A pretty little skirt. I had a client in one of those yesterday. My dear Maya, what does the skirt look like on now? That will determine whether you keep it.

Well, it looks basically the same, except it doesn't fall quite as straight as it does in those pictures. I think it actually looks better. I am just not sure what to wear with it. I'm used to wearing structured skirts and this makes me feel a bit hippie-ish.

Dressing in summer is a dilemma for me in general. Aside from the horrid uncomfortable shoes, there is no layering and no scarves or cute hats or other winter accessories to play with. I just feel like most of my outfits are boring or fall flat. At least there I was able to wear that amazing belt but now I don't think that would be doing me any favors.

My plan was to post a picture after I get some suggestions so you can see how it looks when I put those suggestions to the test.

I have a skirt similar to this, I got it at ON. It no longer fits me though, but when it did, I wore it constantly. Like you, I'd wear it with a basic black v-neck tee, or a black sleeveless v-neck knit top that I still have and would probably be YLF-approved. The second dressed it up just a bit. Very simple but cool and comfy in hot weather. But really, you could put just about any color top with a white skirt.

I adore those shoes Maya! What brand? Are they comfy?

The hip belt: jealous you can pull this off - and with flat shoes, no less! It's your long legs. My DD16 is the same; she loves hip belts. But why can't you wear hip belts now?

Hmm, if you don't want to wear the belt, what about looking for a skirt top that has some interesting pattern at the bottom?

I think the skirt is comfortable and versatile and yes, almost any colour top would go with it

I like the skirt and you looked great, I also like the shoes!! What is wrong with them?

I'm not so much confused about color as texture and style. I either feel like my tops are too casual or too dressy for it and I never feel like my outfits are as interesting as I want them to be when I'm wearing it.

Shiny, those shoes are from Rocket Dog. They were actually pretty comfy but looked odd. They were very soft like bedroom slippers and my feet sort of distorted them. I didnt care though because they were comfy, which is why I brought them with me when I was in France (where these pictures were taken). Unfortunately they were terrible quality and didn't last long.

These are the shoes:
http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-D.....B001BP7W3Q

You can kind of see how weird they look on my feet here:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....G_2253.jpg

I can't wear the belt because I am slightly bigger now, so the belt isn't big enough to sit around my hips anymore. Instead it falls directly over the biggest part of my tum. It looks great from the front but from the side it's not very flattering. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those things YLF would like but I would not be comfortable in it.

I like the entire look. The hip belt works well...I think short waist ,long legs like myself, and possibly you ,look best with belts a little lower it elongates our waist. Nothing looks good belted at my waist...it is just too high, and throws my proportions off...looks odd... so I say keep the skirt and the belt too.

This looks like a wonderful summer skirt. I like it with the simple black V-neck knit. How would it look with your aqua cowl neck that you wore to the opera? Can you wear the belt at an angle to make a diagonal line through the tummy area?

The skirt looks super cute on you, keep!

I think if it looks as good or better now, keep. Since you don't feel comfortable with the hip belt, I like the previously suggested idea of a top with a band/pattern on the bottom. If I did a plain knit with no belt, I'd add some jewelry. Otherwise, I think a dressier knit top, like the cowl, could look great. Show us some experiments!

Hi Maya, I really like this skirt and think it looks great on you. But then, I gravitate toward "bigger" skirts rather than pencils, etc.

You said your outfits aren't interesting enough to you when you wear it, though. Can you pinpoint why that is? My first thought was that because it's obviously a summer skirt (looks perfect for hot days), it might be the heat that keeps you from layering on the interesting stuff, rather than the skirt itself? If that's it, I can totally relate- when it's hot out I tend to dress very simply because I don't want to be lugging around layers, awkward accessories, etc, and then sometimes just end up bored with what I'm wearing.

I don't really know your wardrobe well enough to suggest tops that might work, but with my skirts like this I tend to wear jersey t's or tanks that have some interest- interesting sleeves, some kind of neckline detail- I had a printed tank that I wore to death last summer. I think that imitating the details in dressier styles (woven blouses) in casual fabrics (jersey) is a great trick for summer- just the right amount of interest, but cooler and still wearer-friendly.

Maya - I think you look fabulous in the skirt. I love it. I am far from an expert, but I'd pair it with a sleeveless shirt or a banded bottom (if you can find one that works). That sounds easy when I say it, but when I actually think about what shirt, it becomes a lot more difficult because you have to find one that's short enough for a skirt. I was thinking something like this:
http://www.bodenusa.com/en-us/.....n-Top.html
But, when I look at the length, it's 22 inches long, and I think that for me that would be a little too long for skirts for me, and I suspect for you.

I see what you mean about the shoes when you show a shot of them close-up, but like Shiny, I really like the shoes themselves.

Ele: That's pretty much what I mean. When it's hot out, I like to wear as little as possible without being obscene. It's hard to come up with an interesting look that way though, especially with a skirt shape that I"m just not used to wearing. I have other A line skirts but they're more rigid rather than flowing. I don't even have a decent variety of shoes. I think it would look SUPER with some fun wedge espadrilles but I do not have any, and the odds of me finding any that are comfy enough are nil.

Christine, I have a hard time finding shirts for skirts. How tall are you again? Do you shop in the petites department? Sometimes even petites are too long because I'm short-waisted. I sort of lucked out with the two BR cowl neck tops I got last year (I say sort of because I didn't intend for them to be skirt-length, but that's how they ended up).

Maya: I think you wear this very well. Keep!

I'm about 5'3 but it's mostly legs. My torso is quite short, and I'm very short waisted. For skirt-tops, I definitely have to get petites, but I haven't found a lot that I like. Thus I don't actually have any tops that go that well with skirts, at least casual ones. For pants, I like longer tops because it makes me look like I'm more balanced.

Wow, we really are body type twins, except I'm a whole inch shorter :p

I made one of my BR cowl tops a skirt top by accidentally throwing it in the dryer. I don't know if I should really recommend that though. The other one I bought in a petite size because they didn't have any regulars left in the color I wanted, but it ended up being much shorter than I expected.

Most of the time I just wear a very fitted shirt and scrunch it up a bit. I can't bring myself to hem shirts just to wear with skirts, especially if they're knits, which is what I usually wear. It seems so wrong.