Privilege Blog

The Elusive Fuller Skirt, From Shabby Apple

My search for a fuller skirt landed me at Prada, in San Francisco. This was perhaps a little over the top. As it turns out, one does not have to go all the way to Prada for that 1950’s look. Deja Pseu has been featuring some styles available for Spring here. And today, as our housewarming party continues, Privilege and the women’s clothing site, Shabby Apple, are giving away a dress. Shabby Apple specializes in dresses, but offer shoes, accessories, even bathing suits. Take a look. I’ll wait right here.

As you can see, I recommend the white, twirlable skirt number above. As my mother would say, “Very good-looking.” Almost commands you to find a bicycle, a basket, some ham, and wend your way to a spring picnic. Preferably on Cape Cod. The dress has two names. One, Cape Cod Shirtdress. The other? Bonheur. French for happiness.

Here’s another dress I like. It’s called, as it turns out, the V.P. Unsurprising then. But you should feel free, if you win, to choose unconstrained by my High WASP preferences. Taste, after all, is not morality.

Shabby Apple Black Pintuck Neck Dress

Tell me a story about the best skirt you ever had. You know the one I mean. I still remember a camel pencil I wore to the office years ago. And my hippie skirts, of which there were probably more than strictly necessary. Winner will be chosen Wednesday, November 17th. Thank you, Shabby Apple. Thank you, Privilege readers.

Images via Shabby Apple

Bonheur, Black Pintuck V.P.

66 Responses

  1. The best skirt I ever had was when I was 21. I also had the best legs I have ever had and did not appreciate them.

    The skirt was a red, A-line mini. It sat on my hips and was secured by a big button. It was short but not ridiculously so. I wore it with a black turtleneck and black tights.

    I may even still have the skirt at the back of a cupboard somewhere. The legs have long gone though…

  2. I love the looks of your new place. It is the first time I have been here since the remodel. LOVELY!!
    As to the topic of a full skirt, I haven’t find the *one* yet. But I am on the hunt. And there is no way I could pick out just one favorite skirt. I am a skirt lover and I have quite a collection. The new one is usually the favorite one…until a new one replaces that one.

  3. My favorite was an Issac Mizrahi black dress that had a full swing skirt. It just felt “girly” and I loved the elegance of it! Fun post!

  4. Best skirt: a wraparound in grade school with matching blouse. It was plaid and buttoned down one side. I loved it. Best dress: an Indian cotton granny dress in my teens. I wore it with lacy up boots and my long blonde hair and felt too cool for words.

    On a different subject, given your earlier post about manners, I thought you might enjoy this:
    http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/11/the-true-effect-of-genuine-politeness-seems-to-be-rather-ease-than-pleasure.html

  5. The best skirt I ever had was a full white skirt with pleats all around that I wore my entire year of college, when it was hot with flats and t-shirts and tank-tops, when it got cold I wore it with sweaters and high boots and cardigans. It’s falling to bits.

  6. I just hopped over to thank you for being so generous and passing gifts on your blog at this very time, when people are saving to buy Christmas presents for others : )

  7. hi lpc,

    first off, i love that first dress. that dress has me written all over it.

    my favorite skirt was the one i got married in. we sorta ran off to vegas on the spur of the moment almost 31 yrs ago now. i had no time to plan, maybe 2 hours to run off shopping. i came home with a full red skirt that had a wrap-around belt that tied into a bow. i tucked a white shirt into it and wore black cowboy boots. omg. what a sight i must have been. my husband wore levis and cowboy boots too. i don’t have a single picture of us or the day but it is burned into my memory forever. every detail, down to the red nailpolish and a low side ponytail. i know it sounds awful for a wedding but i’m getting a bit teary right now remembering.

    ~janet

  8. My favorite skirt was too short. I didn’t quite have the legs to carry it off, but I walked as though I did and got away with it.

