Pencil skirts and me - the battle - YouLookFab Forum

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Pencil skirts and me - the battle

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I know these are bad pics, sorry. I actually took them for the top, but realized very soon after donning my leather panel skirt that I just don't like it on me. I tried it with a tucked in button front as well and felt like one big square bottom.
It seems like every body type is supposed to be able to do a pencil (maybe I'm off there) but I dislike it every time I see one on me.
The other looks either come in along my outside leg line, or show my legs' separation with a break between. I feel the pencil just makes a huge square of my bottom half. I am a figure 8 hourglass and realized a while ago that a-lines that flare from my high hip are not flattering because they start at my widest part and do not narrow from there. Maybe this is the same? Any other 'I can't do pencil skirts' posters out there?

EDIT: regarding the top, I finally put a bra on for pic 3, so that may skew the fit LOL. I was lounging, what can I say?

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Dressing

50 replies

Latest reply was from Jules

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I think it is the combination of the top and bottom that is throwing it off. I think the skirt on its own is very flattering on you. The length and contrast between the white and black is creating a square shape. I think a draped or half tucked top would be fab with the skirt.

I think it is worth a few more tries.

kellygirl

Veteran

I love the bottoms in 2 and 3. I think the first one would be more flattering if it was longer and tapered more. The only pencil skirt I have found to be remotely flattering on me is the VC tube skirt. I think it works because it is longer and tapers to below the knee. I've tried other pencils like the Halogen seamed skirt and it made me look like a block.

FWIW: I think Dianthus has a point about the high contrast of the top throwing things off.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Other attempts from the past:

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Mo

(website)

Veteran

I feel like it both doesn't start high enough to be at a narrower part of my waist, and does not taper in to a narrower part on my leg. Hence, the blocky feeling.
Kelly, I agree, the VC tube is another animal precisely because of the taper. LOVE my tube skirt!

rachylou

Veteran

Maybe it's that the skirt is more a straight skirt than a pencil skirt... and that it looks best with a relaxed top like #3 in the second set of pics...

kellygirl

Veteran

Uh, these pics make me rethink my original assessment. You look amazing in the pencil! Keep!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Rachy, I'm confused - I thought pencil meant straight, just like a pencil?
Kelly LOL - you're not helping!!!

Gigi

Veteran

I think kellygirl is right: the leather skirt would work better if it were tapered at the bottom. I am a figure 8 too, and I have found that my BR pencil skirt, which is not tapered, looks only so-so, while other pencil skirts that I have that are tapered look tons better. Can you get the skirt tapered a tad? It doesn't need to be much. It's a nice skirt on you.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I was thinking the same thing as Kelly. I see the pics and think, Wow, I wish I looked that good in a pencil. You look at the pics and see a block. I'm even wearing my glasses.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

A pencil skirt can taper in at the side seams - in fact that's often more flattering unless the wearer is particularly pear shaped. Yours does not taper at all. That's what is causing you to feel like it's too square.

kellygirl

Veteran

@Dianthus: I know, right?!!

shiny

Veteran

You need a longer skirt -- make the square into a rectangle. To the knee, or just below, or even midi length. Tapered at the bottom. It will make ALL the difference.

I can't tell by the photo but it seems your leather skirt isn't exactly a pencil skirt? By that I mean, a pencil skirt tends to taper at the bottom, the last few inches, following the shape of your legs as they narrow to the knee. This skirt looks like it is going straight down with no taper.

That said, though I love the way I look in pencil skirts, I have major challenges with them because of my apple belly, which fluctuates rather dramatically these days with every hormone swing. Some days I can zip up my pencil skirt. The next day, I can just barely zip AND... I look like a snake that ate a crocodile. Or gain just a slight amount of weight and boom, forget it, and I can't even zip it up. For this reason, pencil skirts tend to languish in my closet, unfortunately. (Note I am not including the VC tube skirt, since it is knit and stretchy - those skirts I have no problem with.... )

Aida

Veteran

Angie said what I was thinking: you need a skirt that's tapered! The skirt in photo #2 is closest, I think that looks super. I have the same feeling as you do in a straighter skirt, just a big block. When they taper it's MUCH better. I also don't usually wear mine all the way up to my natural waist because it's just so darn high up there. I have a couple that go up high, and a couple that sit much lower and the lower ones get worn more. I think I have one straight pencil skirt left, and I'm planning to take it in for a tapering alteration soon because I love everything about it... except the blocky fit.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Okay, I think I have the wrong impression of what a pencil skirt is, then. Pencil does imply straight, no? FWIW, here it is on the model

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Aida

Veteran

Hmm well I'm not 100% sure because I'm not super pencil skirty, but that does look like a pencil skirt, just a straight pencil. Tapered versions are still pencil skirts, just more tapered.

