One of us thinks an asymmetric hem is the only interesting thing left in a plain skirt, another one of us thinks it’s a stairs accident waiting to happen, and honestly we’ve never fully resolved it, we just keep buying them anyway and reporting back.
I’ll say upfront where I land, because it’s relevant. I measured the hem drop on the one I’ve worn the most this month, labeled as a “high low midi,” and the difference between the short side and the long side is eleven inches. Eleven. On a body my size that’s not a subtle asymmetry, that’s a skirt with an opinion, and I happen to like that, but I’ve had a client tell me the exact same cut made her feel like she was wearing two different skirts that lost an argument with each other. Fair.
We’re not going to pretend that one’s for everyone.
The twirl test is where these either earn their keep or don’t, and it’s not vanity, it’s information. A good asymmetric skirt should move like it has somewhere to be, the long point should swing and settle back exactly where it started, not wrap itself around your leg like it’s trying to hold you still.
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I’ve got one in a heavier crepe that does this perfectly, and one in a slippery satin that failed so badly on a windy Tuesday outside a parking garage that a stranger actually said something to me, not unkindly, more like a public service announcement, “your skirt’s doing a lot right now.” It was.
Stairs are the real test though, more than wind, because wind is occasional and stairs are every single day if you work anywhere with an office. The long point catching under your own shoe going down a flight is not a design flaw anyone mentions on the product page, and it should be. I’ve had exactly one skirt where the front drop sat low enough that I had to learn a new way of walking down my own porch steps, sideways, like I was being cautious about something specific. I was.
The one that’s gotten the most actual wear isn’t the boldest cut I own, it’s a cotton blend with a shorter drop, maybe four inches between the two hem points, that a very skeptical friend of mine, the one who called the whole category “try hard,” admitted looked normal enough that she forgot it was asymmetric until she saw it laid flat. That’s the compliment I’m choosing to take from her.
So no, we haven’t settled it, one side wants the drama, the other wants something that survives a staircase without incident, and the honest answer is you probably need one of each before you know which side of that you’re actually on.