  9. Best skirt ever was a black pencil with discreet, sculptural ruffles on the bottom and exactly enough leg room to wear it to tango. I tango’d it to death (beyond repair), but it’s still in my closet because I love it so.

  10. My favorite skirt was Coldwater Creek full almost ankle length twirly denim item. I wore it when I was not as “sophisticated” as I am now!
    Would love the black dress!
    I was unfamiliar with Shabby Apple, but love the site now!

  11. The best skirt I ever had still resides in my closet, although it is so worn I doubt I’ll ever wear it again. It’s a lovely brown and gold paisley pattern, hits me right above the ankle and looked spectacular on me. I’ll never throw it away because it was my mother’s, and I got so few of her possessions after she died.

  12. My favorite skirt ever was a plaid, pleated mini-skirt that my mom wore in the late 60s when she was in her twenties, long before me. I discovered it as a teenager and adored it, wearing it frequently.

    It was red plaid, with a flat front and the ideal amount of pleats going around the back. It hit enough above the knees to be interesting but not risqué, and it closed with two dark green buckle straps on the front. Having just the right weight to have presence and just enough movement to have attitude, it was the kind of skirt that snuck up on you and then left the realization of its perfection in its wake.

  13. You might laugh…I was the lucky recipient of my rich cousins’ hand me down poodle skirt!
    Full and red with appliqued poodle puffs of fluffy fabric and a long winding tail…sequins were sewn on as the Poodles’ eyes…it was a grand skirt….over the top, especially when twirling around and around!
    I felt very swish and chic long before I knew what chic was…I was the envy of my friends and I confess on this occasion that I enjoyed the attention ( I was never one to be in the limelight) I got a stern lecture from my mother, who said I needed to stop this behaviour anyone could see that I was prancing around like the “Queen of Sheba”
    (in our house that was a bad thing…one did not attract undue attention)
    I still love that skirt…it is gone but not forgotten.

  14. My favorite skirt of all time is a pleated, wrap, seersucker skirt. It sits just below the knee and is one of those pieces I will have forever. The light blue seersucker is timeless and the wrap style is very forgiving…so if there happens to be any weight gain in my future I am covered! I got it from a boutique at the beach that has since closed its doors.

  15. When I was 15 or 16 (and had a 15 or 16 year old figure), I had this neat little reversible skirt. One side was a satin lavender with black felt applique flowers on it and the other side was satin lavender with a gauzy black organza overlay. The overlay had a scalloped trim. I remember wearing it to dinner at our country club a great deal. Such a great skirt. Now I look at it and think, “This is doll sized! How did I EVER fit into this?!” Another great giveaway– thanks!

    PS: Flo is correct. Out of the ballpark. Once again.

  16. “Taste is not morality.” Wow, talk about a gem. Another bit of brilliance on your part, breathtaking when considered in the bigger context.

    As we’re all sharing, mine is a small plaid Ann Taylor in winter white wool, if that is possible. I still have it stashed away. Because we’re allowed to dream, yes?

    Love this one, and the two styles shown as well!
    tp

  17. The best skirt I ever had (and still have) is a straight-line wool tweed skirt I bought several years ago from Brooks Brothers. I wear it every year starting in the fall with riding boots or heels, depending on the occasion.

    It’s completely timeless and versatile. I even love thinking about wearing it… makes me want to shop for the holidays and sip hot cider.

  18. One very brisk fall day in the year that I was eight, my mother gave me a tiny but perfect navy-blue suit of tropical-weight wool. It had what we would now call a pencil skirt that went to my knees. She permitted me to wear it to school.

    As I walked, feeling the smooth wool of that narrow skirt around my scrawny thighs, I had a few revelations.

    First, I savored the fine hand of the wool, enjoyed for the first time the embrace of a well-cut skirt, and realized what good clothes feel like. I wanted more, a desire that still persists after all these years.

    Second, for the first time I felt, at age 8, that I was a lady–calm, beautiful, regal, yet warm. I had a quiet and serene confidence when I was in that suit. I felt like Jackie Kennedy. When I got to school, my bearing (which must have seemed hilarious to the adults) set me apart from the other kids.

