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Questo vestito è più corto di quello.

Questo vestito è più corto di quello.
This dress is shorter than that one.
From Lesson 67:Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Questo vestito è più corto di quello.

Why do we use di here to mean "than"?
In Italian, the basic way to compare two things is using più ... di (more ... than) or meno ... di (less ... than). So instead of having a separate word for "than", Italian uses the preposition di. Here, più corto di translates literally as "more short of/than".
Wait, doesn't vestito mean "vest"?
It's a classic false friend! Vestito means "dress" (or sometimes a full "suit" or "outfit"). If you want to talk about a vest, the Italian word is gilet.
Why does the sentence end with quello instead of quel?
We use the shortened form quel only when it comes directly before a masculine noun, like quel vestito (that dress). Because the word stands completely alone here to mean "that one", we must use the full pronoun quello.
How would this change if we were comparing skirts (gonna) instead of dresses?
You would change the adjective endings to match the feminine singular noun: Questa gonna è più corta di quella. Notice how questo, corto, and quello all switch their final -o to an -a to agree with the feminine word gonna.

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