In fact height is now attracting a great deal of attention as a predictor of future health, affecting your risk of a range of diseases, from dementia to stroke. But tallest isn't always healthiest . . .

DEMENTIA RISK HIGHER FOR SHORT PEOPLE

A number of studies suggest that height is linked to the risk of developing dementia. Perhaps the strongest evidence for this came from a study published last November in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which analysed data from 18 studies. The team found that men under 5ft 6in (167cm) had a 36 per cent higher risk of dementia than men over 5ft 10in (177cm). That doesn't mean being short causes dementia. Shorter height can be associated with certain pressures in early life, such as stress, illness or poor nutrition, which may predispose someone to dementia, says lead author Dr Tom Russ, lecturer in old age psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh.

He says early life stresses may affect a person's cognitive reserve — the brain's resistance to age-related damage. 'People think of dementia as a disease of old age, but this suggests you are accumulating risk factors throughout the course of your life.' But remember, the overall risk of dementia is low — about one in 20 over-65s are affected — so these increases in risk are relatively small.

HOW HEIGHT PROTECTS THE HEART

When it comes to heart health, the news for shorter people may not be great, either. It seems they may also be more prone to heart disease, according to research published last month by the University of Leicester. The researchers found a 5ft (153cm) tall person had a 32 per cent higher risk of heart disease than someone who is 5ft 6in (167cm). This association isn't new. Analysis of data from more than a million people, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2012, found clear links between shortness and higher risk of dying from heart disease, stroke and heart failure. The latest research suggests the link is down to genes, rather than environmental factors such as diet. The team looked at 180 genetic variants that are known to control height, and found that those variants linked with shorter stature also had an effect on cholesterol, fat levels and overall heart disease risk. Another theory is that taller people have larger coronary vessels, 'which take longer to become blocked by fatty deposits', according to David Wormser, the epidemiologist who led the 2012 study. Height appears to be linked to our emotional state

CANCER MORE COMMON IN TALL PEOPLE

It's not all good news if you're tall, however. In 2013, Dr Geoffrey Kabat, an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the U.S., published research on post-menopausal women which found that for every additional 10cm of height, the risk of developing any cancer rose by 17 per cent. So compared with a woman of 5ft 5in, a woman of 5ft 9in would be that much more at risk said the researchers. The strongest associations between height and cancer were for melanoma (skin cancer), colon, uterus, kidney and thyroid. In another study in men, Dr Kabat found the risk of cancer rose by 5 per cent for every extra 10cm of height. Why would this be? Cancers are caused by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, and so factors that are associated with increased growth in childhood and adolescence may also affect the risk of cancer, he says. One theory is that tall people may have higher levels of a protein called insulin-like growth factor, or IGF, which is released in response to growth hormones and also seems to be linked to cancer. Another explanation is that taller people naturally have more cells overall because their organs are bigger. So the chance of one of these cells mutating is higher, says Dr Kabat. However, he stresses that the risks from height are small, and certainly lower than those of smoking, drinking too much and sun exposure. For example, being a smoker raises your risk of developing lung cancer by 2,000 per cent compared with someone who never smoked.

TALL WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO HAVE TWINS

A 2006 study in the U.S. comparing the heights of new mothers found that those who had twins or triplets were, on average, an inch taller than the national average. Dr Gary Steinman, an obstetrician at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who led the research, said it may be down to IGF. He says one of its effects is to make the ovaries more sensitive to the follicle-stimulating hormone that triggers the ovaries to produce eggs. Heightened sensitivity to the hormone raises the chance of two eggs being produced per cycle, and, in turn, the chance of a multiple pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that shorter people have lower levels of IGF.

Read the full article

Belfast mum Hollie McCutcheon bullies should be ashamed, funeral told

By Brett Campbell | June 21 2019

The school bullies whose nasty words ultimately led to the death of a young Belfast mum who suffered a heart attack on Saturday "should be ashamed of themselves", a clergyman has said.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in St Matthew's Parish on the Shankill Road to say goodbye to Hollie McCutcheon (27) yesterday, including her seven-year-old son Nathan and partner Chris.

Rev Campbell Dixon praised the loving family of the former Girls Model pupil, including her heartbroken parents Janet and Leslie, for the support they provided right up until Hollie lost her battle with eating disorders.

