Style Tips: Styling a Long Pleated Skirt

For this month’s style tips, we’ll be discussing different ways to style a long pleated skirt. I’ve recently developed a love for pleated skirts, but they can be a bit tricky to style! It’s not a very forgiving article of clothing. You truly need to know if it works for your body type and height! Style tip! Typically if you’re on the shorter side, long skirts and dresses will actually make you look shorter so it’s better to opt for a shorter skirt. However, if you love it and don’t mind, then by all means you ROCK that pleated skirt! 🙂 I’d also be careful with ‘cheaper’ options for this item. Often, the less expensive options aren’t very flattering and tend to ‘puff out’ right below the waist band and that’s not flattering for anyone. With these style tips in mind, let’s dive on into some styling ideas.

Keep It Casual

pleated skirt

Whenever I see a pleated skirt on someone else, it’s often a dressier look. Well, it doesn’t have to be! You can easily throw it on with a graphic tee, some sneakers/flats, and call it good. It’s feminine, fun, but still casual. It’s a great alternative to the basic pair of jeans if you’re wanting to look nicer, but not fully dress up.

I tend to be a little extra, so I paired mine with some heels (which you can switch out!) and a vintage silk scarf tied around my neck. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to run down the streets and live out my twirling fantasies! However cobble stones + heels = disaster…

In this second look, I traded in my lovely heels for some fashion sneakers and added a denim jacket and an iWatch. I like how laid back this is, but it’s still well dressed, comfy, and NO PANTS! This look is perfect to run casual errands in, but you’re still well dressed and turning some heads.

Add A Sweater

Depending on where you live, this style may need to hide until fall/winter, but I still wanted to mention it! I wore this quite a few times for our mild winters here in Cannes. For this first look, I added a thin sweater and some thigh high boots. The boots added an extra layer of warmth and made it unexpected. Style tip! You can also add those thick fleece-lined tights for a chillier day, too.

The biggest style tip here is to TUCK IT IN! If it’s a thinner sweater, I’d recommend tucking all of it into your skirt. If it’s thicker, either french tuck it (tucking in just the front) or adding a belt, tucking it into that, and pulling out your sweater a bit in order to conceal the belt. Or show it, whatever you prefer. 🙂 The big thing here is to mark your waist. You don’t want to hide it and look like a box. Show your curves, ladies!

chic style, pleated skirt

Above, I went for a classic tights/booties look. You can NEVER go wrong with that combo. You can also skip the tights if the day isn’t super chilly and switch up the booties for a pair of pumps or flats.

Chic With A Pleated Skirt

The classic pleated skirt look – chic! There are SO many ways to pull this off, but I like to keep it simple. I tend to add a more structured tank, classy heels, and a nice bag. For this, make sure your pleated skirt is on the nicer side like mine with a satin finish! Let her do all of the talking, you know? I also love the addition of a belt. It adds a certain level of sophistication and style to the skirt and elevates the look, don’t you think? You can definitely skip the blazer and opt for a nice blouse instead; I just have a soft spot for them. 🙂

For a little extra pizzazz, pair it with a structured blazer like I did below. Bonus points if you keep it all monochrome, too. Style tip! If you want to easily make an outfit look chic, go for a monochromatic look. This blazer I’m wearing is a full on dupe for Balmain, so it adds that sort of luxury vibe to it, too. Make sure to check out my Style Tips: Five Ways To Style A Blazer post for even more styling tips and tricks. 🙂

balmain, pleated skirt, blazer

XO, Tess

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Outfit Details

Casual #1
Top: Mango (similar here)
Skirt: & Other Stories (here)
Heels: Valentino (here)
Scarf: Dior (similar here)


Casual #2
Tank Top: Express (similar here)
Denim Jacket: Express (similar here)
Skirt: & Other Stories (here)
Sneakers: Versace (here)
Watch: Apple (here)


Sweater #1
Sweater: Topshop (here)
Skirt: Mango (similar here)
Boots: Stuart Weitzman (similar here)


Sweater #2
Turtleneck: Lilysilk (here)
Skirt: Pinko (here)
Belt: Mango (here)
Booties: Topshop (here)
Tights: Express (here)
Necklace: APMonaco (here)


Chic #1
Top: Zara (here)
Skirt: Mango (similar here)
Blazer: Express (similar here)
Belt: Tommy Hilfiger (similar here)
Heels: Gianvito Rossi (here)


Chic #2
Top: Zara (here)
Skirt: Pinko (here)
Blazer: Express (here)
Booties: Guess (similar here)
Purse: Louis Vuitton (here)

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