THE NEW romance
Fashion takes a FEMININE DETOUR as designers across the board fall in love with THE SKIRT
This summer, if there is a fashion item that is wearing the pants in your closet, it has got to be the skirt. Giving the season a serious feminine jolt after languishing off the runways and high street due to the fuss over skinny jeans and easy-to-wear dresses, this cool classic finally finds its rightful place back in our wardrobes. And if you feel you have lost your womanly self in the rush to be one of the boys, here’s the perfect opportunity to salvage yourself.
In true sartorial spirit, this power piece is back in several avatars. “I love the skirt. It is an extremely flattering item. And since I’d hate to pick the pencil over a mini, or a dirndl over a free-flowing maxi, I have a wardrobe full of options that I work in different ways depending on the occasion,” says fashion entrepreneur and style maven Pernia Qureshi on the versatility of the skirt. “In fact, my own website (www. perniaspopupshop.com) is stocking some amazing numbers for summer, from a lovely lacey below-the-knee pencil from my own line, to a beautiful flared khadi midi from James Ferreira.” Rendering in-out trend lists obsolete, you can literally work the skirt in everything—from the new and ingenious, to the more classic and elegant. Cue Muccia Prada’s ’50s fever with her Marilyn Monroe-esque accordion-pleated midis and the roadhouse blues inspired wicked, automotive stiff leather pencils (a must-have on everyone’s shopping list). Bet you’re wondering which to pick.
Bursting out of boardrooms and hitting chic streets and cocktail parties everywhere is the new wave of the pencil skirt. At Gauri & Nainika, we saw a ’40s revival with conservative, below-the-knee numbers in rich jewel tones, while Morphe served up a futuristic helping of bulbous organza sheers layered over dresses; the more streamlined versions popped out from beneath dresses, exposing buffed summer legs in all their tanned glory. Always one for tough-girl clothes, Alexander Wang surprisingly dished out some above-the-knee sporty pencils in full bloom, a vein Altuzarra followed as well. On a more glorious note, Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci took a huge dip in the ocean and presented a modern version of the Little Mermaid in his slinky slim skirts with undulating lapels and pretty peplums. Similarly, Alexander Mcqueen’s Sarah Burton