乔希·莱夫寇维兹(Josh Lefkowitz)是纽约一位高级公关主管，他说自己的身高是“5英尺3.5英寸”(约1米61)。他提出了这样一个疑问：“既然有针对身材高大男士的服装店，怎么就没有专门面向矮个男士的呢？” 莱夫寇维兹喜欢买短36码外套，再拿到裁缝那儿修改。他买7码的鞋子，不过还得买点填充物塞进去之后才合脚。
不过，如果把标准尺寸的服装根据莱夫寇维兹的身材加以修改，{zh1}出来的比例也许wq不对头。仅仅修短衣服的下摆和袖子是远远不够的，领口、口袋、袖孔都还是太大，肘弯处太低，后摆也是耷拉着的。
这样的改动只会让一个原本矮小的人更显矮小。莱夫寇维兹说：“个高的人穿件稍微宽松的衣服，看着也还过得去。“而不合身的衣服”穿在我们身上只会显得人很邋遢。”
对于男性来说，身高是{zj1}影响力的一项体貌特征。《解密爱情》('Decoding
Love')一书探讨了有关两性吸引的科学，该书作者安德鲁·特里斯(Andrew
Trees)说，身高增加一英寸，对异性的吸引力等同于年薪增加3万美元。他说，身高同时也会影响到一个人的收入，尽管作用没有那么明显：在不考虑诸如学历等因素的前提下，身高每增加一英寸，意味着你的年收入能增加600美元。
不过有另外一个因素可以取身高而代之，那就是：预期身高。特里斯先生说，那些小时候个子长得很快、成年后其实并不高的人通常会被认为比实际上要高，这可能与他们举手投足等仪态有关。反之亦然：那些长个比较晚的人通常会被看矮了──可能是因为他们早就认为自己个矮。
这表明，个矮男士的打扮会使他们比实际身高显得高些或矮些。其中一个关键因素就是要穿比例协调的衣服。小个子穿的衣服尺码过大，很可能给人感觉是儿子穿了老爸的衣服──只能愈发凸显身材的矮小。
47岁的汤姆·希韦(Tom Hevey)是麻塞诸塞州贝尔蒙市(Belmont)的一位房产投资人，去年8月他在比弗利山(Beverly
Hills)的一条小街上偶然发现了“Jimmy Au's For Men 5'8' and Under”（Jimmy
Au's，身高5英尺8英寸以下男士服装专卖）男装店，这是全美少数几家针对矮个男士的服装店之一，店内的最小号服装是超短34码。此后希韦便深刻体会到了合体服装的强大力量。
Jimmy
Au's男装店堪称凤毛麟角，是占美国男性人口三分之一的矮个男士的福音，因为它能满足这些人士的需求。诚然，的网站上找到适合自己尺寸的服装，不过我采访过的多数大型连锁商──包括Saks
Fifth
Avenue──都说自己不会刻意去迎合矮个男士的需求。gz大多数人的需求更为有利可图，就让那些矮个子客人自己去找裁缝解决问题吧。
而且，向矮个人士销售服装并非易事，因为有些人其实并不愿意自己被划入矮个子之列。希韦先生就说当初他差点没进Jimmy
Au's男装店，因为店名明白无误地点出了顾客的身高。身高5英尺5英寸(1米65)的希韦并不认为自己个子很矮，他说：“我想我对此是有些敏感，我不愿意自己被打上这样的标签。”
Jimmy
Au's男装店备有小号的袜子和小至5码的鞋子，以及样式齐全的服装，从牛仔服到礼服应有尽有。店内有适合各种体型的服装，包括“矮胖型”、“运动型”、“特矮型”，等等。店主区应钟(Jimmy
Au)说，关键在于比例──他店里的服装口袋都是小号的，领口和袖筒也都略小一些，裤裆则往上提。
区应钟说：“如果身高5英尺7英寸(1米70)的男士来我店里采购，他就得去大码区了。”
区应钟本人的身高是5英尺2英寸(1米57)。
此外，店里的货架也比多数商店的货架低两英寸，小码服装很体贴地放在了最下面的一层。而很多男装店都是把小码衣服放在最顶层，真是让人奇怪。
不过，从Jimmy
Au's男装店的橱窗也能看出对矮个男士的偏见。当初区应钟没能买到尺寸合适的人体模型，就去找了好莱坞为动作片制作人体模型的{tx}工作室──就是在追杀戏中会被打烂的那种模型。我注意到其中一个模型很像好莱坞一位身高不到5英尺8英寸的动作jx──不过区应钟不愿指名道姓。
区应钟的主顾包括一些声名显赫的专业人士，这些人来自那种更青睐矮个人士的行当，有赛马骑师、宇航员、飞行员等等。服装店的宣传材料上列出了在上电影电视时穿过本店服装的一些明星──不过这样公开被归入矮个子的行列，这些明星本人应该感觉不是那么舒服。就在最近的某{yt}，区应钟和儿子Alan
Au还在商量向格莱美颁奖礼嘉宾提供礼服的事情。
去年8月份，希韦离开Jimmy
Au's男装店时收获颇丰：一套正装、三件运动外套、五件衬衣、两条牛仔裤和七条卡其裤。他说自己终于有了“穿起来感觉身高有6英尺2英寸的衣服”了。他说，差异“非常明显。看我穿上其中一条裤子后，我妻子都热泪盈眶了。”
后来希韦又两次从Jimmy
Au's男装店订购了大量的衣物，其中有一批冬装他事先都没看过就让直接送货了。他说：“大家都夸我，说：'你现在跟以前很不一样了。'”
'They have stores for big and tall men, so why not for shorter men?' asks Josh Lefkowitz, who describes his height as 'five-foot-three and a half.' A New York public-relations executive, Mr. Lefkowitz likes to buy a jacket in size 36 short and take it to a tailor. To make a size seven shoe fit, he buys inserts to fill out the extra space.
