WIW: Pleated midi outfit lab inspired by Angie

Angie's OOTD posts yesterday and today inspired me to pull out a pleated midi skirt and play around with it a bit.

My skirt is not pleated all the way down but has a knife-pleated flounce at the high-low hem. It's made of viscose, and it's a bit more slippery/shiny than I was expecting (I bought it from Poshmark late last summer). I'd worn it a couple of times but honestly I was on the fence about it when I pulled it out of my closet today. Turns out it's a lot more versatile than I'd thought and now I am excited to wear it this spring/summer.

Thank you for the inspiration, Angie! Hmmm, maybe I'll have a skirt year too...

The specifics:

1: Copycatting Angie's formula from yesterday of pleated midi + sporty/casual top + ballet flats. I don't have a jean jacket, so I went with this cropped 3/4-sleeve sweatshirt. I like this a lot!

2-3: Now trying to copycat another element of Angie's look from yesterday: bookending glasses and footwear (closeup in 3). Fun idea, though in the end I think this is my least favorite of the lot.

4: Had another idea about bookending footwear with a cropped Breton sweater. I loooove this -- my fave option from an aesthetic point of view.

(Just realized this is another exception to my no-dropped-shoulders rule. Oh well, I contain multitudes!)

5: Slightly more casual/easy version with the dressy wedges replaced with flat silver slides. I like this too, please ignore blown-out lighting and super awkward arm position.

6: Trying a different stripey sweater, and casual-izing with footwear instead of top. This sweater is a bit longer, so I suppose the proportions are not as ideal -- however, it's JFE in real life (you're going to have to trust me on this; because of the angle at which I take photos I always seem to end up with the lower half of my body foreshortened a bit). This is sooo comfortable and is what I actually wore today.*

*Sadly, the weather turned here in Seattle JUST as I was leaving the house this afternoon. So after picking my daughter up from school I had to change into something warmer before heading out to do the weekly grocery shop. Sigh...

Thanks for looking! Grateful for any comments or other ideas you have to share.

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5 years ago

taylor

Veteran

Ugh, our weather turned too today ...drat !
This is a fun skirt with the ruffle bottom.
I like all your interpretations here , and your subtle pattern mixing ...clever with the floral skirt.
I think you may be on to something with the top in photo 6. The proportions seem off to me too. Too much volume at the bottom of the sweater I think .
Great effort all round , I think you will have a fun styling your skirts for spring !

Jane

I love the pattern mixing! Really super. 6 is my favourite as the stripes look very fresh.

jussie

Great outfit lab- thanks for sharing. My faves are 1,2,4. What a versatile skirt.

Anonymous

Yay-and what a fun skirt! I agree about the proportions, the shorter tops work best to me eye.

kkards

i love #1 & #2...i'm not much of a pattern mixer, so my take on the other verisions is skewed by that..
if i was pattern mixing i'd go with #4, it looks intentional, and i think that footwear works best with this sweater. do you have a white or navy sneaker that you would wear with this verision?
i love the sneakers in #6 with this skirt...do you have a white tee or white denim jacket that you could wear with this?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

How fun to have inspired your own outfit combinations. You did GREAT, SarahD8.

(Hopefully nicer weather in a bit).

KILLER skirt. I'm loving both pairs of metallic footwear, and the ease with the elegance here. All options work well. #4 is my KILLER fave. Rock on.

SarahD8

Thank you all for your lovely comments! Angie, I especially appreciate the killer boost. You all have given me a nice shot of confidence as I start thinking about building my warm weather wardrobe.

Kkards, those are all good suggestions, though I don’t own any of the items you mention. I could wear the pink tennies with the Breton sweater — wouldn’t bookend but I’m sure I’d like that just fine. I also have the same shoes in a chambray blue that would probably work too.

I’ve been eyeing this skirt with a similar cut at j. Crew:
https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens.....blue-multi
It would be longer on me than on the model but I think that might work ok? I think many of the same tops would work with it.

Jaime

The first on is my favorite - great skirt!

Mainelady

Great looks! My fave is #4. I think the length of the sweater and stripes work beautifully with your flouncy skirt.

Brooklyn

No 4 is my favourite. Love the pattern mix and bookending with the shoes. How do you feel about semi tucking? I’d like to see the top in 1/2 semi tucked to add a bit more structure. Not sure if the top is too long? It might be something to play around with.

Stagiaire Fash

Don't you usually say you can't do skirts? What's that all about? It's clearly not true

It's hard to get the full bookending effect, but the blue shoes are my favorites here. Maybe you're right about the striped sweater and camera angle, but as it's shown here, I'm not a fan of the long sweater with this skirt (though you could try one of your long cardis, leaving the front open).

nemosmom

I think you did a great job with all of the styling! That skirt looks like a fab fit on you and I think all the colors in it make it super versatile. I like the navy sandals and metallic flats best.

smittie

I really like 4 (blue breton stripe). The pattern mixing works really well.
The midi skirt really looks good on you, so keep wearing it!

Thanks all! Fun to see all the different opinions on footwear.

Brooklyn I’m afraid I feel unremittingly negative about semi-tucking, sorry. I’m not sure a welted sweatshirt hem is the best candidate for tucking into bias-cut viscose anyhow? (But what do I know, see comment above!)

FashIntern skirts and I get along just fine! I wear them a lot in summer. I may have said that I didn’t have any winter skirts or dresses. Basically they had just been wiped out from attrition and lack of attention (I sort of lost interest in wearing cold season skirts for a while). Lately, I’ve been working on rebuilding that capsule, as well as a more deliberate collection of things to wear on my top half with them.

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