Advice needed- help me learn how to make skirts look stylish and flattering

[Nangula]

I wear loads of separates but mostly wide leg jeans and trousers. I have one elasticated waist, patterned Fat Face skirt and, while it’s nice and comfy, it’s not exactly high style.

I’m 5’4 and size 12 with a big old mum tum.

Would love to get into skirts this summer. How can I wear longer skirts this to look classic, stylish and flattering? Which fabrics work best? Pleated, buttons, bias cut? Linen, cotton, satin? Which types of tops work best?

Here are a couple I fancy trying but am a bit clueless and don’t want to end up ordering loads of duffs.

https://www.poetryfashion.co.uk/product-RN17/colour-a-blue-black/silk-biascut-skirt.htm

www.withnothingunderneath.com/products/clara-skirt-linen-navy-blue?variant=57490659180928&currency=GBP&tw_source=google&tw_adid=807265476699&tw_campaign=22736496147&tw_kwdid=pla-305312121526&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22736496147&gbraid=0AAAAADEcP_Zb-1_QxKFst-5pHR3KSxu8_&gclid=Cj0KCQjwr4jSBhCSARIsAOX1E-J_R0FWQH9pyDEXp7m689HBJ0JvSip_MSObqv14ziAWwR392yDGgjgaAmWIEALw_wcB

www.boden.com/products/women-emma-linen-maxi-skirt-navy-r0868nav

I like the WNU one OP.
I find that elasticated waists make you look bigger than a skirt with a proper waist band. they give you shape and are more flattering.
Shirt/T-shirt halft tucked in.

I find summer skirts difficult too, so I tend to look at dresses instead.

I think the best place to start is with a stylish and flattering skirt. So, not the second and third examples you’ve linked. (I’m not keen on the first either, but it’s less bad.)

The WNU is just the drabbest, dead thing. Looks like a uniform issued by a bus company or medical institution. The Boden is bulky and would make anyone’s hips look enormous. (I’m usually the last person to witter on about things being ‘flattering’, but …)

Will try to come back (after ☕️) with some examples of skirts I’ve enjoyed wearing.

Thanks for posting this I have the same issue, largely I think because I do ont have much of a waist!

@abitbloodybrighteroverthere any ideas for something more flattering would be appreciated.
Worth saying though, I much prefer plain clothes and very simple cuts. I don’t do much in the way of patterns or colourful (I wear mostly navy, cream and light blue) which might limit my options somewhat! Maybe skirts aren’t for me?

I would wear the Boden skirt, but if I did it would be with a fitted vest and sandals. I also have some raffia belts from Zara that I use to create more of a waist with summer dresses and skirts if necessary.

Some of my friends make wearing a midi skirt with an oversized untucked T-shirt look great too, but that doesn’t suit my shape.

I also have a skirt with shirring at the top which creates more of a waist and is flattering but then needs a lightweight top to tuck in, so I sometimes wear with a waistcoat, which I find challenging to style just right!

I find dresses easier in summer overall but do like a summer skirt to mix and match on holiday and warm periods.

I’ve never really thought about it in an analytical way before! I wear skirts often but only have very few at a time. For me it’s not so much colour and pattern as interesting or unusual fabrics and cunning structure. I find they’re the one garment where one really can experiment from ultra-cheap to ‘sky’s the limit’ and discover something fun and exciting to wear.

I’m not wearing this at the moment (one of us is the wrong size) but it’s been an absolute delight for about three years, particularly when I wore it to an Aldeburgh Festival opera with a Uniqlo striped shirt and a Gembalies jacket. £49.99 from Zara:

I wear loads of skirts, at work and at home.

At work I often wear one like the first, nice with a soft floaty blouse tucked in a bit like this (but with sleeves for work.)

https://www.google.com/aclk?

At home I tend to have more floaty patterned boho skirts with plain t-shirts or denim mini's with a pattered t-shirt (either some kind of band top or if I am feeling more feminine some detail such as lace or broderie anglaise

I also have a nice selection now of slightly cropped and detailed (simple like button down) vest tops for when it is hot, they float over my mum tum hiding it nicely. Bubble tops help with that as well.

I am not stylish, but contributing to say thanks for the tips that will follow!

This, on the other hand, was at the other end of the scale price-wise, bought in a sale ten years ago. One of the most beautiful garments I’ve ever owned. The tweed is woven from half a dozen fabrics and although quite soft, it could almost stand up on its own. Comes to mid-calf on me. When I first owned it I wore it everywhere - now I’m much more careful.

I think the key to looking good in midi / long skirts is the silhouette - you need to overall shape to have the narrowest part at the waist. If you are heavier around the middle, baggy tops slightly tucked in will create a better shape. Sandals or ballet flats - any are fine but consider where the straps sit- too high up the ankle if you have curvy legs will shorten leg. So straps sitting lower on the foot / underneath the ankle. Even flip flops are good because there is zero fuss around the ankle and it leaves the natural length of foot and ankle visible.

