My festive fashion formula? Make it all about the party skirt | Jess Cartner-Morley
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You get more bang for your buck if you go for sparkle on your skirt rather than your top, because it feels that bit extra. What if the fairy didn’t go at the top of the Christmas tree? What if you switched things up this year, and had the sparkle closer to the ground?.
![[Jess Cartner-Morley]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/05/20/Jess_Cartner-Morley,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Put the ladder back. I’m not talking about rearranging your Christmas tree, I’m talking about rearranging your Christmas outfit. The best festive dressing formulas are equal parts glamour and ease, which is why we end up falling back on jeans and a nice top. No-nonsense below the waist, front-loaded with fun up top. But if you flip this around – a jazzy skirt with a sensible jumper – this elevates your outfit in two important ways.
Most importantly, it makes it warmer. Unless the party you are going to has a dancefloor, it is wise to err on the side of cosy at this time of year. You are unlikely to have the best night of your life if you spend the whole evening sitting on a radiator. Where jeans and a nice top lets us down as a formula, I find, is that for it to look sufficiently glam it requires displaying quite a bit of skin – and there is nothing chic about goosebumps, people.
And second, the topsy-turvy option feels original. Most outfits put the focus near the top of your body. This could be a low-cut top with jeans, or a pussybow blouse with a skirt suit, or a dress with a sweetheart neckline, or a trouser suit with a tie. All of those looks draw the eye upward. There are good reasons for this. It is always handy to remind people to look at your face when they talk to you rather than anywhere else. And if you are going to spend your day behind a desk or your evening seated at a dinner table then a dazzling bottom half will have no one to dazzle.
