After Milan Fashion Week, the skirt holds our attention. What we do with it is entirely personal.

If this year’s runways had a language, the skirt was its most expressive word. Across summer’s lighter silhouettes and winter’s layered wardrobes, it has carried fashion’s changing moods with remarkable ease. A shift in length, a different fabric, a glimpse of movement, and the whole story changes.

At the Milan Fashion Week that has just drawn to a close, that story became impossible to miss. For Spring/Summer 2027, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons built all 63 looks around the skirt, exploring pleats, floral prints, crystal embellishment and unexpected treatments of familiar materials. A longstanding favourite in Miuccia’s own wardrobe, it has also been one of her most fertile creative subjects: familiar enough to feel instinctive, open enough to keep us guessing.

Across Milan, Gucci, Max Mara, Tod’s and Loro Piana offered their own readings of the garment. The collective impression was compelling: the skirt had become a place to express an intention, with ample room for the wearer to finish the thought.

And the most interesting part begins with what you choose to wear with it.

A pencil skirt acquires a different attitude beneath an oversized sweater, its clean line emerging from soft folds of wool. Pleats gain an unexpected edge with a leather jacket. A fluid hem brushes the top of a tall boot, while a flash of embellishment beneath a dark coat brings a little after-hours intrigue to the afternoon. The same skirt can move through several versions of your day, changing character through the pieces around it.

That freedom gives the garment its particular power. A skirt makes a statement of intent and style, yet its meaning remains wonderfully fluid. It can feel assured, playful, sensual or reserved, sometimes within the same outfit. Its shape suggests something; your way of wearing it makes the suggestion your own.

With hemlines once again at the centre of conversations beyond fashion, this feels especially relevant. Length attracts attention, invites interpretation, becomes a talking point. The pleasure of dressing lies in keeping authorship of that story: deciding how much to reveal, how to move, which proportions feel like you.

October is an ideal moment to explore those possibilities. As the light softens and the wardrobe grows richer in texture, a skirt can become the starting point for an entirely new look. Consider the line you want to draw, the fabric you want against your skin, the movement you want to catch in a reflection.

Then add the knit, the boot, the jacket. Leave room for an unexpected detail.

The runway has offered its ideas. Now comes the pleasure of choosing yours.