"Hollie was a tall girl with a solid physique who was subjected to bullying at school," he said.

"This led to her being hospitalised for anorexia and bulimia, but her mum, dad, brother Andrew and sister Hannah were her constant champions.

"Sadly on Saturday morning her heart couldn't take any more.

"The damage caused over so many years took its toll and she slipped away."

The clergyman said the middle child had enjoyed a happy life until she started secondary school where she encountered those "who caused her death far too early".

"Did those who made Hollie's life a misery as she entered her teenage years ever give one thought about what their nastiness would do to a well-balanced and happy child?" he asked.

"They should be ashamed of themselves."

Rev Dixon also had strong words for the person who started a rumour on social media falsely claiming that Hollie had taken her own life.

"Shame on you," he told them.

The clergyman then rubbished an old rhyme as he warned the congregation that calling someone names can hurt more than sticks and stones ever could.

"Words can cause terrible pain and bring about untold suffering," he added.

He told mourners Hollie managed to complete her GCSEs after being released from the Donard Unit of Knockbracken Healthcare Park before starting her first job in Costa Coffee. She then moved on to work for Value Cabs where romance blossomed when she met Sean. "The pair were overjoyed when Nathan was born a few years later," Rev Dixon said. "But Hollie never stopped fighting her demons. Her and Sean later broke up, but Nathan was the best thing that ever happened to her and he became a source of encouragement whenever her illness was too much to bear.

"Janet believes he was a wee Godsend because Nathan gave her something to live for."

The clergyman said Sean continued to be a huge source of support even after Hollie met her partner Chris, who doted on her.

Hollie's sister Hannah previously said the "very, very close" couple did everything together.

Those gathered in the church were told Hollie only "found her niche in life" two years ago when she started working as a carer.

"Hollie really loved her work and made great friends through it.

"She was a fun girl despite her debilitating illness and by all accounts she was the life and soul of the party who loved dancing and singing," Rev Dixon said.

This was evident from the slideshow of pictures which played throughout the service.

"But it was a tragic life in many ways," the clergyman continued.

"Here was a larger-than-life character who loved people, socialising, working and caring for those who needed help - but despite all appearances she was brought down into the depths of despair."

Dozens of Hollie's colleagues from Quality Care Services formed a guard of honour outside the church as her coffin was carried away. On the casket was a note from little Nathan who sobbed uncontrollably while following behind. "To Mummy, I love and miss you xxx," it read.

Loved ones tried desperately to console the youngster as his mum embarked on her final journey to Roselawn Crematorium.

Read the original article

By MECHELLE VOEPEL via ESPN | Nov 16, 2016, 12:41 PM ET

ESPN the Magazine's Nov. 28 "Tall Ball" issue, which focuses on the varied aspects of height and sport, prompted us to ask around about #tallgirlproblems. Not to stereotype, but tall women often have some specific challenges that they deal with. But even the most annoying stuff wouldn't make any of the women we spoke with want to give up even an inch of their height.

It's just sometimes... hey, the next time you see a tall woman, please try to refrain from asking horrible corny stuff like "How's the weather up there?" All tall women thank you in advance.

Brianna Turner, 6-foot-3, Notre Dame forward

"It's mostly things like sleeves not being long enough. Or knee-high boots that are not knee-high at all on me. And I always say when we do push-ups it's harder if you are tall and have longer arms. Or doing pull-ups."

Alaina Coates, 6-4, South Carolina center

"My top pet peeve is finding jeans long enough. I'll just have to roll them up and make them look like they're supposed to be that way. So when it's really cold, my ankles will be freezing.

"You can shop online, but if they don't fit right, you have to send them back. And most of the time, I'm just like, 'Forget it.' "

Lisa Leslie, 6-5, former Los Angeles Sparks star and Naismith Hall of Famer

"I would say my No. 1 tall girl problem is that people have to ask me every day, 'Do you play basketball?' I've had people make comments about my height every day of my life. That can get annoying. I'm thankful for it; I used it. You don't go around commenting on someone's weight or size, so it's just really annoying. It's the kind of thing that people should just say to themselves: 'Wow, she's really tall.' But I don't need to be informed that I'm tall. I get it."

