I never stopped wearing skirts, I just sort of stopped thinking about them. They were a plus-one, not the main event. For the past few years I have planned my outfits around my obsession with pleated trousers, or my latest experimental jean shape. Or I have worn dresses. Sometimes I have ended up in a skirt, but the skirt was kind of an afterthought. For instance, at one point last year when it was chilly and I needed to look smart as well as cosy, I picked out a sweater and a pair of knee-high boots, and then slotted in a plain midi in satin or wool, just something to sit in between.

Things could be about to change. I’ve got a feeling that 2026 could be the year that skirts get main character energy again. For a start: hemlines are getting shorter again, which makes skirts more attention-grabbing. If you left the house with your eyes open at any point in 2025, you will have noticed this happening: generation Z and Alpha wear very, very short skirts – she says, trying and failing not to sound about 150 years old – but the trend for above-the-knee hemlines crosses all generations. Adult women with their legs out was very much a feature of the pre-Christmas party season. But what is noticeable is that the mini renaissance is much more about a skirt, than it is about a dress. A short skirt feels cooler; more about your style and less about your body than a minidress.

When the Fashion Museum Bath named Miu Miu’s buttock-skimming micro-kilt as their “dress of the year” for 2022, it felt quite confusing. How can a skirt be the dress of the year? With hindsight, it is clear that they were on to something. Separates are the stars of the modern wardrobe. Even the Princess of Wales has started wearing tailored suits, instead of tailored dresses. And as a fast-moving, hot-potato conversation topic, jean silhouettes are right up there with mortgage rates. I wonder if this shift from dresses to separates is partly because as we try to shop less and focus on restyling what we already have, we lean into the enhanced scope for layering that comes with choosing mix-and-match separates over one-and-done dresses.

Sarah Jessica Parker in a pencil skirt. Photograph: HBO

The MVP skirt doesn’t have to be mini. The knee-length pencil skirt is poised for a comeback. And just before Christmas, I wrote about how A Little Bit Of Lace has become a formula for glamour, and name-checked my favourite White Company satin skirt, which has a lace band at its calf-length hem. Wear it with a polo neck sweater, thick wool tights, and flat boots.

What stops most of us wearing miniskirts is that most brands cut them very short. This is what the kids want (as already discussed) and also what looks great on a mannequin in a shop window. But call me an old fuddy-duddy: when I’m walking up a tube escalator, I don’t actually want to show my pants to the world.

Whistles are a good source of cool short-but-not tiny skirts. This season, their A-line leather skirts and side-buckled wool ones (a nod to kilts, but more wearable) measure 44cm from waistband to hem. By contrast, most of Zara’s miniskirts measure between 33 and 39cm. That’s a big difference – although I did buy a leopard mini at Zara a couple of summers ago, having spotted that it had a generous hem I could let down, which I have worn loads. I find that tight minis can feel a bit wiggly, and A-line ones a bit childish. A flippy-hem silhouette, which hugs your hips but kicks out at the top of your thighs, is my top tip. My favourite is from Reiss (£88), and I have written about it before. Next’s Boucle Flippy Mini Skirt (£38) is similar.

A fun hemline, a flippy shape, a buttery leather: what gives your skirt the main character energy is up to you. But after a few years on the sidelines, this category is setting the agenda again. Who’s wearing the trousers? Probably the lady in the skirt.

Model: Orla at Milk. Styling assistant: Charlotte Gornall. Hair and make up: Delilah Blakeney using Celui and M.A.C Cosmetics. Earrings, £290, YSSO. Jumper, £225, Me + Em. Skirt, £72, Next. Heels, £380, Ayede