Pleats can be hard to wear, and so can midi skirts, but I still love this style of skirt. If you love them too, I recommend looking for flat pleats, like those on this skirt:
Flat pleats help keep the volume down, which is important because too much volume in a skirt can make it look like you're smuggling throw pillows on your hips. Even if you *are* smuggling throw pillows, you don't want to look like it because that's not very sneaky and smugglers need to be sneaky. #wordtothewise
I paired my flat-pleated skirt with a textured sweater:
The pleats are courtesy of my vintage skirt and the pinwheels are courtesy of this a LOFT blouse:
Well, pinwheels or something like it.
I paired the red blouse and the white skirt with a blue belt and blue sandals:
I love to wear red, white and blue during the summer; it is a such a great, classic summer color combination. But, it can also be a bit hard to wear this time of year without looking as though Betsy Ross is your tailor.
Blouse: LOFT (similar) Belt: Old Navy (similar)
Skirt: thrifted vintage (similar) Sandals: ZiGi girl (similar)
My advice? Skip the flag print muscle tees and star print cut-offs, at least (especially?) for work. No, save those pieces for the barbecue, and instead try a red and white printed piece with white and blue solids like I did. Or, if you're feeling especially adventurous, even a red, white and blue printed piece.
You can see some of my favorite seasonally-appropriate but also work-appropriate pieces below. (Hover to see brands/prices).
