Cellar Door: While pottering around the shops recently, compiling my weekly wish list of unaffordable clothes, I came to an unnerving conclusion. The skirt, once the potato of clothes items, without which one would be standing about in one's woolly bloomers, is fast heading in the direction of the dodo in everyday life.

It has largely become an occasion item, which people are often unsure and wary of, more comfortable in the anonymity of, dare I say it, trousers. Here are a couple of styles if you're ditching the pants to flirt the skirt.

THE BUBBLE SKIRT A skirt of this type - just longer than a mini - has the versatility to be casual or semi-formal. Also, given the floaty quality, choose your accessories decisively - pretty or punk, soft or sharp? Wear with Long, loosely fitted off-the-shoulder tops (stripes to stand out in a crowd), patterned cut off tights. Accessories Elizabethan-style choker pendants, 60s-style hairband or beatnik cap, enormous Jackie Onassis sunglasses.

Where: H&M for both the skirt and kitsch accessories at non-embezzlement-necessitating prices. Topshop was where I first discovered the skirt outside of magazine pages; it does a great knee-length one. Think Tough but pretty. You own this darn town; ain't nobody gon' chip yo' nails.

THE SWING SKIRT Formal and elegant Wear with Bolero-style cardigan or short fitted blazer. Avoid T-shirt-style tops - too casual. Aim for something fitted but discreet; boat necks (wide necks going from shoulder to shoulder) are ideal. The end of the top should be just over the waistband of the skirt, and fitted, nipping in the waist and enhancing the streamlined effect. Shoes Think high, with the narrowest possible stiletto heels. Accessories Faux (or real, for princesses) pearls, matching earrings, co-ordinated clutch bag to match your shoes. Manicured nails, limo . . . Sorry, I digress.

Where: Zara, Oasis and Warehouse are all great for putting together an entire outfit to go with the skirt. Also, the prices allow you to look incredible without having to hold an AK-47 to your bank manager/local mafia leader's head. Think: Audrey Hepburn at the end of My Fair Lady. You are class. Doors will be opened, chairs pulled out, coats laid over puddles, yet equality of the sexes will still prevail, because you are just that darn fabulous. Trust me.

Ali Murray, Cellar Door, Mount Anville Secondary School, Dublin

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