A Line Skirt - Pleated Herringbone Knee-Length | Barrington

An A line skirt in a black and white herringbone weave, high on the waist, deep in the pleat, and with two pockets you will actually use.

The whole of it is cut from one cloth: narrow zigzag lines in black and off white, running the length of the skirt and standing side by side all the way across, about a hundred of them from one side of the hem to the other. Close up the weave is plainly yarn rather than print, so the edge of every zigzag is a little soft and thready and the two colours read as one crisp mid grey from across a room. The waistband is a single wide flat band of the same cloth, about a hand's width tall, with no belt loops on it and nothing printed or stitched across it. Below it the skirt breaks into deep soft pleats that are folded rather than pressed, so they open outwards as they fall and the hem ends up carrying a good deal more width than the waist. Set into the side seams are two deep pockets, one on each side, their openings following the line of the pleats. The hem is one level line the whole way round, with no slit and no vent. Wear it with a fine black knit tucked in and flat loafers, which is how it photographs best, or with a heavy jumper over the top and boots.

The fit

This one is shorter than it looks in the photographs. The maker publishes a length of 62 cm on the S rising to 66 cm on the XXL, and measured against the body that puts the hem at roughly 44 cm off the floor, which is the knee. Our own reading of the maker's photograph of the hem agrees: there is a clear stretch of bare leg below it, well above the widest part of the calf. So this is a knee length skirt, not a midi, and it is the first knee length skirt we have carried. The waistband sits high, above the natural waist rather than on it, which is what gives the pleats their lift. The cloth has no stretch in it at all, so the waist measurement is the one to go by: five sizes, S to XXL, which we read as UK 8 through to UK 16, with the maker's own waist and length figures set out in the size guide next to the size selector. If you are between two sizes, take the larger one.

Details

• Black and white herringbone weave, the zigzag running the length of the skirt
• One wide flat waistband, sitting high above the natural waist, with no belt loops
• Deep soft pleats from the waistband, folded rather than pressed
• Two deep pockets set into the side seams, one on each side
• Level hem the whole way round, with no slit and no vent
• 62 cm long on the S, rising a centimetre a size to 66 cm on the XXL, the maker's own figures
• The maker gives the fabric as polyester and publishes no percentages, and none of its photographs shows a composition label, so we pass that fibre on as its own rather than confirming it. Herringbone here describes the weave, which we have read off the cloth ourselves, and nothing about the fibre
• The maker lists a zip among the fittings but publishes no photograph of the back or the side of the skirt, so we have not seen the fastening and cannot tell you where it sits
• The maker does not say whether the skirt is lined
• Cool machine wash inside out and hang to dry, our own recommendation as the maker gives no care instructions

See the rest of the skirts.