I’ve lastly discovered the skirt of my desires – the sharp, glossy maxi | Skirts

I don’t need to put on very brief skirts, however I additionally don’t notably need to seem like a dowdy between-the-wars governess. Is that an excessive amount of to ask? You wouldn’t have thought so. It appears fully cheap to anticipate that there may be an inch or two of sartorial center floor someplace between being a bare-thighed minx on this season’s Miu Miu miniskirt and a mousey wallflower mooning together with droopy hemlines trailing in her wake. That doesn’t appear an excessive amount of to ask, does it? A skirt that appears trendy, with out being brief.

I’d like to be a short-skirt individual. And I actually have tried, I promise. However I don’t love my knees, at the least not in flat sneakers, and solely hardly ever can I rouse myself to a pair of excessive heels lately. I realise this can be a hopelessly old style lack of physique positivity and I ought to most likely maintain quiet, however I’ve at all times been ineffective at mendacity so we’re the place we’re. One can’t be on pattern on a regular basis.

It’s not that it’s arduous to discover a lengthy skirt. Fairly the opposite – they’re all over the place. Miniskirts have made a catwalk comeback up to now two years, however for a lot of the decade, hemlines have hovered round mid-calf stage.

When the midi-length skirt got here into vogue a number of years in the past it was, for some time, an thrilling and experimental new look. An extended skirt felt arty and various, in any case these years of just-above-the-knee straight skirts, or A-line pleated skirts, or knee-length pencil skirts. Longer skirts felt romantic, free-spirited and somewhat mysterious. However after 5 years of you and each different lady in your workplace carrying an extended tiered skirt teamed with trainers and a sweatshirt emblazoned with random French phrases, it’s arduous to maintain the sense of romance and thriller alive.

So I’m thrilled to report that trend’s subsequent massive factor is the sharp-but-not-short skirt. The bohemian, tiered maxi skirt is on the best way out and the glossy, stylish maxi skirt is on the best way in. This look made its trend debut on the Paris catwalk earlier this yr, for Saint Laurent’s autumn assortment. Lengthy, pristine skirts in ivory silk had been worn with spike-heeled boots or dazzling night sandals. There have been no spriggy floral prints to make the material of the skirts approachable (and even sensible, come to that), and no every-mum white trainers. The stylish updos and black sun shades added to the new-attitude really feel however, extra essential, this was merely a distinct skirt: plain reasonably than ditsy-printed, with sharp corners reasonably than gathered tiers.

A extra angular silhouette goes some technique to giving an extended skirt extra vitality. No tiers, no gathers, no flounces or trims. This doesn’t imply you can be hobbling round trapped in a cylinder of material: cloth reduce on the bias provides motion with out wanting messy. Alternatively, search for wrapover shapes or facet slits. Should you like a print, strive one thing graphic or an animal print. No meadow flowers, no toile de jouy. Additionally, take into consideration cloth. No cheesecloth crumples, nothing that sags. Shiny satins or robust leathers are a greater wager.

One of many joys of an extended skirt is that heels are strictly non-obligatory – solely for individuals who actually fancy strutting round in a pair one night. However a heeled boot is a superb associate for the sharper lengthy skirt. Simply that tiny carry could make a glance sexier.

At some point I hope to be forward-thinking sufficient to put on a miniskirt and flat sneakers. However for now, the sharp-not-short skirt definitly appears like progress.

Mannequin: Mei Mei at Milk. Hair and Make-up: Carol Morley at Carol Hayes Administration. Black physique: £85, Iris & Ink from The Outnet. Skirt: from a variety, Hayley Menzies.com. Boots, £230, Boden. Recycled earrings, £195, Loveness Lee