Are Printed Midis a Thing of the Past?

The year was 2016.  I was living in Japan and finding myself with a little more down time as my children could for the first time in their lives safely play in the neighborhood all day with friends and only come home when they were hungry or it was too dark to see.  I was already a fan of fashion at that time and the blog had been up and running for a year, and I had heard of chicwish but, in their early days, the website looked a little scammy and nothing really appealed to me enough to take the risk, so I hadn't yet done much if any shopping with them.  And then printed midis came out.

 

Suddenly chicwish and their skirts were everywhere.  I don't know if it was all a well orchestrated influencer campaign or if fashionistas the world over fell in love with these skirts like I did, but suddenly I couldn't browse fashion blogs or Instagram without seeing someone wearing one of these printed midis.  And they stayed everywhere for a couple of years before they slowly disappeared from both chicwish and the world.  This is what frustrates me most about the fashion world--all the fads and the scorn for anyone still wearing them after the fad has ended.  It takes some work to have style but it's a herculean effort to constantly stay "in-style."

Over the past year or two, I've been doing some serious whittling down of my wardrobe, keeping my favorites and timeless classics and parting with the rest.  When I arrived at the skirts section of my closet and my stack of printed midis, I had mixed feelings.  No one really wears them anymore on social media or in the real world...but, I still love them.  I had to ask myself how much staying on trend really matters to me.  

I still remember my grandmother and her sister wearing their polyester suits from the 1970s well into the 90s and thinking they were in desperate need of a wardrobe update, and now I find myself arriving at an age where I care less about other people's opinions on everything including fashion.  I do wish fashion were a little simpler.  If it's pretty, it's pretty.  Forever.  End of story.  But, when it comes to fashion it's a lot less about pretty and a lot more about new.  Sadly, printed midis are not trendy or new anymore, at least as far as I can tell.  So, should the stay or should they go now?

At the start of my Great Closet Cleanout I had quite a collection of printed midis (pick your jaw back up after that electrifying revelation!).  After a lot of thought I decided to keep my very favorite pieces and sell the rest.  While I still want my pretty things, I'm beginning to value space over clutter and cash over an overflowing closet, so I parted with about two-thirds of my stash.  Interestingly enough most of them were snatched up right away, so there must be plenty of people out there like me who still love them even if the trends have moved on.

As for this beautiful skirt, the name of which escapes me but seemed to be called something like "glorious sparkles," I've done so many different kinds of outfits with it, this work-casual one being my current favorite that it made the cut for a probably permanent place in my wardrobe.  Even if the rest of the world has moved on and one day my grandchildren just don't get it.