London Skirt

[Couya]

I'm surprised so many of you go for elastic waists. ... very few of them look as sharp as skirts with zippers and many look downright cheap. IMHO.

Quite agree!
Martin

[Elisabetta]

Hurry hurry, nearly sold out!

QUIT IT! I..... can't...... b--buy.... anyth....ing..... gotta..... save.... money... for..... Labor Da...y!

Gotta keep telling myself.... "it's not gonna fit, it's not gonna fit, it's not gonna fit, it's not gonna fit"...

You gotta save Moon we can't be going on too many shopping sprees right now :O

[photoguy207]

Regarding the length, I'm 5'8" and where it sits on my waist, the skirt is really long.

I'm surprised about the sizing, bigger curvy women would love this skirt!

Buy it up before it's gone!

I can post some detail photos if people are interested.

[skirtyscot]

I'm surprised so many of you go for elastic waists. ... very few of them look as sharp as skirts with zippers and many look downright cheap. IMHO.

Quite agree!
Martin

I too dislike them, though I've never been able to say why. So here goes!

Maybe it's the shape of them: there has to be enough material to allow for a waist which stretches the elastic fully, and so if you are more slender you end up with extra folds all round, in a haphazard way. Not a style I like. (Come to think of it, this is pdxfp's "sharp" point, but less succinctly put!).

Alternatively if you need that full stretch, surely the skirt would be too tight on the waist? That is my experience with slips.

As for looking cheap, it must be a very simple style to make, with fewer sizes needed in a range, so it probably is cheap to make. And I suppose that tends to make them a bit downmarket and, er, cheap?

I associate them with women of a certain age (or more) who have let themselves go but don't care.

<<Introspection alert>> I suppose I'm quite proud of the fact that as I approach the age of 50 I am as slim as I was at 20. I can buy clothes and be confident that they will fit me indefinitely. I don't need a forgiving elasticated waist!

Does all this make me a vain snob? Maybe. But I just don't like elasticated skirts!

[skirtyscot]

Digression on the subject of staying the same size. I don't have to try to do it, it just happens. I can't quite understand the notion that you gradually get fatter as you get older. To me, it's lazy. I found a question on another forum about how some people don't get fatter. The asker had it all the wrong way round, IMO. But people answered with tales of too much junk food and weight gain of 5 pounds per month until they finally noticed when they were 100 lbs overweight. I was astonished: they must have replaced all their clothes three times over by then. Not even an elasticated waist would have helped!

[crfriend]

[Maybe it's the shape of [elastic-waist skirts]: there has to be enough material to allow for a waist which stretches the elastic fully, and so if you are more slender you end up with extra folds all round, in a haphazard way. Not a style I like. (Come to think of it, this is pdxfp's "sharp" point, but less succinctly put!).

From personal experience I find that rigid-waist skirts have the problem of either being too tight around the mid-section or wanting to fall off. This is down to the (more or less) natural male anatomy which is not as naturally as narrow around the mid-section as a woman's. This gives women a very large advantage with rigid-waist skirts as they don't need to worry about them falling off (or, more to the point, feeling like they're going to) as the skirt's waistband can migrate up and down with q fair bit of latitude.

In my case, if I'm wearing one of my rigid-waist skirts (and I have a few) and am comfortable at the start of the day, I find that if I tuck into a good meal the thing starts to bind uncomfortably. Some of my skirts can be adjusted using buttons at the back, and I can usually get those to work if I set the waist in the first place to be where one set of buttons is and can loosen it. However, the act of opening the waist about an inch and a half produces a rather disturbing sensation that the thing'll go south at the first opportunity. This is especially bad with slippery fabrics, I'll add.

Elastics and drawstrings solve that problem handily.

I just put a tape-measure around me in a couple of places. My hips are about 42" in circumference (down from 44 a couple of years ago); my waist is 37" (down from 38" a couple of years ago, and up from 34" a few months ago). After a good meal, my waist can be 2 or 3 inches more around then when I have an empty stomach (Comments about snakes are not welcome.). I'm a bit more "dynamic" than the "standard" woman. So elastics make engineering sense for me.

As for looking cheap, it must be a very simple style to make, with fewer sizes needed in a range, so it probably is cheap to make. And I suppose that tends to make them a bit downmarket and, er, cheap?

That's a valid criticism, and I do wish more dressy skirts were available with discreet adjustments that could be made with a quick visit to the "facilities".

I associate them with women of a certain age (or more) who have let themselves go but don't care.

Ouch.

<<Introspection alert>> I suppose I'm quite proud of the fact that as I approach the age of 50 I am as slim as I was at 20. I can buy clothes and be confident that they will fit me indefinitely. I don't need a forgiving elasticated waist!

You are fortunate. But then again, I don't want to look like what I did when I was 20. At 20, I was 6'4" with a 32" waist (I used to be able to comfortably fasten a computer-tape-cover from a 10" reel around my waist; do the math), a 36" inseam, weighed 150 pounds, ate like a draught-horse, and still looked cadaverous without clothes (one charitable type compared me to photographs of concentration-camp survivors). I will say, though, back in March and April when my 38" waist trousers were going to fall off me and I had to buy a set of 34s I looked pretty darned good for somebody in his 50s; at the same time, I hated the fact that I could see each rib, and lots of individual bones.

Does all this make me a vain snob? Maybe. But I just don't like elasticated skirts!

I think we all have some of that in us. Cut some slack on the elastics, though, please.

[moonshadow]

Ahh, I remember when my folks would tell me when I was being smug about my thin body back in my teenage years and early 20's. I maintained about 130lbs and size 30 waist. I could eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. My mother would always rant about it. They both told me, my day was coming. Well... that day is here.

