At the risk of revealing my age, the first time I can recall someone wearing workout gear with a skirt (and dressed beautifully) was when Lily Allen wore them in the video for her debut single,”Smile.” I was 16 at the time, and when I watched it over and over on about six music channels my TV had, I tried to understand that I’d never thought of wearing those two together before. Swirling in oversized, layered dresses that she wore with the biggest sneakers, Allen ignited the apparel movement. Sliding into my first set of clothes and shoes, I’ve never felt cooler. Pair something considered fancy with something very ordinary? Not only is it trending, but it’s also free. It’s like we’re tearing apart a set fashion “rule” and creating our own. Liberation is a word I use to describe this change when I mention it in a WhatsApp group that I share with my schoolmates, and everyone seriously agrees.
Fast-forward 16 years, dress styles and coaches are still going strong. In fact, it has never felt more relevant than it does now. After the lockdown, many of us aspire to bridge the fashion gap between aesthetics and practicality, and no combination helps us do that better than wearing a skirt with sneakers. However, managing such an interface requires more consideration than you might think. Of the two, choosing the right training shoes is paramount to your outfit. You need to make sure your trainers work with the dresses you have in mind. Choose wisely and you can easily style a pair with at least 10 styles of long skirts. However, this does not mean that you need to choose the most versatile sneakers on the market. With a little know-how, even bold sneakers can be worn with countless outfits if you balance them right.
