Skirting The Issue

Sharp trousers have ruled the runways recently, but fall/winter 2024 ushered in a full-on return of the skirt. Can one fashion journalist, an avowed pants person, be converted by its charms?

-  BROOKE BOBB

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 when I was in a 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 revelled 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, literally 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.

But this past season, the runways were awash in fantastic skirts. In New York, Raul Lopez of Luar showed a gargantuan ball skirt and campy twists on Christian Dior's classic New Look silhouette. Molly Goddard paired tutus with baggy sweaters in London. In Milan, Matthieu Blazy designed a pintucked leather A-line skirt and showed it with a luxury button-up at Bottega Veneta; it's a look made for a boss boss, not a girl boss.