From the moment Jacquemus’s meringue mini skirts stepped onto the Palace of Versailles runway at the designer’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection presentation, we should’ve known that our penchant for enduring wardrobe staples would eventually circle back to the humble bubble skirt. Once a frou-frou hallmark of the 80s, worn by everyone from Princess Diana in Cannes to reigning prom queens, voluminous hemlines were a sigil of optimism, materialism and the more-is-more mode that underscored the decade. So, what are they doing in 2024?
Fashion’s past can tell us a lot about its future, but the contemporary iteration of the bubble skirt has been one that’s, well, been bubbling up from under the surface for a few seasons now. Take the zeitgeist’s infatuation with inflation. The rising cost of living crisis was being parlayed into overly exaggerated puffer jackets, pillowy bags and even padded footwear, so it’s no surprise to see the sartorial idée fixe land on bubble skirts as the next hero piece.
Veritably, it’s the suite of undulating skirts presented in Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection that co-signed this resurgence, soon cropping up on Hollywood heavyweights like Sabrina Carpenter and inescapable on our social media feeds. Indeed, this silhouette isn’t exclusive to international runways or off-duty street style, with a legion of homegrown labels discerning consumer’s appetites for a nostalgic shape that’s equally feminine, flirty and in full bloom.
Maggie Marilyn presented a series of bubble skirts in her debut Australian Fashion Week runway, which immediately sold out and became a coveted ‘It’ piece upon its launch. Now cut in a blue-and-cream striped colourway, completed with a cummerbund waistband and perfectly puffed to resemble the shape of the long white clouds she calls home in New Zealand, Hewitt’s made the piece a trademark in her design lexicon. The recent first-time mother is also selling the skirt with a matching button-down top, acknowledging how the styling of this piece has adjusted to a more corporate setting for today’s climate.
Mode Mischief, whom you may recognise for their viral graphic t-shirts, also noticed this shift, offering a range of tailored taffeta skirts as part of their new ‘Sartorial’ collection inspired by 90s office wear. Recontextualised for our ‘office siren’ agendas, there’s no doubt that the bubble skirt has been reclaimed as the ultimate form of power dressing.
While we’d contend that the piece might be more appropriate for 5PM dirty martini runs than 9AM boardroom visits, the versatile shape offers no shortage of how it can be styled. With a form-fitting sweater, like this V-neck and elasticated waistband variation from Gimagus, the aesthetic becomes more playful and coquettish. With Miu Miu’s long-sleeved polo shirt, the primness of the shape is stripped back into something more edgy and on-the-go.
Curious to take the plunge? Ahead, GRAZIA delivers our guide to the best bubble skirts on the market, plus the ones worth holding onto for the next time this trend circles back!
Snap, Bubble & Pop! The Best Bubble Skirts To Shop
This article first appeared on GRAZIA International.