'This is a silhouette that actually looks better on real women than it does on the catwalk'
Fashion, in its pure catwalk form, is the art of exaggerating for effect. It takes the concept of a woman walking through a room and pushes every element of that to its extreme. The women are as tall, and their waists as small, as possible. Their shoes are shockingly high, and yet they walk dizzyingly fast. Normal facial expressions and body shapes are eschewed in favour of sullen glares and cartoonish hip thrusts. If skirts are short, they will be minuscule; if they are long, they will hit the floor. If the message is sheer, there will probably be full nipple exposure; if it is androgyny, there will be brogues and slicked‑back hair.
But once it spills into the real world, fashion finds its level. It has to. No matter how beautiful an outfit might be on the catwalk, if nobody wears it, it's not fashion. Catwalk fashion tends to glorify the very slender or very full skirt shapes – a pencil, or a cinched full skirt. Both of these shapes, however, lose their lustre when transferred from the catwalk silhouette on to us norms. A pencil skirt? More like a crayon stub. A full skirt? Looks good in the morning, when you cinch that waist in tight, but when you loosen your belt a few notches after Pret's ham and festive chutney artisan sandwich, the drama of the silhouette gets a little lost.
This is where the fit-and-flare shape comes in. This is a silhouette that actually looks better on real women than it does on the catwalk. On a catwalk model, it's a baggy pencil skirt; on a real person, it's a pencil skirt that has finished work and is headed for cocktails. This is a skirt that makes a virtue of having hips and even a tummy – the very attributes that derail most shapes on the journey to our real‑life wardrobes.
For this reason, the fit-and-flare, which had a relatively low catwalk profile, has been the sleeper hit of the season. This is the skirt equivalent of the surprise word-of-mouth bestseller. No advance publicity, just happy customers. Too much fashion comes with "do not try this at home" in the small print; this, happily, is the exception that proves the rule.
• Jess wears jumper, £280, by Equipment, from my-wardrobe.com. Skirt, £607.50, by Peter Pilotto, from Liberty. Heels, £59.99, by Zara.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Dani Richardson at danirichardson.co.uk.