The Beige Leather Skirts Worth Your Money

For years I avoided beige leather, assuming it to be black leather’s dull and nerdy sibling, the option you choose when the other is unavailable. Do you know what? I was wrong. I’m going to state that quite bluntly because I realised I was wrong staring grimly at myself in the changing room on one particular Saturday afternoon, lit by shop fluorescents and wearing a camel skirt. Black leather screams. Beige leather doesn’t move. It just looks rich, which is a vastly different set of qualities.

Find ones with weight. Pay attention to the drape; it should fold gently rather than hold a crisp crease like cheap fabric pretending to be leather. Look for colours that are sandy or clay-like, not yellowy-brown taupes. Tan is where camel or beige starts heading towards school gym kit, and that is not the look we’re going for here.
Touch it. Run your hand across the front. Does it rip into a sharp crease? If yes, move along.
Style-wise is where things get interesting. Because beige leather does nothing to rebel against. Cream knit jumpers, white shirts worn open over trousers, everything denim, everything navy. It’ll all work with beige leather effortlessly on a week day when you’d rather be in your pyjamas. Sure.

My favourite combinations are leather throwing down the gauntlet against something coarse-textured; messy hair, a big knitted jumper with dropped shoulders, suede trainers. Let the skirt do the smooth thing against something that’s visibly been around the block rather than pairing it with things that It Sometimes All Goes So Well, effortlessly matching till you start to look like a tourist brochure. My friend Priya looked at me wearing mine with trainers and a ribbed tee and said it looked like I’d tried not trying. There’s your goal.

It’s handy for occasions too. It’s not stupidly smart, but it’s smarter than your average denim skirt. Take it for lunches that may or may not become dinner and drinks. Bring it to meet the client, then keep walking and use it for the rest of your day. Weddings where you’re not the bride can especially benefit from a beige leather skirt; it edges you away from Sunday roast while not screaming coat-of-many-colours.

It’s not a night-out skirt, unless your night out is more Moulin Rouge and less Love Cocktail Dresses. In fact, the quicker you move away from thinking of it as a skirt you’ll “dress up” the better. It starts looking questionable really fast.

For me, the proof of a successful skirt is whether I still recognise myself awkwardly sitting on my knees at the end of the day, rather than seeing something that needs to be hung up for fear of it creasing before 11am. Good beige leather will let you get away with it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is beige leather’s superpower.