Yet when standard-size clothes are altered for a man like Mr. Lefkowitz, the final proportions can come out all wrong. Simply shortening a suit's hems and sleeves can leave the collar too broad, the pockets oversized, the armholes gargantuan, the elbow curves too low and the rear droopy.
All this can make a small man look even smaller. 'Taller men can get away with having things look a little baggy,' says Mr. Lefkowitz. But the wrong fit 'can make us look schlumpy.'
Height, for a man, is the ultimate power marker. An added inch of height is equivalent to an extra $30,000 year of salary, on average, when it comes to attracting a mate, says Andrew Trees, author of 'Decoding Love,' a book about the science of attraction. Height also affects earnings -- though less dramatically: Each inch earns you about $600 more per year in salary after controlling for variables like education, he says.
Yet there is one thing that supersedes height: The perception of height. Men who got early growth spurts but wound up short are often perceived to be taller than they are, says Mr. Trees, suggesting that the reason lies in their carriage. The reverse is also true: Men who became tall later on are often perceived as shorter than they are -- possibly because they learned early to think of themselves as short.
This suggests that short men can seem taller or shorter, depending on how they present themselves. A key element is wearing clothes with the right proportions. A small man wearing oversized clothes risks looking like he's dressing up in Dad's clothes -- emphasizing his diminutive stature.
Tom Hevey, a real-estate investor in Belmont, Mass., discovered the power of the right fit last August when he stumbled across one of the few stores in the U.S. that cuts clothes proportionately small for short men -- 'Jimmy Au's For Men 5'8' and Under.' Sizes at the store, which is located on a side street in Beverly Hills, start at 34 extra-short.
Jimmy Au's is a rarity -- a niche store that caters to the shorter one-third of our population. While small men can find suitable sizes online at places like , most of the big retailers I spoke with -- including Saks Fifth Avenue -- said it doesn't pay to cater to small men. It's more profitable to focus on the bulge in the bell curve, sending their shorter clients to tailors.
Moreover, it's hard to sell clothes to a group that some people prefer not to be identified with. Mr. Hevey, who is 47, says he very nearly didn't go into Jimmy Au's because he resented the name's reference to height. At 5-foot-5, he says, he doesn't consider himself short. 'I guess I'm sensitive about that, and I don't want to be labeled that way,' Mr. Hevey says.
Mr. Au carries smaller sock sizes, shoes down to a men's size five and styles that run the gamut from jeans to tuxedos. His sizes take into consideration all sorts of body types, such as 'Portly Short,' 'Athletic Short' and 'Extra Short.' The key, he says, is in the proportions -- his clothes are designed with smaller pockets, slightly narrower collars and sleeves, and higher crotches.
'If a man is five-foot-seven in my store, he shops in the tall section,' says Mr. Au, who is 5-foot-2.
Racks in the store are two inches lower than they are in most stores, and shorter sizes are thoughtfully placed on bottom shelves. Many men's stores, oddly, place shorter sizes on top.
The bias against short men is apparent even in Mr. Au's store windows. Unable to buy shorter mannequins, Mr. Au turned to a Hollywood special-effects studio that makes crash dummies for action movies -- the kind that get blown up in chase scenes. I noticed a resemblance to one famous A-list action-movie star who is under 5-foot-8 -- but Mr. Au wouldn't name names.
Mr. Au's clientele is a who's who of professionals from careers that favor the short of height, with jockeys, astronauts and jet pilots among them. The store's publicity materials list the stars it has dressed for film and television -- though the stars themselves aren't always comfortable with being publicly identified as short. On a recent day, Mr. Au and his son, Alan Au, were discussing outfits that they were sending over to participants at the Grammy awards.
After his visit to the store in August, Mr. Hevey left with a suit, three sport coats, five shirts, two pairs of jeans and seven pairs of khakis. Finally, he had clothes that 'fit like clothes fit a six-foot-two-inch guy,' he says. The difference was 'huge,' he says. 'When I tried on a pair of pants, my wife got teary-eyed.'
Mr. Hevey has since ordered two more big shipments from Mr. Au, including having a winter wardrobe shipped to Massachusetts sight unseen. 'I get compliments from people who say, 'something's different about you.''