    That suit, and particularly that skirt, changed my perceptions. Clothes, I understood, were important in creating self-confidence, projecting a message, and establishing authority, and a woman never has more authority than when she is wearing a skirted suit.

    And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go shopping.

  19. Hi Lisa…I’ve fallen in love with quite a few skirts over the years, but I’d say my favorite was a herringbone tweed, pencil skirt that I bought after college. I still have it and love it. It looks equally great with heels and boots. It still makes me feel…dare I say, sexy?:) (If herringbone tweed can be such a thing.)

    Oh my, that site is dangerous. I saw way too many things I want! The 2 dresses are beautiful. I know I would adore wearing them both…Although I think I’m partial to the white one. Wonderful giveaway!

    H.H.

  20. The best skirt I had was a black mini from my early 20s… It was simple but extremly good fitting one. So many of my friends also borrowed if from me and after a while I lost track of it.. Later one of my friends who moved abroad wrote and told me that my beloved skirt ended in Amsterdam with her..

  21. I have two that spring to mind. Are we allowed two? One is current, the other gone to the land of lost skirts, though it may be stuffed in a box somewhere. The lost skirt is a vintage – green tafetta (artificial) covered in dark green net and it was originally the skirt of an evening dress of my mothers (she went up to Cambridge in 1951 and wore it there) I, in turn wore it at St Andrews in the 80’s with a fair isle sweater attempting to be cute and retro. It is very full, long and rustles when you walk. Seriously gorgeous and I shall have to see if I can find it.
    Current skirt I love is from the sale in Laura Ashley this summer and is a dark slate grey cotton with turquoise and gold skeleton leaves embroidered on it. But best of all it has a turquoise lining, which always cheers me up when I put it on.

  22. My best skirt is one that rarely sees the light outside my closet. It’s purple and has a hem that 25′ (yes, feet). Talk about swirl–a part of a small belly-dancing collection. Not high-WASP, but “very good looking.”

  23. Peck & Peck was a fancy women’s clothing store. When I was about 16 they were closing their doors and my Mother took my twin and I there to look for bargains. We settled on a green tweed suit. The skirt was a full circle skirt in the best sense and the jacket was short, shaped and had a self belt. My sister and I shared that suit for years. When I wore it, I felt so grown-up, like a lady who often shopped at stores with fur salons and chaises near the dressing rooms.

    Great site, great giveaways, great writing!

  24. My best skirt was a black silk pencil skirt I found at a thrift shop during high school. Joan Holloway would have been jealous of how that skirt made me sway. It was from Banana Republic (a brand I considered high end since the closest store was in another state) and had lace trim. I was a cheerleader and when we had home games we had to dress up. Before I found the skirt I’d be wearing random minis, and all the boys would tease me in that flirty way. But that skirt changed my ways, girls would comment on my wonderful skirt and how it made me look like I had a few curves!

    I still have it, but have given up hope of wearing it again because I don’t think I’ll ever weigh 115 pounds again. I hope to find another like it.

  25. I have a bright red felted-wool skirt from J Crew. It kind of makes me look like Mrs. Claus, but that’s fine. I stalked this skirt for YEARS before it popped up on eBay in my size. I didn’t seize the opportunity in the store, and it had disappeared when I went back to buy it!

  26. I have a skirt in mind that I was just thinking about yesterday. It was light blue wool, pleated, and I wore it with those handmade sweaters that were so popular in the 80s. Ah, the 80s.
    Also, echoing another responder sentiments, thank you for bestowing presents as we approach the Season!