Tina Thompson, 6-2, WNBA's all-time scoring leader

"I've been blessed to be able to find clothes and shoes; for me that hasn't been that difficult. Probably the most annoying are the awkward, lame conversations and the clich? one-liners. Like, 'Is the view better up there?' What do you say to stuff like that?

"Just say hello, introduce yourself and let's move on to politics, sports, whatever you want to talk about. The lead-in with the tall-girl joke was very unnecessary."

Sylvia Fowles, 6-6, Minnesota Lynx, 2016 WNBA defensive player of the year

"A lot of jeans that come in longer lengths have flared legs. I hate flares. I hate wide legs. I feel like all tall-girl jeans should be skinny. So when I do find a pair I like that fits, I buy them in every color.

"If someone asks me the basketball question, I change it up. I say, 'Oh, actually I play water polo.' And nobody really wants to talk to me much about that."

Swin Cash, 6-2, just retired from New York Liberty

"Airplanes would be first. My jeans would be another. I get mad all the time, because jeans just aren't cut properly.

"Then there's the 'Tall guys like short girls, and vice versa'... that can be a tall girl problem.

"With the standard hotel-room shower, and you're trying to wash your hair, you have to maneuver around.

"You are always going to get asked if you play volleyball or basketball. And if you were to say that you didn't play sports, people look at you with a kind of disdain, like, 'You wasted your height!' Your height just makes them think you automatically have to be an athlete."

Nneka Ogwumike, 6-2, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA MVP

"One of the shortcomings of being tall -- ha ha -- is that you can never swing your feet when you're sitting on a stool.

"And you always have to be at the back of a photo. I like being in the front. That's why a lot of times in photos, you see me lying down in front. I want to be seen, you know?

"Pants aren't so bad, because nowadays there are a lot of different outlets to buy from. I do almost all of my shopping online, and the clothes are super trendy, which is awesome. I love it.

"Another huge issue is sitting on airplanes. Actually, though, I'm not sure that's just a tall girl problem. That's like a human-rights issue. (Laughs)

"I also feel like climbing stairs is a little more difficult for us, because of the leverage. And I feel more tired after stairs, and that's confusing to me because I'm athletic.

"People always assume I'm a basketball or volleyball player. One guy, though, came up and asked me if I was a ballerina. I said, 'Are you being serious?' and he seemed like he was.

"The short guys are always like, 'I love me a tall girl.' And it's like, 'Seriously?'

"I love shoes, and people will say, 'Why are you wearing heels? You're tall already.' And I said, 'That has nothing to do with me wearing heels.' So that's pretty annoying."

On peoples' reactions to seeing her with sister Chiney Ogwumike, who is 6-3: "It's always like, 'Where are you guys from?' and I'm like, 'Is that question just because we're tall?'

"But overall, I have no issues with it. It's a beautiful thing."

Jantel Lavender, 6-4, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year

"The biggest one is clothes, although it's gotten better over the years. But you can't just go into a store -- if something comes up -- and find pants that fit. Or getting a dress that's long enough for your arms. Or shoes -- you can't just go get a nice pair of heels to wear to an event.

"I shop at ASOS.com -- they have a tall section that is amazing. I have so many clothes now that I'm never caught off guard."

"I would say toilets are pretty low. It's just so far down, and then the stall doors aren't that high all the time, so your head's sticking up. But I think it becomes second-nature for us to adjust."

Candace Parker, 6-4, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA Finals MVP

"I'm against stereotypes, so I hate fitting the stereotype. People are like, 'Oh, you must play basketball.' And I'm like [lowers voice and sounds a bit disgusted], 'Yes.'

Has girls' embarrassment over being tall changed? "I hope it has. My daughter is around so many tall women, I don't think it registers to her that she's dwarfing her classmates. She's tall; she holds her shoulders back with pride. We tease her about her big feet, and she loves them and her long legs.

"I think it's generational. I wasn't always the happiest being as tall as I was, but I learned to accept it and then love it."

A'ja Wilson, 6-5, South Carolina forward

"Other than clothes sometimes, I don't really see any problems with being tall."

Read the original article

Before you buy, make sure the car fits your size

By Jeff S. Bartlett, March 06, 2017

To find out which vehicles are better or worse for tall or short drivers, Consumer Reports took a closer look at test scores of recently tested vehicles, for seat comfort, driving position, access, and the view out. The shortest tester is 5 feet 1 inch, and the tallest is 6 feet 2 inches.

