Admittedly I am not the target customer for Shop Bop and street pictures have shown hip young things in this look for summer, but even the Sartorialist didn't photograph very many of them in this look. It's cute for a long summer dress but are you wearing this for work? Going up and down subway stairs in this look, with packages? Some of these are so long that they drag on city streets. Of course that may be because the HYT can't hem a skirt. Some of the looks offered look more like evening to me which is a major change from the the short, tight exposed look that's been the norm of late.
Would you wear this look in any of it's incarnations? The one pictured is not necessarily a 'young' look. There is no exposed skin but is this flattering on anyone larger than a size 2 and shorter than 5'10"? Or older than 25? I might wear the longer skirt for going out to dinner or at home entertaining, but every day? Not happening.
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You are right again Nancy! They are pretty, but they look formal. For casual or everyday life they just aren't practical for modern women. Also, I notice that in order to keep them from looking dowdy they require massive cutouts in the back (too cold for winter!) or they need to be very tight (count me out of that one, I've had two babies!)
ReplyDeleteThe maxi look was more like 35+ years ago, as I recall. I remember making them in junior high in the seventies! Yes, with ponchos. It was a sartorially challenging time.
ReplyDeleteLonger came back again in the late 80s/early 90s but it was lower calf not full length. More practical but there were still awkward moments of getting skirt hems tangled in the wheels of office chairs, catching one's heel in a skirt's hem, or having a portion of your skirt hanging out of the car door. That being said, I had some skirts in that length that I absolutely adored and wore to rags
I suspect that this look will get modified from floor sweeping to lower calf in the real world. Longer can be an attractive look, but I agree that the full maxi is just too much fabric to manage.
I have class photos from elementary school -- 1971, 72, 73 -- and a LOT of the girls were wearing maxi's. (Often patchwork or slightly "country") I remember them well!
ReplyDeleteI tend to wear either skirts at my knee or skirts at my ankles/floor length - in summer/winter (we live in AZ, where spring is 1 day and fall is 2 days and winter tends to be fall-like weather for everyone else in the country).
ReplyDeleteI am 5'4" and not quite as thin as I used to be (something about 7 children).
However, I have learned how to wear longer skirts and have them be flattering - which is to wear a looser top with tight fitting straight skirts, and a tighter top with full skirts.
I had maxi skirts when I was little....
I remember wearing long skirts to high school, but my excuse is that I was but a kid then. It would be impratical now. I know it ain't happening here in DC area for work. Women here are the most pratical women on earth.
ReplyDeleteMost of them look more like evening of formal dresses to me. I wouldn't wear that length in any style. Too unpractical.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is an offshoot of the maxi sundresses which have been popular in the last few summers? I just couldn't wear a maxi length dress to work - just not professional looking enough for my career. And in the winter I can only imagine it trailing on the ground in the rain/slush of NYC. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI'm basically with Lady Jenn -- I tend to wear long skirts and dresses to work. I like the Twelfth St. by Cynthia Vincent long ombre dress, and I could save $390 by making it from my stash, too!
ReplyDeleteFashion recycles itself, there is nothing new under the sun. My husband's grandmother (a lady) died and I ended up with many of her high-end wardrobe pieces. Among them an ankle grazing lightweight black wool skirt. I like wearing it, especially with fitted shirts. It doesn't impede my movement at all.
ReplyDeleteWork?! Surely you (er, they) jest. I can just see myself in one of these Victorian-era-recalling garments, trundling through the snow & slush, a grown-up modern take on the Little Match Girl. Oh, how to stuff a maxi into weather-appropriate boots, one wonders?
ReplyDeleteNever Ever. The closest I've ever gotten to a 'maxi' look is my full Indian skirt....and that screams more elegant/funky/amazing Indian than it does of these dowdy maxi looks. The thing is, even if you have the body for it--you are talking about a KILLER body that would much rather be more flatteringly attired. Unless of course, you are Amish or something.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree with what Lady Jenn said about styling.
Hm, difficult. About 5 to 8 years ago, I had several ankle to floor length goth skirts but I've grown tired of black lace, satin and velvet since then.
ReplyDeleteI can only see full length skirts for day make sense as either folk-y 70's styles or victorian inspired gothic attire. Neither of which would be 'me' at the moment. However, as far as I've seen, the trend a lot of fashion mags are trying to push now is more for midi than maxi: skirts between knee and calf length, rather than full length.
This, I think is a slightly more practical look. It comes with as big a risk of looking dowdy on all but the tall and skinny, but is safer for such activities as walking stairs and getting in and out of cars. And after all, how many styles of skirt are really practical?
I'm too old and set in my ways. Maybe it's I'd like to wear age-appropriate clothing, and things too short or too long don't fit my look. It just doesn't fit me and a business-like look I like to wear. But it's interesting, and I wore stuff like this when I was young along with hip huggers. Thank heavens I got that out of my system!
ReplyDeleteMy big issue with long skirts, and even midi length is that they get caught in the wheels of my drafting chair or my sewing chair, which is lower to the ground. I can just see myself traipsing over a construction site in these. Obviously not. The longer, narrow skirt that they are showing too is difficult to pull off if you don't have great legs. It just cuts most women at a non flattering length. My style is not vintage, so that longer look does not appeal to me at all.
ReplyDeletei would wear this and looks like I am in the minority. Looks too warm with the cowl neck sweater and long wool coat though. But long skirts eliminate the need for pantyhose in my world, and that's a good thing. the look is a bit bohemian and tossback a few decades but I like that easy style, it feels good on and a little dressy - I would wear to work or dinner out.
ReplyDeleteNope! I am not liking the below knee lenght either that Burda has shown. Like mine shorter.
ReplyDeleteI wear them all the time and find them more practical than short skirts because in those you need to worry about keeping your knees clamped together all the time, and showing your all on staircases! I like bias cut skirts because they are swishy and feminine. I rarely wear long, straight skirts, again because they impede movement. The only thing it's hard to do in one is ride a bike, but since I live in a very hilly city thse days, I don't do that anymore. Personally, I think that mini skirts on middle aged ladies look a bit "desperate" and undignified. And a lot of young ladies are far too "chunky-thighed" for them foe my tastes. I chucked all my minis out at the age of thirty-five and changed my style. (I do still wear pants/trousers). You might think I look dowdy. But it is all just a matter of taste, I suppose.....
ReplyDeleteI never wore long skirts...tripping up the stairs, getting them caught under the wheels of my chair....and that was when I was thin and they didn't look completely ridiculous! Now a long skirt just looks heavy and frumpy. And a bit like a sister-wife.
ReplyDeleteI remember this look. Seems like it was about the same time as the Equestrian period. Way long. Although, I do like a "duster", hitting at my knee.
ReplyDeleteI remember the midi disaster - it was in the early 70's. Those patterns turn up on vintage pattern sites all the time, I think the reason they were such a flop is because they were merely the shift dresses from that era just made longer. Weird. But I love long skirts with boots, I made two longer versions of the HP Classix Nouveau Trouser Skirt and I wear them to work all the time with a denim or motorcycle style jacket. It's a great look.
ReplyDelete"...Of course that may be because the HYT can't hem a skirt."
ReplyDeleteAh, the dry humor! Gave me a chuckle. Unfortunately, I can't hem a skirt either, and I'm not a HYT. I think I need some more practical education.