London Skirt

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
photoguy207
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London Skirt

Post by photoguy207 »

All of my skirts are front zip skirts that are a simple style without any embellishment. As masculine as possible.

But last week a really feminine skirt caught my eye, so I ordered it. I was curious. It arrived Friday.

http://www.chicwish.com/oh-london-pleat ... skirt.html#

I got the XXXL (the biggest size) and it is a bit small. It is about a us size 14 and I usually wear a 16. Good reason to lose weight!

It isn't a skirt I would wear in public, but it is pretty fun to wear. I can now see why girls like to spin in their dresses! Lots of fabric and it feels great on the legs.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: London Skirt

Post by Fred in Skirts »

It is a bit on the bold side, lots of color and scenery of London and it's double deckers. :lol:

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moonshadow
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Re: London Skirt

Post by moonshadow »

I'm with Fred to a degree. I don't have any skirts that actually have a "scene" printed on them. Either a pattern of some sort or plain.

Not sure what I'd match it with, perhaps a plain white or black top, a tank might look nice.

I LOVE the shape of the skirt. I wonder if the model is wearing a petticoat under it or does it just naturally fluff like that....

Either way... I'd TOTALLY wear that, even with the double decker bus prints! :D

But boy those sizes though.... XXXL for a 34" waist??? You can tell when you ain't shopping in the states! Virtually every skirt I own is anywhere from size 10-14, or Medium. I even have one "Small" and one size 6 that fits (not sure how that happened)...

American skirts that are XXXL I could fit two of me in! :roll:
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photoguy207
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Re: London Skirt

Post by photoguy207 »

The skirt has a white liner under it and it seems to naturally fluff out. I love how it feels. It can get a bit warm under it, especially since it sits lower on me than a woman. I'm sure a petticoat would really make this skirt look awesome.

My XXXL doesn't have the pockets that are shown on the web. And I wish the waist had a little stretch to it.

Other than that, I love it. It really opened my eyes to the wide range of clothes available for women vs men
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moonshadow
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Re: London Skirt

Post by moonshadow »

I have to admit... I'm engaged in full restraint keeping my hand off the credit card this morning.... I like your skirt very much and I've half a notion to buy one myself....

However you mentioned that the waist isn't stretchy.... I assume it has the little zipper somewhere along the waist. That's normally the deal breaker for me anyway. I actually do not own any zipper skirts. Everything I have has an elastic waist. I find them much more forgiving when sizing.
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STEVIE
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Re: London Skirt

Post by STEVIE »

I love that design too.
As for "public" consumption, why not?
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crfriend
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Re: London Skirt

Post by crfriend »

I saw that, and I want one. However, I want one that'll fit me not some anorexic midget.
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Jim
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Re: London Skirt

Post by Jim »

moonshadow wrote:However you mentioned that the waist isn't stretchy.... I assume it has the little zipper somewhere along the waist. That's normally the deal breaker for me anyway. I actually do not own any zipper skirts. Everything I have has an elastic waist. I find them much more forgiving when sizing.
Most of my skirts have zippers. For several of them I've added elastic in the waistband. It does not take much sewing skill. Just cut a slit close to the width of the elastic you have (buy new, or take off old underwear) near one side of the zipper (on the inside so it won't be visible), attach a safety pin and push it around inside the waistband to near the other side of the zipper, make another small slit and take the end out. Sew each end after adjusting to the desired tightness.
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Re: London Skirt

Post by Tor »

Carl, are they really that small in the waist for you, or are you complaining about the length reaching only a little past the knees? I checked for myself (though I don't think I'd really wear that), and while I could get one that would fit me in the waist, it would only reach a few inches below the kneecap at most on me.

A hint if you have a lot of elastics to thread: take a piece of wire, bend a small loop in each end, and solder closed with no pokies to cause trouble. IIRC, I used 14AWG copper for the one I made. Safety pin the elastic to one loop, and thread the creature through. For only a few skirts, if you don't have the materials and tools required lying around, it probably isn't worth it.
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crfriend
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Re: London Skirt

Post by crfriend »

Tor wrote:Carl, are they really that small in the waist for you, or are you complaining about the length reaching only a little past the knees?
Both, sadly. I usually sport a 36" waist, but that can expand by a couple of inches following a large meal. A 34" waist (XXXL) would simply be a non-starter. There's also the issue with my height, which would make what they bill as a "midi" rather short on me.
A hint if you have a lot of elastics to thread: take a piece of wire, bend a small loop in each end, and solder closed with no pokies to cause trouble.
If I'm shooting an elastic through a tunnel I use a custom piece of work that I first fabricated years ago -- a wire-tie with the closure end removed and a hole bored in the centre end where the closure used to be and a couple of notches on the sides. This allows me to thread several sizes of elastic through long -- and sometimes tight -- tunnels as I have about eight inches of plastic to work with. I tie one end of the elastic, using needle-and-thread, either into the centre punch or around the notches; the wire-tie, by virtue of being flat, resists turning in the tunnel the way that a safety-pin can, and this keeps the elastic properly oriented as I drag it through the tunnel.

I had to re-do the elastic wrists on one of my fancy shirts not too long ago and used 1/4" elastic and the process worked very well. I've done so with even narrower elastic as well to good end. I should take a photograph or two the next time I need to do this.

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skirtyscot
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Re: London Skirt

Post by skirtyscot »

Great looking skirt. Hurry hurry, nearly sold out!
Keep on skirting,

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moonshadow
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Re: London Skirt

Post by moonshadow »

skirtyscot wrote: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"...

:lol: :mrgreen: :lol:
-Andrea
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skirted_in_SF
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Re: London Skirt

Post by skirted_in_SF »

If you scroll to the bottom of their page and follow the About Us link you will find this is a mainland China company. I think that explains the sizing. :!:
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Tor
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Re: London Skirt

Post by Tor »

Carl, I may have to try your zip-tie option, though stitching the elastic to the tool sounds excessively time-consuming. Effective, I'll grant, and perhaps there are ways to make it work more efficiently. Time to put on the thinking cap. Maybe a large enough zip tie (probably can't be excessively long for the use case I'd be making it for) could take a small safety pin in the hole for most tunnels.

The tool I made was intended not so much for threading elastics as for turning sewn straps inside out to bury the seam inside the thing. At the volume of use it gets, the stiffness of the wire is a desirable trait.

Regarding length of skirts, I've never understood why they seem to make all sizes of skirt the same length. It isn't universal, but on the whole, larger people are likely to be taller, and so the same length that is ideal on a short person becomes too short as the waist of the skirt increases.
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Pdxfashionpioneer
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Re: London Skirt

Post by Pdxfashionpioneer »

Back to Photoguy's original question, I vote for wearing it. It's a fun skirt that will go with almost any solid color top.

Just to digress, I'm surprised so many of you go for elastic waists. Yes, they're very forgiving, but very few of them look as sharp as skirts with zippers and many look downright cheap. IMHO.
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