document: How to dress : The return of the calf-length skirt We should be careful what we wish for - this latest revival is hard to pull off , unless you 're a Shoreditch hipster The trouble with progress is , you end up going round in circles . Miniskirts were all about liberation in the beginning , but around their fourth decade they became a tyranny . By 2009 , the mini had such a hold over fashion that if you wanted a smart dress that fell knee-length or longer you had to choose between Surrey Housewife Goes to Glyndebourne -LRB- shiny , rustly burgundy -RRB- or Sunday School Teacher with Body Image Issues -LRB- cheap black wool-mix -RRB- . So then we were all like , excuse me , but we are the net-a-porter generation and we demand longer skirts , there 's nothing out there for normal women , bleat bleat . Well , be careful what you wish for , because the calf-length skirt is back , and it turns out that it is not remotely easy to wear , for us norms . In fact , it 's hard to wear without looking dowdy . The calf-length skirt looks brilliant on Shoreditch hipsters who get captured looking hung over and sheepishly fabulous on too-cool-for-school blogs . And because these people are n't models , seeing clothes look good on them tricks us into thinking the same clothes will work on us . But this is n't always the case . Luckily , there 's a simple test to see if you can pull off ny street-style look . Put on wellies and look in the mirror . If you see louche backstage chic , bingo , you 've hit street-style gold . If you look as if you 're off to the allotment , it 's back to the drawing board . But what the blog-fodder kids wear today , us norms wear tomorrow . So the calf-length skirt will be coming back to your wardrobe . It 's called progress . • Jess wears blouse # 85 , by Jaeger . Skirt # 40 , by Topshop . Shoes # 165 , by Russell & Bromley . Photograph : David Newby for the Guardian . Stylist : Aradia Crockett . Hair and make-up : Nikki Palmer at Mandy Coakley
extractive_keyphrases: sheepishly makeup generation bleat 165 coming cheap shoreditch image us jess burgundy careful round who looks called progress demand toocoolforschool newby sunday housewife woolmix today turns skirts dowdy streetstyle wear smart excuse people choose hold models thinking fashion tomorrow simple wanted trouble wardrobe looking hung mini look skirt backstage progress pull normal longer wellies hipsters clothes remotely allotment miniskirts decade norms drawing board
abstractive_keyphrases: careful what