A handful of cars are especially versatile and are rated very highly by both tall and short testers. Families with different-sized drivers might consider the Honda Accord or the Subaru Forester. Similarly, several models serve neither tall nor short drivers well, such as the Porsche 718 Boxster. Sports cars by their very nature cater poorly to both extremes: Tall people hit the roof, and short people can't reach the clutch.

Bear in mind that some models excel at driver space to the detriment of backseat passengers. All measurements can be compared on the model pages, available from the linked names below.

Read the full article

Sunday, 7 June 2015 - 6:30am | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Roshni Nair, Averil Nunes, Rama Sreekant

Too short or too tall, they don't fit society's definition of 'normal' and often find themselves on the margins of mainstream life. But they have taken on the challenge imposed by their height to forge their own identities. Roshni Nair, Averil Nunes and Rama Sreekant get an insight into the the struggles of those who give us valuable life lessons in how to make the most of adversity

Gender games

"One of my clients, a schoolgirl, lost all self-confidence as she had a tough time due to her height," says Chhabria. "She'd slouch and shun socialising because she perennially feared she'd be made fun of. As it is, every girl is body-conscious at a point. When kids make fun of you at this juncture, it can scar."

Goregaon resident Vijaya Pawar has been witness to this. She stands 5'10" tall and is hardly what one would insensitively call a 'giant'. But she grew up at a time when the average Indian height was less than what it is today. "In my village, people would say things like 'Tu bahut jaldi budhdhi ho jayegi', or 'You're so big now, why aren't you married yet?' This was when I was still in school," she says, and admits the pressure to fit in led to the drooping of the shoulders and consequently, a slight but lifelong hunch.

"I've seen mothers of girls who are 5'9"-5'10" encouraging them to stoop because they 'won't get boys who'll marry them'," shares orthopaedist Dr Neeraj Bijlani. Public infrastructure is also not adjusted for tall Indians, leave alone 'abnormally tall' ones, he adds. So having to constantly bend or sit uncomfortably in seats that are ergonomic only for the majority can predispose one to joint problems.

Then there's Scheuermann's Disease, a classic example of a socio-cultural phenomenon leading to a medical issue. Bijlani explains: "This condition is caused due to constant slouching, which affects the growth of the vertebrae and creates a hunchback. In my practice, the male-female prevalence is 1:10."

There's more. "If those affected are still growing, belts, braces and posture correction can be undertaken. The condition can't be reversed for adults. Their only option is corrective surgery," he says.

Citing numerous studies, The Atlantic's Joe Pinsker said in a May 2015 article titled 'The Financial Perks of Being Tall', "...an extra inch is worth almost $800 a year in elevated earnings." Meaning the taller you are, the more you'll earn – if you're in a 'Western' country.

Former I Am She Miss Universe India runner-up Reha Sukheja is yet to have a level playing field, leave alone get a fatter paycheck than peers. At 6'1", this 24-year-old is often rejected at auditions for commercials due to her height. "People say, 'Sorry, you're too tall'. If I'm auditioning for 10 ads, I'll go beyond step one in maybe two-three. Mostly since those will be 'solo girl' ads with no men," she says.

When she was in school, her PT teacher pushed her into the basketball queue even though she wanted to play volleyball. And having to cock her ear to hear what people around are saying is routine. "It's awkward posing for pictures. And yes, people look me up and down – first to see my height, then at my feet to check if I'm wearing heels and then back up again for confirmation," she laughs. But all this, she adds, isn't a bugbear like
the professional constraints she faces.

In an atmosphere where significantly tall women condition themselves to bending, slouching and feeling overtly conscious of their heights, Sukheja is an exception. It helps that her father and mother – former model Renu Sukheja, herself 5'10" – never made her feel small about her height. Reha always maintained a straight posture, basically flipping the bird to all those who encourage 'lambus' to do otherwise or say things like tall girls don't 'need' to wear heels. She also has no qualms dating shorter men – her current boyfriend is a few inches shorter. "If both of us are okay with it, I don't see why anyone else should care," she underlines.

This is the attitude parents, teachers and guardians should foster in the considerably tall instead of alienating them further, says Anjali Chhabria. Society will keep projecting its anxieties on anyone with a different body. The antidote is to be accept and be comfortable in your own skin.

