September will always be synonymous with school, whether you’re 14 or 44, which might explain why the hemline of the season is the one you last wore to sit your GCSEs. It might appear sexless compared to minis and lack the drama of maxis, but, nevertheless, knee-length skirts can officially be considered the new cool-girl uniform.
They cropped up on many of the autumn catwalks, making a surprisingly convincing argument for the kind of skirt that creates a shadow on the knee cap (no rolling at the waist necessary). At Calvin Klein Collection, knee-length skirts were the bottom half of boxily-cut suits, their rather straight-up-and-down silhouette contrasting with the blazer’s ‘power’ shoulders. If that was an office-appropriate interpretation, Ferragamo offered a brilliant foil: skirts that finished on the knee with slits that shot upwards. At Miu Miu, meanwhile, every skirt was knee-length, its hemline revealing no more than a centimetre or two of thigh. The vibe was a twist on trad, bookish yet subversive, with styling touches that included bouffant hair, door-knocker earrings and, in another endorsement for the knee, pulled-up socks.
