Are leather pencil skirts dated?

[Relaxaholic]

Hi all, I have a birthday coming up and would like to use my birthday money to buy a classic leather pencil skirt. I love the look of the green one Meghan Markle wore when she was still ‘in’ the working royal family. However that was quite a while ago now and I’m not sure if they are dated now. I don’t know if I would go for green or another colour. I’m 45 and want to have an up to date look. Any advice would be most welcome!

I used to wear pencil skirts a lot in the 1980s. They seem pretty dated to me now, especially as you really have to wear stilettos with them.

@BunnyLake the thing is, if you wore them the first time round, it's hard to imagine them being current now.

It was a struggle for me to see 90s style clumpy shoes as 'vintage-style fashion' instead of dated.

That is true. Which is ironic really because wearing them in the 80s was just regurgitating them from the fifties.(well maybe not leather but general pencil skirts).

They are out of fashion at the moment but will no doubt come back in. They are a classic experiencing a low moment imho. If you like them, get one.

@Bloodycatswakingmeuponasaturday Derailing the thread here but please tell us more about your boss - what makes her chic?

I'm hankering after a panel-structured leather A-line midi skirt that exists only in my head at the moment

I don't know about a pencil skirt. Only because I LOVE a classic, genuine pencil shape but just haven't been able to successfully style it for years. It's the shoe issue - I had a narrow open-toe shoe/boot a few years ago that worked beautifully, but no idea what I'd wear now!

@Andovir I wear my pleather midi wrap front split skirts with knee high suede slightly ruched boots with approx 2.5inch stiletto heel. I can run in them and have them in multiple colours - black, tan, brown, grey,burgundy, cream. So I can mix and match my skirts to my boots. So easy to get dressed for work and compliments every day.

Black leather pencil skirts are as sexy as hell - and never out of date.

I have a red version of this and it looks fab with a white silk blouse.

Wearing it high on the waist makes it look more contemporary imho.

Sounds just the kind of thing I’d wear. Any pics or links?

OP why the hell not is what I say. Try a couple of different ones and see if they work for you. I think you’ll look awesome.

I’ll post a few pics of my boots and pleather skirt.

I have these in multiple colours.

Fabulous @JMAngel1

and absolutely not dated!

I bought one about 4 years ago, I've worn it twice. It only looks good with stilleto heels in my opinion so I don't wear it.

Boots and long pencil skirts remind me of an old school housemistress I had so I can never wear that combo.

I think leather should only be jackets, nothing else as nine times out of ten it looks tacky. Unless it's a drag queen. They can get away with it.

Meghan Markle can pull the look off though in that picture, she doesn't look tacky at all. That's the exception that proves the rule. She's styled it properly and she's got the figure for it.

Don’t be so silly.

Classic and leather and pencil skirt do not belong in the same sentence. Classic and pencil skirt though do.

To me, 'timeless classic' doesn't mean something that never dates. I think of it as something that comes around so regularly that, when it does, you forget it's ever been away. So I'd say a knee length pencil skirt - in any fabric - does look a bit dated at the moment but, never fear, it'll be back and probably sooner than we think. Whether or not you take any notice of that when you buy clothes is entirely up to you.

The only leather skirt I've ever been tempted to buy was a vintage one that ended just below the knee and was in a very sharp A-line - and I mean sharp, not a droopy, half hearted A-shape. It needed a clean so I put it back but I still think about it sometimes. One of the reasons I liked it was because, even though I've been buying vintage a long time, I couldn't work out which decade it was from. I suppose that's another definition of 'timeless'. My very favourite clothes are things that look neither current nor dated because they're not even on the fashion radar. But they're hard to find because, once they fall off the radar, they disappear from the shops.

Oh and I think leather can be an excellent fabric for an aging body because it has structure.

I said I think. Meaning that's what I think and what I would do, other people can do what they want.

That's your opinion, mine is the total opposite, on all points.😄

Timeless. As long as it's accessorised right, then I don't see the issue. Age is irrelevant, it's what you wear it with etc, that counts.

They were VERY in a couple of years ago. I love them. And I look hot in mine. So there. If you like the look, go for it. I wear with a thirty or baggy knit tucked in.

'Only drag queens and Megan Markle should wear leather skirts' - that may be your opinion, but it makes you sound ridiculous. Do you really think there are absolutely no women who come in between these boundaries, who might look absolutely fine?

They have been very on trend this winter to all those saying they are dated 🤣

Cos, Massimo Dutti, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren , Vince and various labels on Netaporter and even more fast fashion like ASOS and Zara all featured them this winter. Suede in particular featured very highly

https://www.reiss.com/us/en/style/su567193/an4948?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADy9Enp-vkhYZ4gpdXymtnUTp4NdC&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwOe8BhCCARIsAGKeD54xOG7A-fkYVgqujxuvhFIdcKGL_bZdvfiEjQ9QoKC-GDilwSAZcqUaAhIQEALw_wcB#AN4948&_$ja=tsid:%7Ccid:11509872476%7Cagid:113767397753%7Ctid:pla-2276217871415%7Ccrid:476276033881%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:949843093484753629%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:9003551

Ever since I clicked on this thread, I've been clicking on this. It's gorgeous imo but I can't warrant spending that much on something I'm not going to wear very often.