I’m starting to turn Tuesdays into “Teach me Tuesday”, where I will do my best to inform my readers on things I know about fashion, trends, and traveling. Every tuesday subjects will range from “Fashion School” to Top 10’s to Infographics. I know I love to learn a little something new when I can, so hopefully you will too!
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This week’s Fashion School is all about pleats! Pleats come in and out of style season after season, namely because there are so many variations. As we get into summer, pleats take a special part in my heart, as the big tennis tournaments start up and preppy pleated skirts and dresses are everywhere. Hopefully after this lesson, you will look at your own pleated wardrobe differently!
Great! Now that you’ve finished Pleat 101, it’s time for you to take my test and see if you can identify what kinds of pleats are in the below pictures.
1. This fabulous dress from Dion Lee?
{Accordian pleats!}
2. This traditional cheerleader skirt?
{Knife pleat with top-stitching. Also known as stitched-down pleat}
3. This chic skirt from Milly?
{you guessed it- box pleats!}
4. The bottom pleats on this retro dress?
{inverted box pleats! When used just for range of motion on a hem, they are called Kick Pleats}
5. The gradiated type of pleat on this colorblock midi?
{ok, that was sort of cheating. When accordion pleats are gradiated from small to large at the hem, they are called Sunburst Pleats. You knew that though, right?}
6. Last one. Can you name this sweet pleat variation?
{this one is pretty complicated, but essentially it is just an inverted box pleat, where the flaps are then pulled together creating a honeycomb effect, hence it’s name of a Honeycomb Pleat}
Congrats! You graduated your first class in Fashion School. Let me know what you think!
Pleat drawings from Real Simple