How long, then, before those like Sukheja – and others of varying body types – get to play in a level field? One can only hope it won't be a wait for eternity.

Read the full article

Hi!

I just wanted to let my friends and family know that my second book "Bigfoot Still Lives in Idaho" is now available for purchase! I am excited to finish this book! It is bigger than the first book and includes brand stories of Bigfoot sightings from all over Idaho.

The best place to get a copy is at www.bigfootlives.info or talk to me personally. While you are at that site you should also check out the very cool T shirts we have available.

Thank you for your love and support throughout the years, this has been an incredible adventure!

About Becky

I was born in Pocatello, Idaho and lived on the Fort Hall Indian reservation the first part of my life where there are many Bigfoot stories. I have been interested in the Bigfoot since I was about ten and started collecting these stories while I was in high school. The book, Bigfoot Lives in Idaho, was written with those stories from all over Idaho and was published November 2012. Since then I have been collecting stories and pictures for the next book which will be out later this year.

I am one of the 100 tallest women in the United States and in the top 200 tallest women in the world, but I still don't compare to the Bigfoot. I have big feet but theirs are definitly bigger.

I love to hear stories about Bigfoot - please share yours!

Visit Becky's website

SHE WAS bullied in her school years for towering above her classmates.

Now, Willerby woman Jessica McCubbin has had the last laugh, after shining in the Miss Beauty Curve finals in London. Jessica, 22, finished in the top ten at the pageant for plus-size women. She was also crowned Miss Publicity and Miss Top Model.

Read the full article

Canada’s Kayla Alexander, who has stepped into the world of fashion, is trying to fill the gap

Being tall is one of the gifts of life for Keila Alexander.

It helped her educate, see the world, play the sport she loves to earn a living, and become an Olympic athlete.

Disadvantage?

Shopping for clothes.

The Canadian national team star is in a majestic 6’4 position, has set multiple career records at Syracuse University, and has eight WNBA seasons, but it’s a hassle to return to school and be empty. I still remember that.

“My mom looks like a low budget,” she recalls with a zoom call from Russia. So she is playing another season in the top leagues in the country. “And I was once very jealous [my sister], Keisha.

“She came back in cute clothes like cheap and fashionable jeans. I couldn’t really find the cute and fashionable clothes that suit me, so I came back with jewelry and a T-shirt. So I never enjoyed all the shopping in the new semester. “

Nicole Murphy is Alexander’s lifelong friend from Barry, Ontario. It was Murphy who saw a new tall girl in sixth grade class, invited her to the basketball team, and inadvertently started Alexander’s career.

Murphy grew to 6 feet and had her own challenges when it came to clothing and fashion.

“I was most dissatisfied with getting ready for the party or doing something with other girlfriends. They all wanted to go shopping and get their outfits. I’m Tag But I couldn’t find anything cute and flashy. I always wore basic clothes like jeans and T-shirts to suit me, “she says. “And I don’t know if I’ll be teased, but my friends will always say,’Oh, Nicole, you’re always very boring.’

“Or you could even share clothes or even shoes before you go out. I could never. I was a little calm while they were all preparing. Looking back, I was frustrated. “

The friendship between Alexander and Murphy and the annoyance of fashion shared with them prompted them to take action. The pair launched TallSize.com with Alexander’s sister Keisha, who topped the table at 5’10. This is a business in the retail industry for those who don’t, hoping to mitigate some of the challenges they and their peers face. Candidates likely to play the center of Canada’s Senior National Women’s Team at the Tokyo Olympics, as Alexander did this summer.

It happened in two stages. In March of this year, they launched a brand directory aimed at solving the shopping and fashion needs of tall women.

“We have found all the tall clothing brands possible around the world. Then we basically put in a filter. If you are in Canada and want to find jeans with an inseam 38 that ships to Canada You can basically filter it. Put all that information inside you and find a store where you can potentially shop to find those jeans you ship to you. You can, “says Alexander.

It was a quick and encouraging response. There seemed to be a need, and visitors to the site were pleased that their scavenger hunt was quickly simplified and more rewarding. Alexander didn’t have to go to test their ideas – she just asked her past and present teammates. The life of elite basketball played around the world has told her that her frustration is widely shared.

Murphy reached beyond Alexander’s basketball world and was even more convinced that they were working on something when she interviewed potential customers.

