Styling a short cord skirt (autumn/fall 2018 trends)

September 17, 2018

40 plus fashion blogger in Bath, Somerset

On Saturday we went to Bath for afternoon tea to celebrate Jude’s birthday. Of course I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity for a lovely Georgian Bath stone background, so I dressed in an outfit I knew I wanted to feature on the blog and Chris brought the camera with him! I had in mind a fashion video for my YouTube channel where I styled this cord velvet skirt three different ways, so I picked one of them….

I bought the corduroy skirt in Forever Twenty-One on a trip to America last month, but I’ve just checked the UK website and it’s actually available there too at the moment! They only had the one size in the shop, so my skirt is actually a 2x, which, according to the label is a UK size 22. I feel it fits me perfectly (I’m size 16 – 18) and is very comfortable around the waist, but I’d actually prefer it a smidge shorter to give more of a skater skirt feel. A smaller size might’ve been fine if I’d had the chance to try, but it might be a good idea to size up a bit if you’re ordering online.

It’s actually quite difficult to find the right cord skirt for my body shape. I prefer them to have a really decent a-line shape, or a skater style like this one, but most of them in the shops seem to be straight or only ever so slightly a-line; so I was particularly chuffed to find this one. Another bonus is that it contains 4% elastane, which means it doesn’t need any uncomfortable fastenings and is stretchy at the waist. I’ve pretty much made this a condition of all skirts I buy now, otherwise, while I’m sitting at my desk all day, they just dig in and become uncomfortable.

Although I know I’ll be wearing this skirt a lot in winter with leggings, it was still a pretty warm day so I was brave and went bare legged! (Obviously with the good old chub-rub cycling shorts underneath!) I love the dark red colour, which I think goes well with khaki, green, brown, mustard and black, and this time I went with this black blouse. I’ll be honest, I can’t remember where it came from – I think it might have been a jumble sale buy, however there are no brand labels. I thought the embroidery design around the neck and on the sleeves would also be a nod to the Western / cowboy fashion trend of autumn / fall 2018. If I owned a pair of cowboy boots, I would have definitely worn them with this outfit, but sadly I don’t.

Instead, I wore a pair of brown leather sandals that I bought on our bank holiday weekend get-away in Cornwall in a shop called Lola Blue in Padstow. They were a bargain half price, and I love them! I’m so pleased I had chance to wear them before the days of sandals are officially over for the year! They’re by a brand called Oak & Hyde and I think you’ll be seeing them a lot on this blog next summer.

I accessorised the outfit with the rose gold and pearl bracelet my parents bought me for my fortieth birthday this year; and a shell necklace that came in a bundle from ebay. My pale blue Cath Kidston bag (Also a birthday present this year), which has been my bag all summer, didn’t really go, so I thought it was time to swap to my dark blue denim shoulder bag from I.t.