Why can't I wear a pleated skirt?

[thisisallnewtome8]

Just that really. I love the current trend of wearing a pleated midi skirt with trainers. Why do I end up looking like a pot bellied frumpy mess? I have tried three different skirts and each one had looked horrendous. Anyone have any links to flattering pleated skirts or should I give up?

😂😂😂I'm glad I'm not the only one

I think it's the Pleats. They are the work of the devil

Yeah, when you have a "generous" arse and ham like thighs pleats are not your friend!

I don’t really have the shape for it either OP. I have gigantic hips in comparison to my waist. The pleated skirt tends to accentuate my hips and not in a good way.

I have a short pleated kilt with flat front which is great. I'm short so have to go mini or maxi. If I go more than an inch below the knee I lose the muscular curve of my calves and just look short and dumpy as my legs are chopped off at their widest point.

The last time I had a midi pleated skirt was ready for secondary school with lots of growing room. It was a lovely mini by y11 With my build it's too easy to accidentally fall back into the tweenager with growing room look

I adore pleated skirts. I am an hourglass size 10. Sadly pleated skirts do not adore me back and add at least a stone to my frame!

I had a pleated, lined black skirt that I bought from oasis 10 years ago. When stuff was still occasionally lined, and the polyester was curiously ok!

It finally died last week when I snagged it on a chicken wire egg holder in John Lewis.

This is the only item of clothing that I ever got constant compliments on. For a full damn decade and now it is gone

Can I replace it? Can I hell.

I’m average height, very slim with small waist, average hip.
But I do have a shorter torso so any bunching or volume at waist is unflattering . This goes for any outfit, not just pleated skirts. But I do look better in flat, a-line shapes that smooth downwards .

I think it is a common sight on Mumsnet that many people trot out the same old line about nearly any friggin item of clothing - “it doesn’t suit me, I am not skinny, therefore all clothes only suit really thin, tall women”

This is absolute bollocks.

All of our proportions are so different. The best looking pleated midi look I saw was on a 5 foot 7 curvy girl in town.
And tall, thin women do not suit everything off the bat for Christ’s sake - ask one, they’ll tell you they have as many issues with fit and proportion issues as the rest of us.

The best midi pleats in my experience have a flat waist and with a well fitted zipper.
The elastic waists,whether flat or bunched create a balloon effect on any flesh, which blows the hip out like a balloon.
They are loving the elastic waist trend, it must cost them so much less to manufacture their tat without having to pay someone a fair amount to fit a decent zip.

I’m shirt with an hourglass figure and every one I’ve tried on makes me think of Hatty jacques in carry on camping. Which is definitely not the look I’m going for. I’ve accepted that these skirts belong in the polo neck and shoulder pad pile of things that just make me look fatter.

Totally agree with the previous poster who had to wear a pleated midi in secondary school. Anyone with hips (including my gorgeous tall, skinny, hippy friend) looked dumpy. I'm an hourglass size 10 woth hips and they look terrible. Those bias cut satin slip skirts, like the one you've bought OP, are far more flattering

It’s not a look that flatters everyone and it’s definitely not for short curvy me. I would look like I‘d been dressed by sarcastic nuns.

Willyoudothefandango that is exactly what I looked like 😂😂😂😂

I love this look and am wearing it anyway but it definitely adds more bulk than other styles. I have a bright pink pleated midi skirt and I like it with a black roll neck fine knit tucked in and black opaque with black ankle boots to kind of make the rest of me look a bit sleeker. I’m a size 18 hourglass with big boobs so wearing a roll neck is also against any style advice for my shape but again, I like it as a comfy autumn look so I don’t care!

Yes high school haunts me, I had much bigger/fleshier hips then and I felt conspicuous in my long pleas-tee skirts.

However, weren’t those pleats wide? The narrower slinky ones are much more ....rewarding to most body types.

There is a Margaret howell one in wool which I think is the best design (very expensive), with the neat slim pleats and flat zipper waist.

For your delectation, a picture

I have a short body and big boobs so a tucked in top with pleats does make me a bit Hattie Jacques.

I've got loads and love them. I'm a (chunky!) hourglass though, so I can show off my waist with a pleated skirt by either knotting a tshirt or shirt at the waist. This is what I'm wearing now actually - a faux leather skirt from new look, hiker-ish boots from M&S, a knotted printed tshirt and a denim jacket.

Hourglass here..5ft 8 size 14 and I love wearing pleated skirts! Some days I feel awesome in them and others I feel like a barrel 😂 depends on my mindset! I have a cream maxi one by Banana Republic and a black one from M&S and wear with DM's and leather jacket although love the pic with converse so I may give it a try.

Forgot to say you should size up with pleats as they should skim not stretch! 😁

So this thread is now responsible for me buying two metallic Topshop midi pleated skirts at the thrift shop today and having absolutely no footwear that works with them!!

The must own at least twenty pairs of shoes and every pair look completely ridiculous!!!!

Trainers are the best look I think 👌

I’m a size 16/18 hourglass and I wear my black or my green pleated skirts all the time. The trick for me is to wear a long layer over the top that skims over the hips so you don’t see the pleats until lower down. So I would wear a mini dress or longline jumper for example. Obviously the top layer needs to be the right fit to work. The dress over skirt was a trick I learned from Karen Britchick on You Tube and I use it all the time.

I can tell this is going to be tricky as they are light colours 🤬

Divebar I can’t picture how that would work! What kind of a mini dress do you put over the skirt? I’m so intrigued.

I love me a pleated skirt! I'm 5"8 and a size 16 in most shops. Wore them with converse over the summer and have just switched over to opaque tights and tan ankle boots!

Lasershark

I don’t have a photo of the sort of thing I mean but if you imagine the first dress ( slash neck, straight-ish cut) above the knee and then layered over a skirt you would get an effect not dissimilar to the second one. You could obviously use a tunic or longline sweater too.