When I first saw a hoop skirt wobble past me on a Spring 2026 runway—at Tibi, one early morning in September—I didn't think much of it. I figured it would be a one-off, the brand's way of experimenting with form and shape for a new season.
Then came the second, the third, and the fourth. Hoop skirts teetered out in collections across London, Milan, and Paris—in semi-sheer florals and gauzy creams, accompanied by hip-enhancing panniers that could knock over a bystander. All of a sudden, I felt like I'd fallen sideways through time and into Las Meninas, the seventeenth-century painting of Spanish nobility by Diego Velázquez, where guardainfantes (skirts that are flat in front and long on the sides) are the front-and-center uniform. All these years later, the look is back.