When I hit my late 20's I found myself approaching around 160 and in a 34" waist. After a decade of service work, which in and of itself includes A LOT of drive time, sitting behind the wheel of a van for miles and miles on end I now find myself struggling to stay under 190, and my waist loosely measures at 39" with a 41" hip. However that's a VERY loose measurement. When tightening the tape to about how I like my clothes to fit, it's about 36". Which happens to be my trouser size. I also like my skirts to fit as snugly which is why I can fit in size 12 elastics. A size 14 fits, and is probably the proper size for me, but I feel as though it's going to fall off. However if it's a more rigid fitting skirt, I do have to go for the 14.

I guess it's just a result of years and years of wearing a belt. I like my bottoms to be snug. It's not about vanity, it's about security. The few rigid skirts I have are denim and have belt hoops, and I use them.

Anyway, my point to all this is, try to take it easy on folks that run a little heavy. I'm not going to make excuses about metabolism, genetics, etc. The truth is yes, many in my family struggle with what they call the "mid-life middle"... actually on men we just call it a "beer gut". My mother, and my grandmother are basically what they call "apples", which is a polite way of saying their build is like a "potato on tooth picks". (their words, not mine) I have a similar body shape. Our legs and arms are basically skinny. My watch band size is the same as it was since my teenage years, and my shoe size actually seemed to have shrunk. I swear when I was a teenager I was in size 11, now I'm down to 10. But anyway, I have learned over the last several years that when you actually have to try to keep your weight under control.... IT'S TOUGH! I love to eat! I love to snack. I love food! My stomach can hold a lot. I have to restrain myself all the time.

Now that I'm approaching mid-life's front door, I can detect the chemistry of my body changing. I have to be careful what I eat, and sometimes when I know I've ate a full meal but I'm still hungry, I have to force myself to walk away.... it's not easy for a man who loves food. My body isn't perfect. In fact, when naked I think I look pretty awkward. Skinny arms and legs, pudgy mid section, thinning hair, double chin, goofy profile, and crooked yellow teeth... but the fact is, I feel healthy. My body has served me well these 35 years and I'm happy for my soul to call it home in this life. Elastic skirts just work for me, and I'm glad they're available.

I may not be pretty to look at... but I run like a top!

I suspect I'm going to be a pretty odd looking old man. Clearly I've got my mother's build, yet I've got the genes of a male. It will be awkward to say the least. Clothes from either side of the aisle will be a struggle to fit.

[Gregg1100]

Nothing remotely wrong with elasticated skirts. I have dozens of them. I go for comfort, not looks. Have to get skirts 2 sizes up with buttons/hooks and a zip, whereas an elasticated skirt can be accommodating for an increase in girth.
Skirtyscot- my wife wears lots of elasticated waist skirts- she is getting on in years, but DOES care about her appearance. In the 50 years I have known her-47 years married, I have never seen her in pants/trousers whatever you want to call the horrible things. She does not possess any, will never buy any either. And no doubt knows more than you will do about women's clothing.
I see a lot of people who go about with absolutely no clue of dress sense- slovenly comes to mind. And that is just the females.

[skirtyscot]

<<crawls back under rock>>

[crfriend]

<<crawls back under rock>>

Don't do that. Stand up and be counted.

We all have opinions, and we all have those opinions for reasons.

I'd rather see a lively conversation about the pluses -- and minuses -- of various styles than stone cold silence.

[r.m.anderson]

The only other option to a garment that has an elastic waist is one with a Velcro closing i.e. like in the casual SportKilt which has both forms of closing.
The elastic band at the back and the front apron closing in Velcro - the perfect answer for a multiple universal adjustable waist closing.
The formal kilts have small belts and buckles to chinch up the garment to fit and additionally large belt loops to put the final touch on squeezing the
life out of the wearer - but no worry one is not losing his skirted britches !
With fixed sized clothing - it is either it fits right on or if too loose it is 'London Bridges' falling down or something is up in air around the armpits !
Wearing suspenders (braces) is not so much in vogue keeping clothing in place !
Advantage to the women with the hourglass figure to having a secure fit with minimal elastic effort.

So the real advantage to both sexes is the robe that has been around for eons - using the shoulders to shoulder garment in place instead of the waist
going to waste otherwise !

[moonshadow]

<<crawls back under rock>>

Don't do that. Stand up and be counted.

We all have opinions, and we all have those opinions for reasons.

I'd rather see a lively conversation about the pluses -- and minuses -- of various styles than stone cold silence.

I second! Come on back out from under the rock. No hard feelings here! We're all entitled to our opinions, especially on how we dress, that's what this sites all about!

I was just rambling on about getting fatter. No biggie... *pun*

[moonshadow]

As for looking cheap, it must be a very simple style to make, with fewer sizes needed in a range, so it probably is cheap to make. And I suppose that tends to make them a bit downmarket and, er, cheap?

This may also tie into the whole "vanity sizing" thing... Women that should be in a size 14 or 16 rigid waist skirt might fit in some size 10's with a VERY forgiving elastic waist line, making them think they're loosing weight...

"Oh look dear, it's been so long since I've fit in this size!"

God help me I've even got a size 6 that fits.... boy that'll stroke an ego!

[skirted_in_SF]

God help me I've even got a size 6 that fits.... boy that'll stroke an ego!

Thank goodness for vanity sizing, all my Lands' End skirts that fit me are size 6 . The ones that are hook and zip just hold my stomach a little firmer.

[Jim]

The only other option to a garment that has an elastic waist is one with a Velcro closing i.e. like in the casual SportKilt which has both forms of closing.

A belt is also a good option. In my work (farming), I often use a belt to hold things, not just hold my clothing in place. So I prefer skirts made with belt loops, as I find making such loops a chore.