There are so many ways to style a plain or lightly patterned skirt in a neutral colour and it works for so many occasions. You may remember I mention wardrobe workhorses in this post about the 5 questions you must ask yourself before you next buy any clothes. This skirt qualifies as a wardrobe workhorse as it can be worn in so many ways for so many different occasions. When you are thinking about dressing an item up or down, ideally it’s at a Level 2 of Refinement, so it’s dressy enough to be able to work in a Level 1 environment, but can also be dressed down for more casual looks.
You can style it for a summers day for a relaxed business dress code at work or lunch out with the girls
You can make it work for a weekend in autumn or winter
Dress it up for a more corporate environment
Or glam it up for an evening out
Or just dress it down for casual with a denim jacket and flats
Not sure which skirt shapes suit you best? Check out this blog post on the best skirt for your body shape.
And here is a pinnable image
Great options! Really appreciate the versatility of a skirt.
Also like it layered over pants. Can give a very modern look.
in the corporate ensemble, is the blue jacket a warm blue?? (cos the necklace and earrings are golden)
I love your blog Imogen. It’s gonna be my new fashion Bible!!!!
As a 5’3″ X shape, I love skirts because they simply look better than pants on me. Pants and jeans shorten my frame, and it’s impossible for me to get waist definition in tops without my paunch sticking out
Skirts are a fabulous garment – I love them too – so many women don’t realise that they are often way more flattering than pants, plus so much easier to buy and fit! Thanks for reading Maneera.
Thanks a lot Imogen
I was wondering if you could do a post about playing with skirt styles and lengths for different body shapes.
I mentioned I have an X shape, so dressy outfits seem to look very smart, especially pencil skirts with tops tucked in or tops that just skim the waistband of the skirt (I’m guessing because of the heels). But at 5’3″, I do find it challenging to style skirts with flats in a cool, casual way. Knits always exaggerate my paunch and I can’t style a casual tee and skirt without spanx underneath (not too causal, eh?!)
Flowy tops give me zero waist definition and I look like I’ve drowned in fabric- the tent like effect basically. So what can I do to wear skirts more casually with flat shoes? Also, what cuts and fabrics to look for in midi and maxi length skirts?
Hope to hear from you soon!
Hi Imogen,
I am new to your blog (I’ve only known about it for a month or so). I’ve really enjoyed perusing through all of the different posts. Also, I wanted to let you know how beautiful and natural your light hair looks! I was very surprised to see from your earlier posts that you used to have dark brown hair – I wouldn’t have guessed it.
So my first question is: Say my wardrobe at present contains all of the pieces you have above, would you mind showing how you would expand from these (13 clothing items and 13 accessories) to a complete wardrobe? Since you have both warmer and cooler weather outfits, perhaps you could do one wardrobe for each? This is relevant to me because I’m trying to transition from an individual outfit-based wardrobe to a more frugal, pulled together capsule style wardrobe, and I just feel confused about how to get it to work, not to mention how my thinking maybe needs to change.
My second question is, again beginning with the above wardrobe, could you show us how to transition it from the work in an office wardrobe to, say, a telecommuting or even retirement wardrobe. While I’ve seen the posts that show wardrobes for different life situations, I still don’t know how I would get from point A to point B.
Thanks!
Thanks Anne – so you want me to use the garments I used with this skirt as a basis for a larger wardrobe?
Silly me! I responded via my regular email.. Sorry about that. Let me try again. Yes, that is what I was asking but also: the 5-outfit wardrobe you show is already way more evolved than my present wardrobe, where I would have 4 more bottoms, and the outfits would most probably not relate to each other color-wise. So my present wardrobe is bulkier, more expensive and less versatile than the one you show. There is nothing good about this. With your wardrobe, I could see myself attending a conference, giving a formal presentation, going out to dinner with colleagues and doing a little sight-seeing – all with just a few pieces. Wouldn’t that be great! I can see from your pictures how I could take one favorite and versatile piece from my present wardrobe, and with a little creativity and risk taking (not me!) I could “shop my closet” to put together the foundation of the kind of wardrobe I would like to have. So what next? Having pictures would really help me to answer that question.
Thanks again!
Anne
Thank you for this! Being able to visualize it really brings it home and makes me want to shop my closet better!
Beautiful styling, Imogen — I love this post!
Maxi skirts are absolutely still in fashion