After yesterday's post regarding the Shabby Apple skirt (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....irt-review) I really got to thinking about how on earth I was going to make this skirt work in my wardrobe. I was beginning to feel quite foolish for having purchased a skirt based solely on my love of the print and colours.

I washed the skirt late last night and hung it up to dry to get the stiffness out of, thinking that trying it on in a "softer" mode might help my creative juices. It also did shrink a tiny bit.

I really wanted to play down the proportions of the super high waist. The skirt does fit really well in the waist (especially now that it's about a half inch smaller) and it does have a bit of a "girdling" effect which I decided I could use to my advantage. I took on Rae's comment about brown on top and for shoes and went digging through my closet. I found a dark chocolate brown deep v-neck tank in a soft knit, which I popped on with the skirt but left untucked. This lets the high waist sit comfortably but not look disproportionate. I then put my skinny chocolate brown belt (the exact same colour of the tank) on top of that to bring my waist down a little bit, trying to lengthen my torso. Then I added my brown Naturalizer leather Mary Janes (which I forgot I had!). To my eye, this worked. To add more visual interest, I added my denim jacket and scrunched the sleeves. Again, I think this works.

Now for a different colour combo - I kept the base of the skirt, brown tank, brown belt and brown shoes but now added my peachy/pink cropped Gap jacket to pull out the pink tones in the flowers on the vines in the print. Again, I think this works.

My one hand is behind my back trying to pull in the volume on the skirt, which is still an issue. But looking at these, I don't think I need to alter the waist or shorten the skirt - I simply need to wear the top untucked and bring in the width of the skirt.

Am I right? Does this work? I must say, I am feeling more hopeful about the skirt after this experiment.