“that is, [frustrations] We all felt, but I’ve heard a lot that I wasn’t personally affected, “Murphy said. “But there is a lot of emotional weight tied to not being able to find clothes as a tall woman, especially when you are young.

“You are already taller than a boy, that is, it’s just not normal. In addition, you can’t find clothes that make your skin feel comfortable or confident, so the body associated with it. I think there are a lot of image problems … so it’s very reasonable and I’m thinking of it I was only able to point us in the right direction. “

As the brand directory gained momentum, they began to consider other opportunities and settled on an online marketplace that allowed buyers and sellers to meet online in one place.

“The next natural step for us was okay instead of kicking [users] Go shopping from all these different top brands [we identified], How do you create something that everyone can shop for in one place? Murphy, a veteran of multiple e-commerce ventures, quit his last job to commit to TallSize full-time this summer, says. “That’s where the market model partnered with various tall brands comes from. We put all our products in one place so that tall women don’t have to search the internet for hours. Fits.

“We wanted to create a space that women could trust. We could go there and know that it was a kind of scrutiny and become a really shopping item.”

The venture hopes to offer another way for 30-year-old Alexander after her playing career is over-a children’s book she publishes with Keisha, and in her art and public. In addition to talking.

But until then, nasty and frustrating trips to the mall no longer have to be that way, and with her sister and her oldest friend, they are actively doing so. I am happy to know that.

“I always liked the entrepreneurial spirit of trying to understand what I could do,” she says. “My big thing is to do what I’m passionate about. And this is what I’m passionate about. It’s about me and I’m creative. Because it enables me to continue learning [and] … I’m working now, so when it’s time to put on my shoes, I can smoothly move on to the next stage and my Tall Size… will grow. [we] You can continue for years to come. “

Read the original article

Chase says her extreme height - she is 6'5 in flats - made her first pick in sports at school

And while she is busy building a career as a model, she has been turned down by some agencies for being too TALL. The 6’5" beauty’s pins measure a lengthy 51 inches – which is 0.9 inches off the world record.

The 22-year-old, from California, was nicknamed ‘legs’ and ‘giraffe’ in school, but says that her assets have helped her excel in sports. Now Chase has emerged to trump the current US record holder, Holly Burt - whose legs measure an impressive 49.5 inches. Chase said: “I am proud of my legs – I wouldn’t want anything different.

Follow Chase on Instagram

By JACKSON BIKO

In Summary

• A university student with a nice name called Vannet, who is 5’8’, emailed me lamenting how tall women have challenges that average women don’t.
• Tall girls get noticed even when they don’t want to get noticed. They draw too much attention to themselves.
• They intimidate men unknowingly, and it’s even worse when they realise you are smart on top of being beautiful and tall.
• She talks about how finding trousers that reach her ankles and sleeves that reach her wrist are a challenge.
• She also laments that being tall, men assume that she is independent.

There was a girl in my primary school that was taller than us by the time we were in Class Six.

I don’t remember her name, but I remember her knees; they looked like the nodes on an old, knotty tree. I saw her knees during physical education class – PE, as we called it.

She would gather her dress in her hands to play katiand her knees would be in full sight, and I’d stand there by the playing ground thinking, boy, that girl’s knees can make a hole through a wall.

She was conscious of her height, so she slouched, which made her look like a female undertaker. The other kids made fun of her height, so she was always defensive and aggressive, down for a fight with anyone, boy or girl, who crossed her path.

She was pretty though. She had big eyes. She was brown. She had breasts when breasts were not even in fashion. And she had a wonderful laugh. When she laughed you almost forgot that her knees were crude weapons. Almost.

We finished primary school and life scattered all of us like pollen in the wind. Then, in 2012, I ran into her at Sarit Centre. I saw her standing in the line to validate her parking ticket and I instantly knew it was her. It was her height.

SLOUCHED TO HIDE HEIGHT

She towered over everyone in that queue. Her face hadn’t changed one bit either; she was still brown – browner, even. She had those gorgeous big eyes. She was still pretty. And she had full breasts.

She still had that full infectious laugh; it’s amazing how time has nothing on someone’s laughter. Time doesn’t affect the well of laughter.

