Do you know what people actually wear to go to fashion shows? The relatively normal people who go to fashion shows for relatively normal, job-related reasons, I mean, rather than the people whose career is being able to monetise having a photograph taken in a cherry headdress or gold lamé thigh boots.
Pleated skirts. That’s what we wear. Last time I was at a show, I was wearing a dress with a pleated skirt, and about 25% of the women in the room were in a similar outfit. The only other time I remember such a concentration of pleated skirts and dresses being the norm was when the teachers at my school were gathered on stage for end-of-term assembly.
When the trend for pleated skirts first re-emerged a couple of years ago, it didn’t seem likely to last, for the simple reason that pleated skirts are a bit frumpy and unflattering. If you were to take a strict sex-sells interpretation of fashion, you would not bet on the pleated skirt being a commercial hit. This is not going to be your lucky skirt, not in that way, at least. There is no evolutionary explanation for its survival.
But that’s why, in a slow-burn rather than a knee-jerk way, it has triumphed. The pleated skirt nails the look you need for smart daytime, which is that you have dressed deliberately and with care. Also, if you are hoping during your day at work to engage with other human beings on a slightly more intelligent level than you might when shouting above the music in a pub on a Friday night, it helps to dress as if the scope of your interests extends beyond: does my bum look big in this? And on a practical level of nine-to-nine dressing, pleats are genius, because they feel loose to wear, but look sharp.
A crew-neck sweater is a good match, but needs a necklace or shirt collar or scarf at the neck. Don’t succumb to the lure of a wide belt, which makes the look twee and retro when you want modern and relaxed. Think J Crew catalogue, not Tupperware party hostess. And if you still feel dowdy, there’s always a cherry headdress.
• Jess wears dress, £85, topshop.com. Heels, £295, russellandbromley.co.uk.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Laurence Close at Carol Hayes Management.
