SKIRTING the Issue

SHARP TROUSERS have ruled the runways recently, but FALL 2024 ushered in a full-on RETURN of the SKIRT. Could our fashion news director, an avowed pants person, be converted by its CHARMS?

I'VE ALWAYS HAD a love-hate relationship with skirts. It's not that I haven't given them a go; in fact, I can trace a specific skirt to each era of my formative years. When I was a tween, Abercrombie & Fitch's ruffled cotton mini was it. I don't have a clue why my parents allowed me to wear such a thing at such an age, nor how I got away with it in Catholic school, but it was in steady rotation. In high school, I evolved into a slightly more grown-up but no less mini pleated Burberry tartan knockoff from Express and a beaded jersey miniskirt from Cynthia Rowley that was a version of something J.Lo would've worn when she sang "Love Don't Cost a Thing." In college, I was obsessed with Isabel Marant's fluttery printed skirts that were designed with banded waists. I'd wear one with a tanning-bed glow, a cheap tank top, a statement necklace, and open-toed platform heels. It was my Gossip Girl era, and I reveled in it.

At a certain point, though, coinciding with my first job and continuing through to this current one, I forsook skirts for pants. They made me feel pulled together, fiterally and figuratively, imbuing me with zipped-up confidence. Plus, there have been so many great ones to choose from lately: There's the Row's unimpeachable wide-leg pants, Bottega Veneta's leather jeans, the exaggerated high-waisted trousers at Loewe, and Collina Strada's raver cargoes.