I can’t open the links as naff internet where I am - but i would say look at pleated skirts with a high waisted fit; the more volume the better - and patterns or plain colours, and plain coloured tshirts in loose fit. Stay away from knee length , this is the least flattering on everyone - go midi or longer. Xo

As this thread has sent me burrowing through my 70k odd photos I’ve realised there’s a shape I keep coming back to every Spring, because it’s so versatile. A just below knee length kilt. Perfect in March or April under a coat or heavy jacket, with knee high boots, then by May worn just with knitwear and maybe ankle boots and socks. The navy wool Prada is the ultimate version; I have the La Fetiche cotton denim - which becomes far too hot in Summer because of the epic lining. (Photo of skirt inside out and back to front for detail.) I would happily buy all the other versions.

Few more examples:

I'd have a look at culottes. M & S, uniqlo, and Toast have some very nice ones.
The skirts you have linked to will do your shape no favours if you have a mum tum.

Buy a belt (or rephrase a scarf) and try a couple of underskirts, they can add volume or make things sleeper.

Try them with the skirts you have and see how they look and feel.

@PrincessofWills gee thanks. As a result of your intervention about how to wear skirts, I’m now the proud owner of a pair of Toast Japanese denim culottes and a pair of Poetry silk cropped wide leg trousers. I think we can conclude that skirts aren’t really for me 😆

@abitbloodybrighteroverthere I love the kilt style you have linked to. I used to have a real fondness for mini kilts when I was younger, and there was a bit of a foray into Boden Abraham Moon Tweed kilts in my 30s. I can definitely see myself getting back into kilts in winter. In the meantime, I think I will probably be sticking to culottes.

@sashh my very stylish 17-year-old daughter often wears a skirt with an under skirt and /or belt and looks brilliant. I’m a bit worried that underskirts will make me look like the bird lady from Mary Poppins, but I’m willing to give belts a go.

Oh no, am I bad. If it's the Japanese wrap culottes, they are lovely and quite unusual, the other ones I haven't tried. But I'm the same, I want to wear skirts but they just don't work for me so culottes are a good compromise 😃

This M&S skirt is easy to wear and quite flattering as it doesn't add bulk and skims lumps & bumps quite well. I've had lots of compliments when I've worn it and I have wide hips and a tum.

www.marksandspencer.com/linen-rich-maxi-a-line-skirt/p/clp61214255?intid=mobile_app_pdp_share

Oh, I had some denim culottes from Toast about twenty years ago! Wore them to shreds if I remember correctly. And then ten years ago I borrowed a pair of their bright blue linen/cotton culottes from my mother. I was in my fifties at the time - and several of the twenty somethings I worked with were full of compliments for them.

Hope you’ll enjoy wearing yours!

If you have a tummy, the key is layering. Wear a looser top over the skirt, rather than tucked in. Then add a scarf or long pendant to elongate your body and draw attention. And a waistcoat or jacket if it’s cooler.

With a tummy, a plain skirt and tucked in top with no layering may leave the eye to settle on your tummy. Nothing wrong with that if you want to rock your curves, but not so good if you’re self-conscious.

A-line styles with a sturdy waistband are better silhouette than a sheer straight style, like your first example. Slightly above the knee more flattering if you have slim legs.

And always go for a slightly larger size, so it fits loose on waist and tummy. Skirts that are too tight on waist and tummy are unflattering and uncomfortable, unless you want to embrace your curves.

I find a top that finishes dead on the waist so doesn’t need to be tucked in works well for me and a skirt. This can be a baby tee over a floaty maxi skirt, or a boxy more structured top.

Don’t let an untucked top come down to/below hip length over a skirt - you’ll lose any distinction or impression of waist. I am an 80s/90s girl so I remember long T-shirts and jumpers over hippy maxi skirts - it didn’t suit me at 17 and a size 8 and certainly isn’t a silhouette I can get on board with at 54!

Agree with pp that elasticated waists can be difficult as they tend to look tight (and unflattering on me at least, and I don’t have much of a tum). Deeper shirred waistbands are better. The elasticated waists are the ones I cover with the shorter tops as mentioned.

ETA: a trick I like. Tuck your top in. Reach up to the ceiling and stretch. This lifts your top a bit. Arms back down and the top flops over the waistband the perfect amount. A tiny bit more relaxed and ‘undone’ but still neat.
You can also put a thin elastic over the top but under your skirt and use that to pull up/ tuck the top in place without bulk. Not quite mastered this myself but Google it (elastic waist tuck band) and see if it could work for you.

I have similar satin skirts to the silk one you posted in navy and black. They are brilliant with a neat jumper in winter and in summer I wear a boxy crochet sleeveless top which finishes at my waistline so doesn’t need tucking.

That said, I do fear the satin maxi skirt may be becoming a bit dated as it was such a definite trend a couple of years ago. This breaks my heart and I will continue to wear mine anyway as I love them.

Sold out in almost every size!

A layered skirt might be nice, as a size 12, you could were a vest type top, the skirt and a nice shacket/jacket to tie it all together.

I'd pop into John Lewis having arranged a stylist session and see what they find for you.

I think the knee length skirts posted up thread aren’t 2026. They look all wrong. Midi is where most people with a tum need to be. It elongates your look. Agree with layers on top but not a layered skirt.