Behold the red skater skirt! Not exactly a hot trend item – well, you know, it’s a red skirt: they’ve been around forever, and they’ll probably be around forever more. There are a few more of them around than usual this summer, though, probably because of the whole 50s vibe that’s going on in fashion right now, and which has seen the swirly skirt rise to prominence once more, whether attached to dresses, or on its own.
Skirts like these are available in lots of different colours at the moment. We particularly like them in red, though, because they have a very classic feel that’s just begging to be work with something like a striped sweater or knotted white shirt, and a simple pair of ballet flats. So the two skirts above get the Fashion Police thumbs up: the only question remaining is, which one would we buy?
The question is, of course, a strictly hypothetical one, obviously. Sadly, a police officer’s salary doesn’t stretch to £910 – or £910 anything else’s, to be completely honest – so while we have no hesitation in saying that the Preen skirt shown on the left of the image above (click here to buy it from Far Fetch) is definitely the nicer of the two, with better quality fabric (at least, as far as we can tell from the image), and a higher waist, which can be more flattering to the figure with this particular style of skirt.
The River Island skirt, meanwhile (click here to buy it, although be aware that it’s sold out in many sizes, so you may have to look for it in-store instead) is made from good ol’ polyester, which accounts for the much lower price, but would be easy to throw on with a t-shirt and sandals for a cool summer look.
Does the low price make it more attractive to you, though? Well, actually, if we had to choose, we wouldn’t buy either of these. Nope, we’d actually buy this version of the River Island skirt, which is the midi-length version:
At £34.99, this one’s just a little more expensive than its shorter sister, but as well as creating a more 50s-inspired shape, the longer length is also more to our personal tastes, too, and we have to give props to River Island here for being one of the few brands around at the moment to recognise that one hem length does not suit all, and make at least some of its items available in two different lengths. (ASOS can take a bow for this too, although they don’t do it quite often enough for our liking!).
But we digress. Back to the issue at hand. If you were in the market for a red, skater-style skirt, which one of these would you go for, do you think. Would you SAVE or SPLURGE?
The white dress: once the sole province of brides, this season it’s been reinvented as a summer wardrobe staple, and while the little white dress will probably never look “casual” exactly, it can look simple, stylish and understated.
We think both of the dresses above check all of those boxes: they’re not exactly the same (and Topshop’s offering is best described as “ivory” rather than white), but they both have high necklines, fitted waists and flared skirts, so they both offer their own takes on the same trend.
Which do you prefer, though? The ‘Save’ version is by Topshop, and is $65, while the ‘Splurge’ dress is by Raoul, and is $230.
As we’ve observed a couple of times now, the midi skirt is back with a vengeance right now. We’ve been admiring Rachel Roy’s blue swing skirt for a while, but at $425, we felt duty bound to seek out a slightly more wallet-friendly version. Luckily our old friends ASOS came to the rescue with this swishy blue number (which isn’t really “midi” on the model, but would be on some of the rest of us), which comes in at a rather more affordable $62.
Now, the differences between the two speak for themselves here: the designer skirt is a luxe-looking silk twill, while the ASOS version is a linen/lyocell mix. The shapes and colours, of course, are similar, but how much would you pay for a skirt like this – assuming you’d wear one at all, of course? Would you SAVE or SPLURGE?
Two very pretty dresses with two very different price tags!
Ok, so we’ll admit that the lace on the Erdem dress looks finer, softer, that little more delicate than on the Topshop. But to justify the price tag it would need to be bought for a somewhat special occasion. And the Fashion Police being the clumsy sort, we can almost guarantee that the lace would get caught on something or someone at some point in the evening, resulting in much wailing and teeth-gnashing in anguish…
If you’re going on holiday to sunny climes this summer (and yes, we’re thinking about our summer holidays already…) a white cotton maxi dress is an easy-wear addition to your suitcase. The only question is how much you want to spend on your summer-weight dress.
Yes, the detailing on the Temperley is absolutely beautiful – but we can’t imagine feeling too comfortable at the prospect of trailing a near £700 dress in the surf! Meanwhile, H&M’s lightweight alternative has all the pretty without the price tag…
What do you think? Worth the splurge or better to save?
Temperley London Aliza cotton silk-blend maxi dress, £695 from Net-a-Porter. H&M crochet detail long flared dress, £34.99 from H&M.
The minute we saw the Erdem Argenta dress on the My Theresa website we were reminded of Fever Designs’ Scribble Ruffle dress. Ok, the colour schemes differ slightly (although The Fashion Police are inclined to think Fever’s cornflower blue and poppy red palette a little easier to wear), and the Scribble dress forgoes the contrasting shoulders in favour of a ruffle bib, but essentially, they’re distinctly similar in shape and style.
The difference, of course, comes in the cost. The Erdem Argenta dress from My Theresa will set you back a tidy €849,00 (approx £728). Meanwhile, the Scribble Ruffle dress from Fever Designs is a more conservative £54.99.
So, fair readers: what do you say: would you save or splurge on a dress like this?
When it comes to kicky summer dresses, budget often comes down to where you would wear it. If you want it to bum around or supplement your vacation wardrobe, you might be more inclined towards the Billabong version. But if you’ve got a fancy wedding or event coming up, you might be more willing to part with the cash for Cynthia Steffe.
Behold the red skater skirt! Not exactly a hot trend item – well, you know, it’s a red skirt: they’ve been around forever, and they’ll probably be around forever more. There are a few more of them around than usual this summer, though, probably because of the whole 50s vibe that’s going on in fashion right now, and which has seen the swirly skirt rise to prominence once more, whether attached to dresses, or on its own.
At £34.99, this one’s just a little more expensive than its shorter sister, but as well as creating a more 50s-inspired shape, the longer length is also more to our personal tastes, too, and we have to give props to River Island here for being one of the few brands around at the moment to recognise that one hem length does not suit all, and make at least some of its items available in two different lengths. (ASOS can take a bow for this too, although they don’t do it quite often enough for our liking!).
