It was a common sight on the streets of Australian Fashion Week in May, and earlier, in the street style captured on the streets of London to Milan for the spring/summer presentations: a midi skirt over a longer, texturally contrasting one, or a mini, worn over jeans or slacks.

It sparked something in my own stylings: last week, I was debating a dinner outfit, choosing between wearing  a flouncy, asymmetrical vintage slip skirt—flimsy, too sheer—or a straight, woolen midi—pretty, but a little more staid than I would have liked. The solution came in a flash: why wear one when I could wear both? The sheer over the grey was a way to layer without necessarily adding extra insulation;  a way of creating textural intrigue without unnecessary bulk.

I recently spotted a canonical example of the power of the layered skirt on TikTok, courtesy of creator Camelia Farhoodi.  She wrapped a simple, grey wrap skirt over a pair of black trousers, giving the whole look exciting new proportions. “I’ve been loving styling my skirts over my pants,” she tells me over text. Partly, that’s because of the potential for rewear and reuse that it allows. “Getting the best use out of pieces in my wardrobe is super important to me. After years of shopping for ‘events’ and buying pieces that I can only really wear once or twice throughout the year, I’ve finally come to realise that that method is extremely impractical!”