Rick Owens Pillar Skirt

An ankle-length knitted skirt is one of the most demanding things to make in a knit, because the length is constantly working against the fibre. Gravity pulls a long knit down, and a poorly built one grows a size through an evening and never comes back. This is why the composition matters more than the silhouette: the viscose gives the drape, the polyester and nylon give the recovery that stops it stretching, and the small amount of elastane keeps it moving with the body rather than around it.

The back panel is the design. It is placed where a plain column would be at its most inert, and it changes the skirt from a shape into a garment that reads differently coming and going. This is a habit of the house worth noticing: the interesting decision is very often behind, where the wearer will never see it and everyone else will.

Dust is a pale grey-brown, and it is the colour that makes this skirt useful rather than dramatic. A black ankle-length knit disappears. This one has a colour you can see across a room.

Why we selected it

A long knitted skirt is one of the most useful things a person can own and one of the hardest to buy well, because most of them are either cheap enough to sag or so precious that they cannot be worn. This sits between, and the recovery in the blend is the reason. We also wanted the Dust rather than the black, for the reason given above.

Materials and construction

Sixty-three percent viscose, twenty-seven percent polyester, seven percent nylon, and three percent elastane. Made in Italy, in Dust. Ankle length, with a knit panel at the back.

Fit notes

Close through the hip and long to the ankle. A knit of this blend has genuinely good recovery, so the size that fits is the size; if you are between, the smaller is usually correct. Ankle-length means the length is fixed relative to your height, and a knit hem should not be casually altered.

Styling

With a boot underneath, invisible, or with a flat shoe in summer. A close knit skirt wants a looser top: an oversized knit, a leather jacket, a big shirt. Dust with black, with bone, or with brown.

Care

Hand wash cool and dry flat, and never hang it wet, because a long knit will stretch under the weight of its own water and will not recover. Fold it for storage. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

Related pieces

We would point to the Abito In Maglia – Column Dress, made in the identical knit, the Knee Bias Skirt, and the Cut Off Mini. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.