Bye, Pleated Skirts—This Old School Style Is Making a Drastic Return This Winter

By Swedan MargenNovember 25, 2025

I love a pleated skirt. I basically live in a pleated skirt. I own so many and yet I keep on buying more. And that is in large part because everyone loves a pleated skirt right now, from Mrs. Prada herself to the coolest girl I see on the subway platform. But recently, Lili Reinhart made me reconsider a floral pencil skirt as a funky alternative to my typical go-to.

Pencil skirts, or midi skirts, are something that reminds me of 2010s. I am not ashamed to say like most millennials, I have worn many a pencil skirt with a blazer to a club. It is a look I would never repeat, especially in that context, and that makes me wince. But Reinhart's pencil skirt take was actually quite cute and also made me feel an entirely different set of emotions.

Reinhart wore Tory Burch's cotton velvet skirt (which is currently on sale for the brand's Black Friday event) with a green Tory Burch cardigan. The ruched floral midi skirt actually cut such a lovely shape when paired with the cropped tight-fitting cardigan. If I had worn a look like this in 2010, I would have looked back at it with pride, not shame.

And because time is a circle, trends always come back, so on and so forth, pencil skirts are due for a comeback any day now. So in 2026 you'll still see me in a pleated skirt...but maybe also in a floral midi every now and then.