Fashion has always had a bit of a soft spot for the straightforward. At least the people who work in it do. Crisp white shirts, clean-cut black trousers and no-nonsense navy knits are all items that we on Planet Fashion take very seriously. But every now and again, amid the classic, the minimal and the neutral, comes a little light relief to remind us that basic is not always best. This season, we’ve been gifted with the flute skirt.
Fun, flirty and altogether fabulously feminine, the ruffle-bottomed style is the polar opposite of all the no-frills separates that count as a mainstay of our wardrobes. As a progression from last year’s skater skirt, which flared out from the waist in a girlish flounce, the latest update on the fit-and-flare silhouette instead hugs the hips like a pencil skirt before finishing with a flourish. Each one — I’m almost certain — comes with extra bum-wiggle sewn into the lining.
But just as this skirt is the antithesis of everything our indispensable staple items stand for, so too is it the opposite of easy to wear. Instead, it’s a careful balancing act between volume and proportion.
Sprightly young things with great legs can afford less caution and instead look to Parisian label Carven or Hussein Chalayan’s contemporary Grey Line offering — two labels with a serious penchant for flippy miniskirts of thigh-grazing proportions — while high street options come courtesy of & Other Stories’ neoprene mini and Zara’s tropical print offering. If you are after something slightly more demure, Matthew Williamson’s pre-fall collection shows us how to work an office-friendly flute, while 30-year-old Kate Bosworth took to the red carpet recently in a grey satin version from Miu Miu for the premiere of her latest film, Black Rock.
But for all-out extravagance — and really that is what the trend deserves — all roads lead to Peter Pilotto, which presented no fewer than 15 frothy-bottomed looks in its spring/summer catwalk show, each ruffle more impressive than the last.
How’s that for some serious frivolity?
