Big hopes for small fashion

Big hopes for small fashion


At 27 inches tall, Bridgette Jordan, 23, is shorter than most table lamps and weighs just 18 pounds. For obvious reasons, her stature tacitly commands your attention.

And though she may no longer be the Guinness Book of World Records holder for shortest adult female, she holds the record as the world's shortest cheerleader (though she's no longer on the squad) and, along with her brother, Brad, is half of the world's shortest siblings.

Bridgette Jordan soon may define a new category - world's smallest fashion designer - with some help from St. Louis designer Amy Johnson.

Christy Jordan says her daughter has lived an extraordinarily ordinary life in Sandoval, Ill., 63 miles east of St. Louis.

It's no surprise that she and her brother, 21, will be the stars of a reality television series this season. Both have the same rare form of dwarfism. Their parents and older sister, Brandi, 24, are "regular-sized."

The show, "Big Tiny," premieres on TLC at 9 tonight and chronicles the Jordans as "they make something big out of being tiny," according to the docu-series description.

Filmed from February to May of this year, there are eight half-hour episodes in the series. The episodes are airing two at a time, back to back, for the show's four-week run.

In one episode, the Jordans navigate a supermarket. At one point, Bridgette Jordan attempts to lift a bag of sugar from a bottom shelf that she proclaims "probably weighs more than I do." She ends up selecting a smaller bag.

To find out that a woman who literally looks up to toddlers is attending college, learning to drive and loves to bake is a difficult concept to wrap one's head around.

"Even I have to stop myself sometimes from wanting to help too much," said Christy Jordan. "I have to tell myself she's an adult, she can do it ... she can figure out how to do it."

Bridgette was diagnosed with Majewski Osteodysplastic Primordial Dwarfism Type II when she was 18 months old and Brad was on the way. She was born weighing a scant 1 pound 12 ounces and was hospitalized for three months before it was clear she wasn't going to grow to a normal weight.

At the time, the World Wide Web was in its infancy as well, so Christy Jordan, who is a registered nurse, and her doctors had to learn things the hard way.

Now, the Jordans have 40 families in their circle of little people friends, and Christy Jordan is going to be the next president of Potentials Foundation, a group that helps with education, moral support, medical advice and travel fees for families with dwarfs.

Jordan said she wants to take some of the fear out of dwarfism.

Brad Jordan has the same syndrome but stands about 38 inches tall. He and his sister are the only known dwarfs on both sides of the family.

One of the more striking things about the Jordan home is the lack of tiny furniture. Bridgette and Brad Jordan sleep on twin beds but not the toddler beds that people their size often use. The kitchen has not been adapted (except for step stools), but there are smaller amenities in the bathroom.

"There's a lot of climbing in this house," Christy Jordan explains. "I don't want them to rely on small furniture because the world's not going to adapt to them; they are going to have to adapt to it."

She said that she wants them to be prepared and undaunted. It seems to be working. Both attend Kaskaskia College in nearby Centralia, Ill. One day at school, Brad Jordan wanted to avoid walking into the wrong lecture room, but he couldn't peer into the window above the door knob. He stopped someone in the hall and had them look inside for him.

"When he told me that story, I knew that he'd be OK," his mom said. "He doesn't need someone with him all the time."

It helps that Brad Jordan is outspoken, athletic and competitive.

He plays basketball at a hoop outside the family home but uses an NBA-size basketball and the hoop is regulation height. He brags that he's pretty good.

Brad Jordan was a powerhouse gymnast. He tumbled and flipped with astounding athleticism (search YouTube for Brad Jordan gymnast for proof). Now, he's over gymnastics as he moves up the belted ranks in karate.

Bridgette Jordan was applying makeup before an interview with the Post-Dispatch, so she sauntered in fashionably late wearing a grayish leopard-print skirt and a peach-colored "love" T-shirt. Her below shoulder-length auburn hair has blond streaks.

In other words, she dresses like a typical college student who dreams of becoming a fashion designer, except for the shoes.

"She'd kill for a pair of heels," her mother explained. "Wouldn't you, Bri?"

Jordan sighed and nodded with her whole body.

She wears infant shoes - her sister and nieces usually help glam them up with paint and sparkles, but finding heels is impossible. There are some cheeky novelty infant heels on the market, but they aren't designed to be functional because the typical wearer isn't actually able to walk.

Jordan shops for clothing in the children's department, but most infant garments are designed to maximize cuteness, not follow current trends. She adapts or alters what she can, but she longed for a custom gown.

The show made that dream come true with a call to Amy Johnson of KayOss Designs in St. Louis.

When Johnson first got the email from the television production crew based in Wales, England, referring to dwarf siblings and the need for a custom gown, she deleted it as quickly as she dispenses with mail from a "Nigerian prince" needing help acquiring his millions.

"I thought, this can't be real," Johnson said.

Then a few days later, a producer called to speak to her. After hearing Jordan's story, she wanted to help her no matter what. Johnson, an environmental engineer-turned-fashion-designer, knew a thing or two about changing expectations.

She created a one-shouldered, belted shift dress with vertical stripes from a sketch Jordan drew. Then as a surprise, Johnson crafted a second dress - a hot pink miniature version of a popular floor-length dress from her KayOss Designs clothing line.

"When we were fitting her for the dress, I was like, 'She's really got a womanly shape,'" Johnson said.

Her womanly proportions mean that shopping in the infant clothes department must be even more of a struggle, Johnson said.

Johnson's dress for Jordan was so flattering that her sister decided to use it as the design for her bridesmaid dresses. Bridgette Jordan was maid of honor.

"That's just one of those God things. We were lucky," Christy Jordan said.

The wedding was less than a few months away, and they hadn't decided on bridesmaid dresses because they assumed that fitting Bridgette would be difficult.

Bridgette Jordan said she wants to design for small women who have the same fashion challenges that she does. She said she feels more confident dressed up, and she wants other women her size to get the same boost.

"We do the same things, just differently," she said.