Aida

Veteran

Ok so I'm thinking straighter (#1) versus tapered (#2). Both pencil skirts, but #1 would give you more of the block feeling, and #2 would feel much better.

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Suz

(website)

Veteran

I can only really wear the more tapered skirts well. The Halogen skirt is slightly tapered but not quite enough for perfect flattery on me. Although I own two of them and wear them, LOL. Trouble is, I can't wear my tube skirt in winter. So if I want a skirt in winter, the Halogen is the best I've got.

Frustrating, no?

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

You look great in the skirt Mo - really, I think it just maybe doesn't wow you with some of your tops. The problem with non-knit pencils that taper seem to be confining movement - maybe that's why ones made with less giving fabric are not tapered?

AJ

Veteran

I think pencil skirts can be straight or tapered.

Tapering your skirt shouldn't be that hard of a fix, right?

I'm with you, my pencil skirts need to taper in order to be flattering on me.

I think the skirt looks good as is. Skirt #2 is more flattering, but that doesn't mean the first one isn't any good.

columbine(erin)

Veteran

I was thinking about what you said about a line skirts. I have an hourglass shape with a hip shelf and need to be careful that the tops I pair with a line skirts aren't too long, especially if I'm not tucking. Otherwise the top covers the narrowest part of my waist. The top needs to end just a little below that narrow point. Anyway that's not helpful for your skirt here; do you have a trusted alterations person who could taper it for you?

shiny

Veteran

Mo, your skirt fits you exactly like it fits the model! You have an enviable shape.

Regardless of what it's called - straight or pencil - I don't think your skirt can be taken to the tailor to have it tapered because of the length - you'd have a difficult time when you sat down in it, especially since it's leather.

Imagine if your skirt went all the way to the knee, and was tapered from its current hemline on down. Maybe someone here is handy with photoshop and could show the effect?

rachylou

Veteran

Fascinating. I think the pencil skirt is the tapered one and the straight skirt is, well, a straight skirt.

But in any case, what Angie said!

Gigi

Veteran

I don't think that the skirt needs to be as form fitting or tapered as much as in Aida's second example. I think that as long as the sides taper *a bit*, that is all the shaping you need. Such a small taper wouldn't restrict the movement.

Aida

Veteran

Hah yes Gigi you're right, it needent be quite that tapered. I just wanted a more exaggerated example. That said, I do feel best in my most tapered pencil skirts; a little taper helps me only a little.

Anonymous

Just my thought on the matter, leather tends to look blocky period ...unless it's a drapy soft lamb leather. And I agree, for it to be pencil skirt, it would be a little longer and tapered. It's funny, my eye has totally changed for skirt lengths in the last year, and I want to see everything just at or only slightly above the knee.

Anonymous

First, that skirt looks amazing on you! And I like how the leather makes it feel less officey and more like something that fits well in your wardrobe.

Second, this thread has been really instructive! I think I might be a figure 8 too and the only pencil skirts I ever wear, besides the VC ones, are made of ponte that has some give to it. I like it because that's the only way I can find a pencil that fits comfortably over my hips (and, um, my less-than-flat stomach, kind of like Shiny describes). But now I'm wondering if the tapering effect is part of why I like them on me, since the stretch lets them fit over my hips, then taper down below them so I don't look boxy. The extra bit of shape is probably especially good since I wear a lot of less fitted tops with these skirts.

I used to assume pencil skirts wouldn't work on me so I didn't even bother trying them. Then I kept hearing about the Halogen ones back when I was an occasional lurker here and tried them. They eventually started to irritate me because the lining kept me from getting the full benefit of the stretchiness and the really thick fabric plus the lining meant that they felt too bulky. But they did make me realize the shape could work on me and get me used to wearing them.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Hmmm, well since I have other skirts that do taper (the VC striped tube and the F21 twist shown in pic 2 of this post) I'm thinking I don't want to hassle trying to make this one work for me.
Wondering just who these straight skirts do look better on? Sounds like a majority of us prefer at least a little taper.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Angie suggested very pear shaped women might prefer the straighter version.

Jules

Veteran

I think the tweaks are going be different for individual figures (and outfits) - too much taper (ie/ tube skirt) makes my hips look huge relative to my skinny lower thighs, too little can definitely be frump city. I like a high waisted pencil skirt as well, to add the curve you mention. In some of these pics it does look like the skirt could use some taper to get a look you might like a bit more, in others the outfit proportions make it work.

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