By Sally Sara: Though they only make up a tiny statistical portion of Australia’s population, women who top the height charts at six feet or more aren’t as rare as you might think. The nation’s growing community of tall girls and tall women is finding ways to connect and to empower each other to see their height as an asset. Six foot tall ABC journalist Candice Prosser has the story.
Candice Prosser: From her studio in North Hobart, Penni Lamprey is busy sending some very special clothes to her customers.
Penni Lamprey: It’s wrapping up. We own to be plastic free in our wrapping as well.
Candice Prosser: Making a career pivot during the COVID pandemic, the experienced businesswoman saw a very tall gap in the market and decided to do something about it, creating her Australian made tall clothing label Miss G and Me, named after her daughter Grace.
Penni Lamprey: As a tall woman myself, I am six foot one, 184 centimetres, I have struggled all my life with clothes. Going about that with ease just removes more of the mental angst that we don’t have to have.
Candice Prosser: It’s a job that’s connected her with many other tall women of all ages.
Penni Lamprey: I am actually changing lives. It gets me every time. I’ll have 15 year old girls come in for the first time being able to wear clothes to school. My oldest customer I believe is 96.
Candice Prosser: With a growing network of customers, Penni Lamprey has also created an online community for tall Australian women on Facebook and encourages others to wear their height with pride.
Penni Lamprey: If you want to wear the heels, wear the heels. Society shows us and tells us that our husbands should be taller than you. They’re not always. They don’t have to be.
Candice Prosser: Standing out is something Melbourne based researcher Shakira Onwuka embraces.
Shakira Onwuka: I feel that being tall has opened so many doors. I definitely find that people notice me and I stand out. It adds to my ability to be seen as a leader. It helps me to command a room. I just find it to be super useful in just so many different ways.
Candice Prosser: That’s something Blue Van De Cruze, who’s also six feet tall, agrees with.
Blue Van De Cruze: I think I’ve just this innate sense of confidence that comes with being tall. It’s kind of an inner strength.
Candice Prosser: She says she was always around tall women growing up and that made a big difference to her sense of confidence.
Blue Van De Cruze: I was really lucky that there’s a lot of tall women in my family. So I had that, you know, modelled for me. I’ll be beautiful, strong, powerful woman that were also really tall. I really grew up kind of noticing that I stand out and having that be a really positive thing.
Candice Prosser: 190cm tall Adelaide Thunderbirds player Lucy Austin says she found her confidence on the netball court.
Lucy Austin: It definitely took a long time for me to learn to love being tall and I think I learnt that through netball. It just helps me thrive and use my height as my strength and that’s helped off the court as well.
Candice Prosser: For researcher Shakira Onwuka, her self-confidence blossomed in her teenage years when she was approached by a modelling agency in the United States.
Shakira Onwuka: I just really started to embrace being tall. I was around so many other tall young women who were very confident which added to my confidence. It really transformed how I saw myself being around a little bit older women who were also tall. I started to see it as something that was very beautiful and an advantage in life.
Candice Prosser: It’s clear that for many young girls, positive representation is a powerful thing.
Sally Sara: One for the tall women there. That report from Candice Prosser.