  27. My favorite skirt is also fairly full and pleated. During a lovely, post-grad summer evening in Oxford, I caught sight of a young female student madly peddling her bicycle up the “High” in a pale blue cotton pleated skirt and matching sleeveless top, long hair flowing behind her. She was clearly off to someplace more fun than the library, and I saw her again cycling several different places around Oxford that long summer night, apparently making her way from one party to the next. She became the muse for a skirt I had made several times in Jakarta later that year, using various summery plaids and stripes. To get the dressmaker started, I gave her a photo of Miuccia Prada in a skirt, but suggested a few adjustments to get the volume right. My Indonesian dressmaker did a fine job interpreting the Oxford cyclist’s spirit, and hopefully I wear the skirts with at least a hint of the original attitude!!

  28. What a fun website! I love both dresses you’ve posted, but think the second is perfection for work and play.

    I love skirts! My favorite has to be a muted magenta/pink leather a-line skirt I bought in high school from Banana Republic. SUCH a cool and different skirt. I have to say my dad is very cool for allowing me to buy this, because it was rather impractical but just too cool to pass up. My sister still has it, and I’m wondering if I could still squeeze into it? I’ll have to see…..

  29. Nothing shabby about Shabby Apple. Pintuck for me.
    As they say back in day I wore full skirts.
    A favorite, a black pencil/straight skirt with its own wide double buckle belt.
    Nice giveaway.
    BarbaraG

  30. My favorite skirt was a black pencil skirt with a deep back slit with a white-olive-hot pink print of geometric forms in silhouette – the pattern always reminded me of a retro 50s countertop. Whenever I wore that skirt, I felt amazing!

    And then there was my uniform skirt; I hemmed it shorter and shorter each year as a I grew taller and taller. It was a six-gored skirt in an odd grayish-cornflower blue – a color I cannot ever again wear to this day. I split one of the seams and made a pocket of pink and green floral Lilly wannabe fabric. Maybe not my favorite skirt but one I will never forget.

  31. I don’t like a lot of dresses but I sure like these dresses here! My most favorite skirt ever was a long wrap around one.

  32. Like Belette I love skirts and can’t really choose a favorite. But I do have a favorite skirt pattern that I’ve used to sew at least 50 skirts. That’s a guess. It is a straight skirt with a kick pleat in the back, darts or pleats in the front and darts in the back. I’ve used it to make carefree print summer skirts, serious tweed skirts for work, and even a gold brocade number for Christmas one year (worn with a black cashmere sweater.) I’ve eliminated the kick pleat and turned it into an A-line skirt. I’ve added a flounce to the bottom. Once I made it in a black and white tweed with a band of heavy black lace around the bottom. I’ve used it so much that I copied it onto non-woven interfacing fabric to preserve it. It’s my TNT as we say in the sewing world: my tried and true skirt pattern.

  33. When my mother bestowed high praise on something she also said that it was ” very good looking”, as were the matching full, green corduroy skirts we had when I was around 4 years old. They had nice roomy patch pockets and we wore them with lovely green striped blouses. When we dressed in our matching outfits, I entered another world and felt almost as beautiful as my stylish mother. I will take the liberty of describing my other favorite skirt. I wore this one when I was in college. It had one simple abstract design on the back and one on the front. They were reminiscent of Helen Frankenthaler paintings. Green, yellow and lavender were the predominant colors. It was a few inches above the knee and just the thing for an art major.

    As soon as I finish this comment, I’ll make my way to Shabby Apple. How wonderful of you to bring that website into our lives and to so generously give away fabulous prizes.

  34. I remember a beige and brown plaid kilt I had when I was in about 8th grade. I was terribly gawky, but with that skirt on (with its big gold kilt pin on the front) and my brown knee socks, I thought I was the height of fashion.

  35. Love the dresses!

    My most sentimental skirt is going to have to be this really full red and black number I bought in New York, daringly, with no place to wear it to. I’ve worn it a lot, including to my law school graduation where my mom took the first couple picture to be framed with my then boyfriend now husband. I’m very fond of that picture and that skirt. Felt like a million bucks.

    My best skirt is this wool curvy skirt in grey that flares in pleates right at my knees, making it below the knee and thus work appropriate – or so I tell myself, no matter how sexy it makes me feel. This too was bought years ago because I wanted it too much to pass it by even though I had no place to wear it to.

