Everyone Should Own A Silly Little Skirt

This Fashion Week, there were three things that my fellow editors and I wouldn’t have dreamed of turning up without. The first is oversized sunnies; the second, a statement bag. Third and most importantly: the silly skirt. The delightfully nonsensical update to a classic ready-to-wear staple has stylish people in every fashion capital clamoring to buy in. Wearing one is like receiving the fashion equivalent of a gold star, telling onlookers: I know what’s going on. And judging by the Milan shows, the fixation isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

It all started last season, when the sheer skirts of Prada’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection reached a fever pitch—though their tendency to leave the wearer feeling a little naked made them tricky to adopt into daily wear. Still, they got fashionable minds thinking about the funky bottom’s superpowers. Then came a slew of really interesting pareos for summer—thanks, Dries!—which did all the legwork of the sheer skirt without forcing the wearer to feel overly exposed. Zara eventually hammered the proposition down to a science, turning out viral skirt after viral skirt for TikTok to devour. Lo and behold, the pareo became an overnight sensation: a personality hire with practicality to match.

For fall, the idea is simply contorting into strange and wonderful new forms. Brocade styles, trompe l’oeil prints, floral appliqués, and swaths of fringe are filling the pareo-shaped hole swimmingly. Many of the styles making the rounds look as though something random has been attached to the wearer’s waist—a suede poncho, a paisley scarf, perhaps a tablecloth. Others make the wearer look like an ornate ottoman or the fringey leg lamp from A Christmas Story. The philosophy is simple: The louder, glitzier, swishier, and frillier, the better. 

The silly little skirt is the antithesis of pragmatic work trousers and safe jeans; it exists largely to make the rest of the outfit more fun. Even with the frumpiest sweatshirt on top, you can look entirely put together with a bedazzled jupe below the waist. And with the holidays around the corner, we should all be thinking about sequined iterations as well. Pants will still be there when the novelty wears off. Until then, all hail the silly little skirt.