She was heavy with the weight that motherhood sometimes puts on women, but it was her alright, and I could tell that she never lost that slouch; her shoulders bent forward from the pre-pubescent days of trying to hide her height. She slouched in adulthood as she slouched in childhood.

I waited for her to finish paying, then I stopped her to say hello. She couldn’t remember me instantly. (I was fat in primary school. Fat and silent and dull.) I said, “Jackson Biko. Class eight red?” She looked at me closely and said, “Oooh, gosh, you have a beard now! A man!” (I pumped out my chest slightly, like an ape!)

I was embarrassed to ask her name, and she didn’t offer. She said she read my name in the newspaper and online and she always wondered if it’s the same Biko who she went to school with. I nodded and acted like it wasn’t a big deal the way my four-year-old son does when you tell him he’s looking smart.

We caught up. She has children now, married, professional woman and doing good from how expensive her handbag looked. I wanted to tell her jokingly that I remember her knees from those days, but maybe that would have offended her, so I didn’t.

Anyway, the whole point of this story is about tall women. A university student with a nice name called Vannet, who is 5’8’, emailed me lamenting how tall women have challenges that average women don’t. They get noticed even when they don’t want to get noticed.

CHIN UP GIRLS

They draw too much attention to themselves. They intimidate men unknowingly, and it’s even worse when they realise you are smart on top of being beautiful and tall. “Men take off,” she wrote. You suddenly become a mountain they don’t want to climb.

She talks about how finding trousers that reach her ankles and sleeves that reach her wrist are a challenge. She also laments that being tall, men assume that she is independent. “I rarely get guys to help me out, even to lift stuff up. They assume I don’t need help.”

I suppose that she also has to be sensitive about the kind of shoes she wears before meeting a man who is shorter than her. I told her, “Being a tall woman is a beautiful thing. Hold your head high. If a man runs away because of your height then maybe he’s not the kind of man you need.”

My nine-year old daughter will certainly be tall. Her mother isn’t short, and she has tall relatives from both sides of the family. At nine, my daughter is already as tall as they come. (Her knees look decent, though.)

I’d hate for her to make excuses for her height one day. To slouch. To conform. To feel the need to lower her height to be the same as the masses. Once in a while I tell her, ‘My, Tamms, you have such a beautiful height, I love it.” I hope it gets to her head and she always stands tall.

She will no doubt meet short boys in school who she might fancy, boys who might make her feel that her height is a liability, that it’s a yoke to be borne with stoicism. Unlucky for those boys, her confidence will have been reinforced by my wiring.

I will be praising her height so much that if a short, fat boy (like I was in primary school) makes fun of her height she will say, “Oh, please, you wish you could be as tall as me. I know you would love to brush your teeth without standing on a stool.”

Chin up, you young, tall girls. Chin up. Height can only be worn with grace.

Read the original article

Frustrated by the lack of stylish options for tall women, pro basketball athlete and designer Diana Delva launched her own direct-to-consumer clothing label.

By Elizabeth Segran - 5 minute Read

When designer Diana Delva was in middle school, she was already more than six feet tall, towering over most of her classmates. On the upside, this meant that she was a shoo-in for the basketball team. But on the downside, it was hard finding cute clothes to wear. Many of the teen brands that other high school girls wore simply did not fit on her large frame.
 
Delva went on to play basketball at the University of Hartford, and later, professionally, as part of the European basketball league. That’s when it struck her that many of her fellow athletes had similar gripes: Fashion labels viewed tall women as an afterthought rather than a valued customer.

In college, while on a full athletic scholarship, Delva interned at DSquared2 to learn about the fashion industry. Then, last year she launched her own brand, Chèlbè, which focuses entirely on the needs of tall women. This means creating trousers with bigger inseams and blouses with longer arms, all in the season’s trends. She showed her fall 2017 collection at New York Fashion Week, where she was named a “designer to watch.” She now sells clothes directly to consumers through her website, where she is focused on ensuring that her garments are at an affordable price point of under $80.

As a black woman setting out into the fashion world, Delva doesn’t have very many role models that look like her. But she does take comfort in the fact that black communities have always been very scrappy when it comes to adapting fashion trends to suit their needs. She looks to someone like Dapper Dan, for instance, who realized back in the ’90s that the luxury European designers weren’t designing for the bodies and styles of black people. So, he went out and plastered the logos of Louis Vuitton and Gucci on expensive leather, turning them into bomber jackets and jumpsuits that were a hit with the hip-hop world.

