This Pretty Skirt Trend Is All Over London Right Now—Here’s How I’m Shopping It Secondhand This Summer

Each month, a different Who What Wear UK editor shares one of their favourite pre-loved buys. Up next, social media editor Annie Wheatland-Clinch and the silk skirt style she's spotted all over London this summer.

Social Editor Annie Wheatland Clinch wears a silk skirt on holiday, Alexa Chung wears a silk skirt with lace trim on holiday and a Londoner is spotted in a silk skirt in the city

(Image credit: @anniewclinch, @alexachung, @sarahellentreacher)

By Annie Wheatland-Clinch

published 24 June 2025

in Features

There’s nothing better than being complimented on an item that you consider a really special discovery. Sometimes that’s a bargain, sometimes it’s an unknown brand, but most commonly for the Who What Wear UK editors, it’s something secondhand. Each month, a different editor will share the pre-loved buy they’re proud they managed to track down for The Thrift List, providing guidance and inspo should you be looking for something similar.

Up this month, is social media editor Annie Wheatland-Clinch, a longtime lover of all things shopping second hand whose most cherished wardrobe staples have been found after a riffle through the vintage rail.

I’m in and out of the vintage and charity shops all year round and if you checked my screen time, you’d probably be shocked by the hours I'd clocked up on Vinted (I try not to look) but when it comes to my favourite second hand purchases of all time my fair-weather wardrobe wins out. Something about the second hand offering in the summertime, primed for warm weather and playful plans gets me more excited to get dressed in the morning and have fun putting outfits together.

Annie wears silks skirts, Alexa Chung wears silk skirt on holiday

I love dipping into the high-street offering to restock on my trusted staples, and am always keeping an eye out for how my favourite brands are interpreting the latest seasonal micro-trends but my forever motto when it comes to shopping is and always will be, "can I find this second hand". As a mood board maker who loves a cultural reference, for me, vintage shopping opens up a whole new world of fashion, decades I myself may not have lived through but can do so vicariously through archive collections and the pre-loved pieces passed on by other fashion lovers. It’s exciting to riffle through a timeline of clothes (as long as you’re up for the task and don’t mind kissing a few musty-smelling frogs before finding your perfect match!)

It could be figuring out how to style polka dots in a Julia Roberts way rather than a 1950s pin-up way or wanting to recreate the perfect low-slung skirt and belt combo circa Sienna Miller in the 00s but whatever the mood of the day, I know I’ll be able to find something in the fashion time machine to scratch the itch and refine my personal style as I go. But beyond the easy-to-access references, I’ve found some of the best-quality, long-lasting items in my wardrobe in the charity shops. Which brings me onto my second hand pick for the month. A silk skirt.

With a slip skirt + oversized T-shirt being one of my go-to outfit formulas in the summertime and a lifelong mission of one day replicating Alexa Chung’s divine collection of vintage lace slips, I’ve acquired quite the collection over the years. But something about the heatwave and the fashion girls I’ve spotted out and about in London wearing iterations of this trend has assured me it’s going to be a silk-skirt summer and there’s no better trend to shop second hand (IMO).

A cool fabrication for hot days which is both floaty and slinky all at the same time. Plus, if you’re buying silk brand-new expect a hefty price tag, whereas the second-hand offering is a third of the price and, if well maintained, won’t lose its quality. I urge you to head to your favourite charity shop to hunt for a silky skirt this summer, but if you don’t want to do that - scroll on for the best second hand silk skirts to shop now!