Another reason to come visit New Orleans - there are a LOT of petite women here, and the stores continue to have pretty decent petite departments. I'm 5'3" and don't feel "short". Around some women in my office, I'm actually tall - I kid you not. The old European, French and Italian mainly, blood lines show, with a little inbreeding perhaps (until H.Katrina New Orleans had a very low out-migration rate). There are some tiny well dressed ladies walking around this city, so the stores continue to carry petite sizes.

Can't help the vanity sizing, or the size difference even among the same manufactorers - tried on a 12 today that was too snug, so I put on a 10 that fit just fine when I was getting dressed for work .