Claire's Pick of the Best Beige A Line Skirts

I used to believe beige was the new black. For four years I avoided beige like it was the colour of defeat. Nan had a beige three piece suite. Mum had beige curtains that were supposed to match nothing else in the room. So when I found myself buying a beige A line skirt of my own it was only because I was being strong armed into attending a wedding I didn’t want to go to and everything else I owned felt like too much effort or costume guilty. I wore that skirt three times in the next two weeks. For me that’s revolutionary.

What makes a great one simple but easy to mess up.
You want the flare to actually start at the waist. If it flares straight away yes, you will look like you are wearing a lampshade. Start it too high and it just wrinkles under your buttocks all day. Got enough structure in the fabric. Sound like that matters? It does. Find something with a bit of body to it, it’ll hold the pleat throughout the day without you having to readjust constantly.
I sat at dinner for three hours in mine last winter and got up at the end of the night still looking like I did when I sat down. A colleague even said to me when I got up “how has that not creased” like I’d done something impressive to the skirt, not realise she actually had.

Length is important too. Just grazing the knee is way more versatile than weird cropped uneven areas that do nothing for your leg line. Think of it as chopping your legs off in the middle of a sentence.

As far as styling goes this is where beige goes from boring to bounty. It matches everything. Thick jumper and boots for autumn/winter, tucked into a white shirt if you need to look slightly professional, plain tee and trainers if you’re just doingAdult Things but don’t feel like putting effort into them. It’s suitable for a christening, work event, lunch you completely forgot about but agreed to three weeks ago. Anywhere you need to look like you made some effort without anyone being able to legitimately question it.