The story behind the Jil Sander pink skirt...

I don't know if you remember the Spring/Summer 2011 Jil Sander show, for me it will go down in fashion history as one of the most beautiful collections ever. The models strutted down the catwalk in colour block maxi skirts worn with plain t-shirts and matte pink lips. It was a season full of colour and I remember being in total awe of this look. 

I hadn't planned on buying anything from the collection, I always think of Jil Sander as being out of my reach so it was a total surprise when I realised that (with a few sacrifices) I could actually afford it. It was February afternoon of 2011 and I was in Browns for a work appointment, they had it in orange, green with a peplum and pink... I tried it on and felt like a movie star. It is cut to perfection with these perfect little pleats in the waist and that spilt. A moment later I was walking out of the shop with my neatly folded and tissues-up skirt in a bag.

Sometimes I buy things that I just like to look at, and for a long time I did wonder when on earth was I going to wear it, it's not like I can strut down  Oxford Street in my full length skirt for most part of the year.  Then I got pregnant and the skirt didn't really get a chance. 

The summer after Greta was born (and after a year of maternity in jeans and t-shirts) I remember looking at my wardrobe and falling in love with it all over again. Finally I could wear all my beautiful clothes again! So I had a fashion epiphany, I had it shortned by a trusty tailor and packed for my summer holiday to be worn casually with flats and t-shirts.

I wore it with a crisp white t-shirt and a statement necklace for a friends birthday party by the beach, and then for a candle lit dinner with my friends on holiday in Amalfi. You could only reach the restaurant by boat and my friend Julie Adams took this photo on our way over at dusk. It then ended up being used for a feature on the J.Crew blog because I styled it with their fabulous J.Crew  Vintage cotton V-neck tee (£29.50), and my summer-best-buy metallic Boden pointy sling backs (luckily being repeated this season Boden pointed slingbacks £55).

After the summer I didn't get a chance to wear it again, but when packing for the Paris shows I thought to myself: why not. After all, it's the perfect fashion week look. I asked you on Instagram which outfit I should wear (Chanel or Jil?) and that was it. 

It's funny what attracts street style photographers attention, and when I arrived at the Tulleries I got asked for quite a few pics, the thing is you never know where they end up, so it was lovely that so many of you emailed and tweeted to let me know that you had spotted it. It was featured on WhoWhatWear.com, Refinery29 (on how to dress like a French girl!), Vogue.com,The Times G2 and more recently on Fashion Foie Gras with the loveliest words. So after being buried in my wardrobe for almost three years, the Jil Sander skirt got to live the mundane life it deserved!