Origami · TS Taking Shape 2000s Pinstripe Stretch Skirt
Pinstripe stretch weave · folded origami pleat at front hem · back vent · wide elastic waistband · TS (Taking Shape), Australia · 2000s · 78cm long, 45cm waist stretching to 55 · tagged a vintage 14
Folds at the front hem do something the rest of the skirt does not: refuses to lie flat, origami creases that catch the pinstripe mid-line and send them off at a different angle, so the stripes stop marching for exactly one moment before falling back into order.
The stretch comes built into the weave itself, viscose carrying nylon, polyester and elastane so the pinstripe moves with a body rather than resisting it, the waistband alone giving a full ten centimetres of ease. TS, more properly Taking Shape, has been designing curve fashion in Melbourne since 1985, one of Australia's longest-running specialists in exactly this kind of considered, wearable tailoring for real bodies rather than sample sizes. This one was made sometime in the 2000s, the origami fold at the hem doing the same job a dart usually does, just louder about it.
The waistband sits a full 6cm deep and stretches generously, 45cm easing out to 55cm at the waist and 55cm to 66cm at the hip, built for real movement rather than a single held pose. A vent opens at the back for ease through the stride.
Material
67% viscose, 20% nylon, 10% polyester, 3% elastane
Care
Cold hand wash separately, inside out. Do not bleach, soak or wring, and do not tumble dry. Drip dry in shade, and cool iron on the reverse under a cloth only if required. Dry cleanable.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: Measured flat with stretch noted, the waist runs 45cm easing to 55cm, and the hip 55cm easing to 66cm. She is 78cm long with a 6cm waistband and a 52cm hem. Tagged a vintage 14.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Excellent. No flaws anywhere on the garment itself. There is some red staining on the care label only, not on the fabric, entirely cosmetic and invisible once worn.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Every stripe on her agrees to behave until it reaches that one folded crease at the hem, and there, briefly, the whole argument for order breaks down. She stretches without complaint and returns to shape just as quietly, the kind of quiet confidence that comes from being built for a real body instead of an idea of one. The fold never quite finishes explaining itself. That is rather the point of a good pleat.