Prada showed 63 knee-length skirts in one show. That same day, eBay searches for Prada skirt jumped 360%. Chanel, Gucci, Dior and Dries Van Noten leaned on the skirt too. The Journal's Tasha Green Spice, a stylist herself, says the hard part isn't buying one. It's wearing it without looking fussy.
Lili Henry, a personal stylist in San Francisco, told the Journal that women are "craving a little more personality in their wardrobes." She also says many women think a skirt means dressing up and that pants are more practical. The runways pushed back. Spice's five tips are about contrast. Pair a loud skirt with a quiet top, the Prada formula. Dress down your fanciest skirt with a plain tee. Add a bit of menswear, like a plaid shirt and chunky shoes. Make sure the hem covers the top of a boot. Match your tights to your shoes so your legs look longer.
The same tip, two prices
Here's what caught our eye. Each tip comes with a shopping list, and the prices are all over the map. Under the boot tip, a Massimo Dutti wool pleated midi skirt is $200 and J.Crew knee-high boots are $398. The flannel shirt next to them is $660. Under the tights tip, Falke tights are $44 and the Khaite pump is $980. The Madewell shirt is $98. The Staud skirt is $495. The styling rule is the same whether you spend $200 or $980 on the piece. The rule is free. The label is what costs.
Our read
This is a Cash Flow · M5 story, a light one. A trend is a reason to look in your closet before you look in a store. Most of Spice's tips use things people already own, a plain tee, a V-neck, a plaid shirt, black tights. The one new piece is the skirt. The page shows it at $200 as clearly as at $495. eBay (EBAY), where the searches spiked, is held at weight in 4 books; nothing added. We're not weighing in on hemlines. We're saying the gap between the $200 skirt and the $495 skirt is a choice, and it belongs in your budget, not on your credit card by accident.
Here's the connection to your own money. Your cash-flow plan has a clothing line. Most people never check it against the card statement. This week, add up what you've spent on clothes this year and set it next to that line. If the trend pulls you in, use the one-piece rule. Buy the skirt, wear the top you own. Then you've spent $200, not $1,000, for the same look the runway sold. That's a small check, and small checks are how a plan stays honest. Nobody waits for the rain to find out the roof leaks.