I used to think a black mini skirt was the easy option, the thing you reach for when you can’t be bothered to think. I was wrong, and I held that wrong opinion for years, right up until I tried to buy one in a hurry for a leaving do and discovered that most of them are either stiff as cardboard or so short you spend the whole night doing the seated tug. A proper one earns its place through the weight of the fabric more than anything else. Too thin and it clings in all the wrong places and creases the second you sit down on the tube. Too stiff and it stands away from you like a lampshade. The good ones have a bit of body to them, they sit with a slight A line or a clean straight drop, and they move when you walk rather than staying rigid like they’re bracing for impact.
What I love about this category is how much it does with so little fabric. A black mini skirt is basically a decision making device.
Once it’s on, the top half is where all the fun happens, and you can go anywhere from there. Tucked in with a crisp white shirt and it reads like the first day back after a long weekend, sharp and a bit smug about it. Thrown on with an oversized jumper and boots and it’s suddenly the thing you wear to a Sunday lunch that might turn into more than lunch. My colleague Priya once told me she wore the same one three days running with different tops and nobody at work noticed once, which either says something about the skirt or something about how closely people are actually paying attention to us at our desks.
Tights are the real decision. Sheer black for anything after 6pm, opaque and slightly thick for anything involving actual weather, bare legs if you are the sort of person who runs warm and doesn’t feel the cold in your knees the way I do. Boots ground it, heels dress it up properly, trainers make it look like you didn’t try, which is its own kind of trying.
It suits parties, obviously, but it’s just as good for the ordinary Tuesday when you want to feel slightly more put together than the day requires.
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