Once a home-entertaining favorite of American women in the 1960s and ’70s, the hostess skirt may be just the thing for the more intimate holiday parties happening in front of the fireplace this year instead of out on the town.
The hostess skirt has taken different forms over the past decades. These days, it usually refers to a formal skirt that grazes the ankle, and is made of silk satin or taffeta or some other fabric you wouldn’t wear everyday.
The style pairs easily with just about any top in your closet–remember Sharon Stone at the Oscars, once in a long skirt and men’s-style white blouse, and once in a long skirt and Gap turtleneck?
And even though the skirt is longer and fuller than the sleek styles our modern eye may be used to, it comes with an enduring fashion-meets-function silhouette: The ladylike retro-cool style of “Mad Men”– can’t you imagine a perfectly coifed hostess greeting you at the door with a cocktail in hand?–but the freedom to move easily and wear flat shoes.
Talbots creative director Michael Smaldone included long skirts in the brand’s holiday collection after seeing old photos in the company archive. The skirt is the embodiment of a “gracious, thoughtful, giving and warm hostess,” he says, although it’s perfectly fine for guests to wear them too.
They have a spare, clean look and seem more “real world” than a gilded gown or a slinky cocktail dress, which might seem out of place at an intimate party, Smaldone says. “This is a look you’d wear dripping with pearls, not diamonds.”
The loose A-line shape of most modern skirts isn’t constricting and you’ll often find sportswear details, such as pockets.
Historically, hemlines of the cocktail skirt varied according to the prevailing taste of the day, such as knee-length in the 1960s and ankle- or floor-length in the ’70s, says Andrew Bolton, associate curator of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
You can also see similarities in the flowing-but-not-pouffy skirts favored by wealthier women for social occasions during the Edwardian era at the turn of the 20th century.
“I see a lot of glamour in entertaining at home,” says frequent hostess Maureen Mole, who wrote an at-home party guide years ago and hosted one of Talbots’ many in-store holiday shopping parties last month. She already has worn her black skirt – with a white button-down shirt and pearls – this season.
“They (suburbanites) can be the chicest women around this time of year. It’s not a city-centric look, but it’s a quite good look–they’re very pulled together,” he says.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums and Life Magazine archives.