  36. My DVF knit leopard pencil skirt. Bought 5 years ago on Bluefly. Always pays for itself with the admiring looks it receives and the free drinks it delivers!

  37. I had a black skirt that fell to mid-calf that I wore for every single orchestra performance in middle and high school–and there were a lot, believe me. I think it also carried me through most of college, and may have been the only skirt I took to study abroad–and thus wore every week tp church. It was black wool, and had a trumpet line. It was a cut that was never particularly in style, so it never really looked dated, either. It was so different than what everyone else wore for these types of things that it always was a head-turner. In a good way, I think.

  38. My favorite skirt is one I made from an Alabama Chanin kit, all hand stitched and beaded. It was a summer long project, and worth every minute.

  39. Oops, I might be too late, but I thought I’d share my too many favorite skirts anyway :) My top 3: a full skirt with a white background but huge floral explosions — I had fallen in love with an insanely expensive dress in a similar pattern, then stumbled upon the inexpensive skirt and was sold. The fullness was a bonus. Next: a gray pinstriped pencil skirt. The perfect business-appropriate length, whether worn at the hip with a sweater over it, or high-waisted with a wide black belt (square buckled, it was perfection) and a bold-colored blouse. Last: the swingy skirt of a faux-wrap shirt dress, complete with puffy sleeves and stand up collar. This dress opened my eyes to the retro style that I love (and loves me!) most.

  40. Many thanks for having us all to your party, lovely lady. I have brought you a bundle of seeded eucalyptus, all tied up with twine. It smells heavenly.

    It is entirely possible that I am cheating, but I have had three favorite skirts in my time (in my family, we Remember Clothes):

    1. I was very small. It was Easter and I was walking up the church sidewalk holding a basket not yet filled with eggs. The skirt of my dress was full and bright blue and covered in lace, and I had a full petticoat to fill it out. Oh, and bells. My mother had sewn bells to the petticoat so that I might jingle as I walked.

    2. It was the first day of third grade. The skirt was green and black plaid, pleated and hitting just above my knees. I had a green and black striped turtleneck to match, and a cardigan with thicker green and black stripes. And green tights. And one good pair of mary janes. I was full of hope and oatmeal; the skirt flew out as I twirled. I did not yet know what the third grade would hold.

    3. A high-waisted grey pencil skirt, circa 2010. For doing Important Professional Things in Boston and New York. Two pockets, no frills.

  41. I love shabby apple! I’m love it when the below-the-knee hourglass silhouette comes back in fashion because it’s so flattering (I’m so tired of skinny jeans and microminis).

    The best skirt I ever had was a very full chocolate brown wool skirt with crinolines. It’s the only skirt I’ve ever worn that keeps me as warm as a pair of cold-weather trousers, and it’s very pretty! I wore it to my after-rehearsal dinner.

  42. My hot pink embroidered skirt from india. A real cheapie from the Maxx. I’ve worn it to bits, dressed up, dressed down and just plain dressed.

  43. I had a skirt in the early to mid- years of college that my roommate and I called the “Talk to Me skirt”. Whenever I (or she, if she beat me to my closet) wore it, we were guaranteed to enjoy friendly male company, drinks purchased on our behalf, and phone numbers pressed into our palms as we departed for the night. We never did figure out the magic of that skirt – it was fairly chaste for our age and the time, not too short and in a sort of basic black and white plaidish print. Whatever the source, the man who would become my husband also appreciated it, too, and later prevailed upon me to pass it along to the universe via a Goodwill donation bag. He doesn’t mind admitting that he was a bit threatened, once he thoroughly understood its power.

