I'm Very Against Pants, Jeans, and Leggings—This Is the Timeless Skirt Trend I Wear Nonstop Instead

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Collage of models wearing pleated skirt styles.
(Image credit: Courtesy of brands)

I've long been obsessed with a pleated skirt. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm drawn to it because I went to public school my whole life and never had to wear a uniform. The pleated skirt felt foreign to me, so I was drawn to it instantly. It was more than a skirt associated with rule following and strictness. It was something I could slip into to become another version of myself.

Pleated skirts have been a key part of my personal style for as long as I can remember. It's funny because while they represent orderliness and tradition, I often wear them in a way that is anything but. I lean into a grunge aesthetic, which is probably why pleated skirts are so fun to wear. Because of their use in private-school uniforms, they're easy to wear in ways that feel more subversive. Wearing a pleated skirt the "wrong way" makes it all the more fun.

For me, a pleated skirt has become like a second skin. Whereas some people constantly reach for their favorite pair of worn-in jeans, I always gravitate toward a pleated skirt, of which I own too many. They often come in varying lengths, so I have longer ones and shorter ones I wear according to the season. There are great options in bright and bold shades, simple neutrals, and loud patterns and prints, like plaids.

As long as designers and brands I love keep putting out pleated skirts, I will keep buying them, as a pleated skirt is always something I'm happy to invest in. You can never have too many. Below are a handful I currently have my eye on.

Shop the pleated-skirt trend below.

Tara Gonzalez
Tara Gonzalez
Senior Fashion Social Editor

Tara Gonzalez is a senior fashion and social editor at WhoWhatWear. where she is interested in exploring the intersection of fashion and culture and why we are drawn to wearing the things we wear and what that says about the world we live in. Previously she worked as a senior fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar. When she isn't writing trend deep dives for WWW, she's working on her newsletter on Substack, Cult Classic, which explores the very best fashion in film and television. She has a degree in creative writing from The University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend and pug Bjork, the later of which has a very extensive collection of dog-sized Sandy Liang sweaters.