It’s this sense of resourcefulness that inspires Delva not to accept her position as an underserved customer, but to do something about it, even if it means starting a clothing line of her own.

Fast Company: Tell me about your brand. 

Diana Delva: Chèlbè is a fashionably tall clothing line catering to women 5’9 and up. The name comes from a creole word that means elegant, chic, or luxurious in dress, style, or design. I’ve translated this concept into a versatile, comfortable, and fashion-forward collection.
 
Pieces are made to accentuate and accommodate lengthier features with longer inseam, torso, and arm lengths. Some of our best sellers include the three-way jumpsuit, which is a twist on a classic black jumpsuit with asymmetrical cuts and front zipper that you can adjust to wear three ways. Others include the Illusion Palazzo Pant, high-waist flowing pants that have the illusion of shifting shades as you walk, or the simple T-shirt dress that makes a statement “Fashionably Tall.”

FC: What made you decide to launch it?

DD: I reached 6’1 by the age of 14 and quickly realized the struggle of shopping tall. I found it even more impossible as I grew older and adopted my own sense of fashion and style. Most tall options available were very basic styles that often didn’t fit my budget.

And as a basketball player, I ran into lots of women who had the same issues. It was even harder for us to show our feminine side because we couldn’t find clothing to reflect that. We would often exchange styling tips and share where we could find clothes. While shopping in mainstream stores, we opted for the men’s section, plus-sized clothing, or the cropped look. We would also pull up our sleeves and wear ankle and high boots that gave the illusion of clothing that fit.

I decided to launch Chèlbè out of pure need. I was tired of endless shopping trips trying on everything that didn’t fit. I wanted on-trend styles that regular-height women could find without the added cost.

FC: Do you feel like black consumers are underserved in your product category? If so, then why and how?
 
DD: I like to think that black consumers are at the forefront of style and setting trends since you often see those same styles mimicked in mainstream fashion. One of the bigger examples is of Gucci replicating a design by Dapper Dan, which after backlash led to a collaboration. Or the variations of cornrows you see in today’s fashion. The selection of tall clothing is very limited and, in some sense, limiting to individual style and expression. But it goes to show the resourcefulness of the black consumer. Whatever the product or budget, black consumers find a way to make it a style of their own.

FC: Are black entrepreneurs underrepresented in your industry? Why do you think this is? 

DD: I think black entrepreneurs are underrepresented in most industries, not just in the fashion world. I think that has to do with the social disparities that black entrepreneurs have to overcome. We are not starting on the same playing field. Statistically black people are less privileged when it comes to basic needs like income and education. It’s a lot harder to break into the fashion world without the proper resources and connections that black entrepreneurs often lack.

FC: Have you faced any obstacles as a person of color trying to launch a business? What are they? How did you overcome them?

DD: I haven’t noticed any obvious obstacles as a person of color launching Chèlbè, not to say they don’t exist.

I have had to build relationships with all types of people, going into every situation color-blind, letting my work and work ethic speak for itself. As in any growing business, there will be lots to overcome and there is always a solution for everything.

In sourcing my fabric from Greece and Lebanon, I’ve gone into situations where there was a distinct cultural and language barrier, but when it came down to it we had two things in common–the fabric and the price. Regardless of color or even language, there is always a common ground in business. You just have to find a way to make it work for everyone involved.

FC: Have you deliberately tried to be a visible face of your brand? 

DD: I’ve actually tried the opposite. I want to build Chèlbè itself as a brand having the designs and meaning speak for themselves: chic, elegant, graceful, and luxurious. Chèlbè is a lifestyle and can be translated into everything you do. I just help dress the part.

FC: What is your advice to other black people who are passionate about fashion/apparel and want to make an impact in this industry?

DD: Stay true to your vision. A lot of times we look for outside approval and conform our vision to be more “acceptable.” I always pass my designs by my sister and friends, even from the early stages when it’s just a drawing and fabric. Sometimes they love it and sometimes they don’t. Most of the time, they can’t really judge until there’s a finished product. Constructive criticism is a great tool to aid you along your journey, but sometimes only you can fully see or understand your ideas, and that’s okay.

About the author

Elizabeth Segran, Ph.D., is a staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
More

Read the original article