Women's Pleated Skirt

Pleats are folds of fabric fixed at the waistband and released toward the hem. A pleated skirt is defined by which fold it uses. Knife pleats all face the same direction and make a clean, one-way line. Box pleats fold away from each other in pairs and give a flatter front with sharper corners. Accordion pleats stay narrow at the top and open all the way to the hem, so the skirt moves like a fan.

Setting a pleat is a heat process, and the fiber decides whether it survives. Polyester holds a heat-set pleat permanently, because the fiber softens slightly into the new shape and stays there. Wool, cotton and viscose need pressing again after every wash and lose definition over years. Fullness carries a price too: a pleated skirt uses two to three times the fabric of a flat one. It weighs more, swings harder and costs more in the same cloth.

An A-line skirt gets its width from angled seams and keeps a flat waist. A pleated one folds the width in and thickens the waist as a result. A pencil skirt has no fullness at all and needs a vent to walk. Skorts hide shorts under a panel and often use a mock pleat stitched flat to the surface, which never swings. For movement, pleats give more than any other closed skirt; for a smooth line under a jacket, they give the least.

Choose pleats when you want visible motion in an outfit. Warm days work well, because the folds hold fabric off the leg. Heavier cloth suits taller frames, and shorter frames usually do better with a finer, lighter pleat. Cycling and long train commutes are where they suffer, because sitting crushes the folds and a crushed pleat looks worse than no pleat at all.

Run a hand down the folds and let go. Good pleats fall straight back into place from the hip; lazy ones stay open. Read the fiber label to learn whether the pleats are permanent or your responsibility. A lining or a slip helps, since folds hang better on a slippery surface than on tights. Wash in a mesh bag or by hand, hang from the waistband so gravity pulls the folds down, and steam vertically. An iron pushed across the folds flattens the edges you paid for.