Tibi Grain De Poudre Convertable Pleated Skirt

Grain de poudre translates as grain of powder, and the name describes what the cloth does to light. It is a very fine worsted wool woven in a tight basket construction, so the surface breaks into a minute granular texture rather than lying flat. That texture is why it has been the cloth of evening tailoring for over a century: it absorbs light instead of reflecting it, which is what makes a black grain de poudre read as genuinely black where a flat black worsted reads as grey under a lamp. It is a serious cloth with a long history, and pleating it is not the obvious thing to do with it. Pleats need a fabric fine enough to fold sharply and resilient enough to hold the fold, and a superfine worsted is one of the few cloths that does both. Then the house adds the part that makes the garment what it is: a detachable panel. With it, the skirt is pleated and full. Without it, the line closes down into something trouser-shaped and considerably more severe. That is two silhouettes from one pattern, and it is done with a fastening rather than a compromise, so neither reading is the lesser one.

Convertible garments are usually a way of getting one garment to apologise for being two. This one is not apologising in either configuration, which is why it survived a look and most convertible pieces do not.

Tibi was founded in 1997 by Amy Smilovic, and grain de poudre is one of the cloths she keeps returning to, in skirts, shorts, and blazers.

One hundred percent wool in a superfine grain de poudre. Made in China. Black. Pleated, with a detachable panel that converts the silhouette, and a side zip closure. Midi length.

Sits at the waist and reads full in the pleated configuration and close in the panel-removed one, so it occupies two different places in an outfit depending on how it is worn. A fine worsted has no give, so the waist is the fit decision and there is nothing else to negotiate.

With the Cashmere Suiting Liam Blazer in the pleated configuration, which is the formal reading. With the Washable Cashmere Oversize Easy T and the panel removed, which is the better one. Boots under it in winter, since the pleats want something with a bit of weight beneath them.

A pleated worsted lives and dies by its pressing, and pleats set at the mill are set with heat and pressure a home iron cannot replicate. Dry clean only, and use a cleaner who will repress the pleats rather than steam them flat. Our care guidance covers wool.

In the same register at full length, the Tropical Wool Maxi Skirt. The house's other convertible bottom is the Tropical Wool Convertible Overall Skirt, for a sculptural shape in a technical cloth, the Nylon Lantern Skirt, and to put above it, the Cashmere Suiting Liam Blazer. Everything we currently hold from Tibi is listed together.