  44. The best skirt I’ve ever had is a huge white-with-brown-flowers-and-gold-trim skirt I found at an import shop in North Dakota for ten dollars. It’s the perfect floor-sweeping length, and it has the ability to be both casual but fancy OR fancy yet casual. And always a little funky. Artsy cousin, most definitely. =)

  45. Lovely dresses. Both. Probably the 2nd one is more “me” and the white one the me that inhabits my fantasies, walks in the French Riviera and all ;)
    I can’t really remember the best skirt I ever had, but I do remember a dress I loved when I was 3 years old and didn’t want to take out. It was pink plumetí (a tipe of tull with little dots in it), full skirt that was great for turning and turning and turning ;)I remember feeling like a fairy tale princess when wearing it!

  46. I had a fantastic black wool skirt with pockets and a lovely purple silk lining. Unfortunately it has gotten too small, but I remain hopeful that it will fit again!

  47. One of my favorite skirts ever was this hippie-ish skirt I picked up at a small boutique in Dedham, MA. I bought it a few days before a trip to California and I thought it was so perfect. It was white with turquoise embroidery and what my mother calls “handkerchief style” – i.e. the kind of edges you’d see on a frilly handkerchief. I loved the skirt and felt so “bohemian” when I wore it!

  48. I have two favorite skirts, though one was attached to a dress.

    The dress was pink with white polka dots, puff sleeves with lace trim. I was 7. It was worn with white patent leather mary janes and wrist length gloves. The skirt was the best part of the dress because when I twirled, it would stand straight out. I would spin until I was almost sick. I miss that urge, to spin until you throw up.

    The second was a red silk skirt that was floor length and had some of the fullness of a ball gown. I wore it for special occassions and as part of costumes until I stepped on it one day, putting a gaping hole in the back. I was heartbroken. It was with me for my one and only trip to the opera (so far). I wore with a white angora sweater (it was almost Christmas) and felt like a winter princess.

  49. So picture this: A swingy cream-colored swath of silk charmeuse. When I spun around (and I did a lot of spinning in those days), it floated off my legs like a summer breeze. I felt like Grace Kelly in that skirt and although I wore it only once, the occasion was so memorable that it was almost enough.

    Want to borrow it? It’s still in my closet, now with a faint eau-de-cedar. 24 years and 2 pregnancies have ensured that I’ll never wear it again. Except in my dreams, of course

  50. As a true clothes lover, I have so many skirts that I adore. When I was younger, my mother gave me a skirt she wore to a school dance in junior high. It was a gorgeous long tartan skirt with huge satin sash. I wore it to church on Christmas Eve. I felt so glamorous, and can’t wait to give my daughter the skirt one day. As I didn’t have any sisters, I loved any kind of hand-me-down I received, many of which were from my mother, my aunt, or my grandmother. These all gave me a glimpse into what they wore growing up, and I now save way too many pieces for my children now.

  51. My favorite skirt is actually a brown tweed a-line one, it is sort of full and comes below the knee. It is JCrew back when JCrew was good:) It also has a matching blazer…I wear it all of the time, it looks fantastic with heels, or riding boots and it is super comfortable. It is just a great neutral piece I have in my closet.

  52. Ah, skirts. Like many here, I love them. One of them I love just this minute is thanks to you – you saved me with your post about black tie dressing. The photo you used to illustrate the Carolina Herrera look was me to a T. Unfortunately, nowhere to be found in the shops so I have ended up sewing a black & white silk taffeta skirt that is, if I may say, perfection. I will wear that later this month with a white shirt for a significant event.

    Other skirts – my mother’s pleated skirt (you know with the tops of the pleats around the hips sewn down)also paired with white shirt and/or cashmere sweater – men seemed to be very attracted to that 50s look. A sexy Sturdy Gal, I guess. A winter white wool pencil skirt with jacket, padded shoulders and all (it was the late 80s after all), and chocolate brown silk blouse. Smokin’. Not so Sturdy Gal.

