Women's Skirt Suit

Jacket and skirt arrive here from one cloth and one dye run, sold as a set. The jacket half is ordinary tailoring, canvas and bust shaping and a shoulder that has to fit off the rack. Decisions live in the skirt, because hem length, the back vent and the lining do more to how the outfit wears than any lapel shape can. Most are cut as a pencil, straight and narrow to the knee, though A-line versions exist and move far more freely.

Walking in a straight skirt requires an opening somewhere. This is what the back vent or short slit provides. The length of that opening sets your stride: under about 4 inches you take small steps on stairs. Lining carries equal weight. A skirt lined to the hem lets the outer cloth slide over hosiery or bare skin instead of gripping it, while an unlined wool skirt creeps upward every twenty minutes and needs pulling down all day.

The Pencil Skirt and A-Line Skirt guides cover those shapes in their own right. The difference here is only that the cloth is committed to a jacket. Buying the two pieces as Suit Separates solves the same fit problem, since the skirt then carries its own size. A Jacket Dress covers similar rooms with the waist seam removed, so nothing can shift out of line during the day.

Formal codes that name a skirt, court appearances and traditional professions are where it still holds ground. Summer favors it, since air moves under a skirt in a way it never does through a trouser leg. Measure your waist and your hip separately before committing to a matched set, because a straight skirt carries almost no ease at the hip and half an inch short there shows as horizontal pull across the front. Days full of stairs, bicycles or floor level work argue for the trouser version instead.

Take a seat in the skirt in the fitting room, then stand and study the back in a mirror, since creases fanning out under the seat mean it is tight and that seam will eventually give way. Reach inside the hem and look for at least 2 inches of spare cloth so the length can be let down later. Press the skirt on the wrong side through a cotton cloth, because a shiny patch on the seat never comes out, and clean it with its jacket every time.