Exactly 5’5 with a petite frame and giant head here, I always get lumped in with friends who are petite yet shorter than me. My thought process went:

• I’m really teeny (like narrow) but in terms of body shape curvier than other people with my build, I must be TR!

• wait. TRs are supposed to have short bones. I have loooooong sharp bones as a secondary feature after my overall narrowness and curve-relative-to-other petites. I look tiny next to average build people but I look gawky and large next to other petite people. And I pull off bolder styles — I hate delicate styles, small jewelry and rounded shapes in prints and accessories do nothing for me. TR can’t be right.

• The last descriptor anyone would use for me is broad, so I’m not a natural. And my body has always looked and felt awkward next to classics because my features seem mixed-up and unnatural, so I’m likely not a classic.

• welp, I’m on the border where gamine types are still open. Am I a gamine?

• FG sounds almost right — I’m leggy, I’m flattered by drama, the facial features are almost right. But wait. Their yang is supposed to tend broad and angular. I’m overwhelmingly narrow and angular. And they shouldn’t be hourglassy — I’m a very small scaled down hourglass with sharp, long shoulders and limbs. They tend stocky when they gain weight but when I do I just get soft, and still look long. They are also sometimes described as a small version of athletic or broad types and athletic and broad are the two adjectives I’m on the polar opposite from. I look like an SG next to FGs. This isn’t right either

• Am I an SG? People on this sub pointed me there first. They’re also overall petite and little looking with yang and some curve. Honestly, SG almost fits me perfectly, except they should never appear tall or very thin and have short limbs as opposed to FG’s long limbs. Those characteristics alone threw off the whole ID. I look sharp and overgrown next to SGs, like someone stretched me out.

• Am I just a little dramatic? People on this sub pushed me in that direction too, because my narrowness, elongation and sharpness jumps out when you look at me. But I have spent a lot of time with dramatics and being photographed with them and they are the people who make me look like a TR. We both have drama and sharpness but they make me look like Tinkerbell. And dramatics can never look petite, hourglass-y or too full in the face or the limbs. I often look petite next to larger types, I have full facial features on an angular facial bone structure, and when I gain weight it goes to my boobs and limbs.

• Am I positive I’m not a DC? Yes. They can never have bones that look large or delicate and my bones always look large (long) AND delicate (narrow). They tend to gain weight in a pear shape, I don’t gain weight that way. They tend to gain muscle easily and I don’t.

You can tell reading through all this that there’s multiple flags where I basically describe exactly what an SD is and you’d be right, it’s how I finally settled on it. At the end of the day, I have a narrow, yet angular bone structure and soft, non-muscley skin. My curves are more than baseline curve because I will start to look short and stout in the wrong lines. I’m like a scaled down dramatic skeleton with romantic features hanging off of that skeleton.

I can cosplay as a TR/SG and try to look cutesy like a little princess or fairy or femme fatale, but I’ll look gawky and bony and overgrown next to someone whose body actually is that, and little details don’t suit me. I DO look amazing in bold, intense, dramatic looks — they never overwhelm me, I will try anything. But when they aren’t curved and nipped and feminine, my essence doesn’t translate well. In fabrics that are too stiff and straight, if they aren’t pared with flowing or drapey features, I look like a child playing dress up as a dramatic, or I look too boyish for my romantic features to shine. In soft fabrics that are cut too straight (traditional dramatic lines), I can even look stocky or matronly, or just look like a little scrawny kid drowning instead of the “tall drink of water” thing dramatics get.

Gamines were my huge sticking point because I thought I looked good “breaking the line” since I wear a lot of really high waisted stuff that blocks me at the natural waist. The thing is, I’m so short torso-d and long legged that those silhouettes actually do bring out my vertical — the vertical is in my legs all on their own. So those silhouettes don’t break my line, they accentuate it. That’s why I also look good in stuff where the fabric changing right at the underbust is super flattering. Compared to similar types, I also look so good in wide legged / long pants and cowl necks. The trim / super skinny / cropped pants that TRs and SGs rock do nothing for me — I look fine, but I’m not shining. And a midi dress that’s fitted to show off my curves is top tier where shorter types might look awkward without a line break. Plus, I look excellent in capes and outfits with a strong shoulder, as long as one of the fabrics on my body is slinky, voluminous or drapey. TLDR — I am obviously an SD, I’m just little and no one would peg me as a tall curvy goddess but when I dress like that’s me, and really accentuate contrast between shapes, silhouettes and colors, I look my most outstanding and flattered. I never look physically imposing as in I’m towering over someone or something, but even for how little my stature comes off I can look “big” just for how bold and dramatic and attention-getting the shapes of my silhouettes are. So I end up dwarfing some larger types in terms of overall presence, when I wear my lines and really play myself up. Always loved geometric cuts, abstract/watercolor prints, bold colors, large & glam jewelry, etc. as long as they were paired with some kind of softness somewhere.