  53. So many favorite skirts and dresses in my lifetime. Isn’t it funny how they just really define a memory/era/event.

    One of my beloved “skirts” was my Brownie Girl Scout jumper I wore in grade school. I loved that cool shade of brown. Wore it with knee socks and saddle shoes with big crepe soles ( it was the early 70s). My blonde hair was in a shag, and I thought I was really cute.
    Very “Sturdy Girl,” and a remnant of the day when Brownies learned about cooking, cleaning bedrooms and camping, instead of careers.

  54. Another great giveaway. I am not sure I have ever had a best skirt. I’ve a few favourites but nothing that sings loudest. My current favourite is a Jil Sander for Uniqlo tulip high waisted black skirt which is about knee length, goes with everything and always is admired. It also cost me £25, which was pleasing.

  55. These Shabby Apple dresses are so lovely and refined!

    Back in high school, I had this little bitty denim mini skirt – more of a wide belt really! – that I wore with neon pink or yellow tights to ska shows (anyone remember ska???). With lots of beads and a hip t-shirt, I felt totally invincible in that skirt, in the way of the sheltered suburban young.

  56. Fun! My favorite skirt ever is a full a-line cotton skirt – it’s got pockets and is a black print with a white waistband and hem. I never wore skirts until I found this one – it balances out my body type and I put it on and felt so pretty. It’s a twirly skirt. It made me feel good about everything – and I wore it for the first time to my 28th birthday dinner with my boyfriend. I got engaged that night, so that might also have something to do with it being my favorite. ;-)

  57. Oh my! I just looked at the dresses at the Shabby Apple’s website. What a wonderful collection!!!

    One of my favorite skirts was worn in the late ’80s. I don’t remember the label; but, it was a full skirt with suspenders made of the same fabric as the skirt. It was flatterin and made very well. It was made of a heavy cotton flannel that had a dark navy backgound and a repeating pattern of brown/taupe/white pheasants in flight. I wore it with coordinating turtlenecks, sweaters, blouses and the occasional corduroy blazer. While I don’t think I ever received a compliment on it, I know that every time I wore it. It was right.

  58. I began hunting after a trip to France where I saw everyone wearing A-line skirts falling a couple of inches past the knee. They all looked lovely and elegant. The skirts were of a thicker cotton mostly, not flowy or dreamy.

    I finally found something of approximately the same silhouette at Talbots: a navy skirt printed with large white sailboats. Ordinarily I am not a fan of prints, but I pair that skirt with a plain gray boat neck 3/4 sleeve t-shirt or sweater and achieve the look I admired.

  59. Best full skirt ever came from my mother’s closet. It was tiny tiny and I’m sad that it really only fully zipped up without sucking everything in and not breathing until I was 21 or so. Wow mama was tiny.

    Beautiful though. And I’ve held on to it for inspiration. Even though I fear I’ll never get into it again.

  60. Happy housewarming to you!

    The best skirt I’ve ever owned is a skirt which currently sits in my wardrobe. I thrifted it, several years ago, on an academic trip to Boone, North Carolina, of all places. It is a full skirt, and floor-length, and it is made completely of lace. Mostly, I use it as a costume piece, but lately I’ve been wearing it, as it’s autumn and everyone’s wardrobe becomes a little more eccentric in the autumn. I’m taken back to a fantasy of the nineteenth-century, when I hear the soft swish of the underskirt and feel the pool of lace seethe quietly around me as I move. I’ve gotten compliments on my eccentric fashion sense before, but none so personally satisfying as when I wear the lace skirt.

  61. JmcLaughlin… full, floor-length, periwinkle, taffeta. It has a lovely full sash. It hangs in my closet waiting for the perfect occasion. Have worn it with silk blouse and plain white Banana T-shirt with pearls. Perhaps my favorite article of clothing to date. It’s nearly 12 years old!

  62. to add another skirt or 2. fuchsia tweed age 8. birthday gift with matching poor boy sweater, white gogo boots. I still adore that color. incredible puce Marc Jacobs wool with belled hemline and tiny tiny tiny stitching all round- that is one I can not let go though it no longer loves the curves. pgt

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