Somewhere between having children and working from home and generally getting on with life, I lost my style. Not dramatically — I didn't stop caring about clothes entirely. I just started making different decisions. Practical decisions. Decisions based on what was easy to wash, easy to move in, easy to grab off the chair in the morning without thinking too hard. I told myself this was sensible. It was also, I eventually admitted, a bit sad.
I used to love getting dressed. I used to think about what I wore. I used to have a point of view about it. Somewhere in the last three years, that had quietly disappeared, and I hadn't noticed until I looked at my wardrobe one morning and felt nothing.
The No More Nobody Valery High-Waisted Corduroy Maxi Skirt is the piece that brought it back.
Why I Decided I Needed It
I'd been thinking about rebuilding my wardrobe for a while — not replacing everything, but adding pieces that felt intentional rather than default. I wanted things made by people who cared about what they were making. Things that would last. Things that had a point of view.
I'd been following No More Nobody for a while before I bought anything. The brand makes sustainable clothing and jewellery with a genuine commitment to ethical production — recycled materials, considered design, the kind of approach that makes you feel good about what you're wearing beyond just how it looks. The Valery skirt had been on my radar for months. The corduroy, the high waist, the length, the pockets — it was exactly the kind of piece I used to wear before I stopped thinking about it.
I ordered it from ALTOE for £165 and felt, for the first time in a long time, like I was making a wardrobe decision rather than a wardrobe compromise.
Why This One Specifically
Corduroy is a fabric I've always loved and somehow stopped wearing. It has texture and warmth and a kind of quiet confidence that a lot of fabrics don't. The Valery skirt uses it well — the weight is right, the wale is fine enough to look elegant rather than casual, and the colour I chose photographs beautifully in natural light.
The high waist is also genuinely high — not the "high waist" that sits at the natural waist and calls itself high, but the kind that sits above it and changes the silhouette properly. Combined with the maxi length, it creates a line that I find genuinely flattering and that works with almost everything I already own.
And the pockets. I cannot overstate how much the pockets matter. They're real, functional pockets that fit a phone and a hand simultaneously. On a maxi skirt. This should be standard. It is not standard. No More Nobody made it standard, and I am grateful.
What Happened When I Wore It
I wore it for the first time on a Saturday — to the farmers' market, then lunch with a friend, then a walk. I got dressed that morning and felt something I hadn't felt in a while: like myself. Not a practical version of myself, not a convenient version of myself, but the version that has opinions about clothes and enjoys wearing them.
My friend, who has known me for fifteen years and watched the gradual disappearance of my wardrobe with polite concern, said: "You look like you again." That was the best review the skirt could have received.
How It Changed Things
I've worn the Valery skirt at least once a week since I bought it. It's become the anchor of my wardrobe — the piece I build outfits around rather than the piece I add to an outfit. It's made me think more carefully about everything else I wear, which has made getting dressed feel like something I do rather than something that happens to me.
I've also bought two other pieces from No More Nobody since — the Daryl heart hoop earrings and the Cressida moon necklace. The brand has a consistency of quality and intention that makes you want to keep coming back. Once you find people who make things the way you want things to be made, you tend to stay.
For £165, the Valery skirt gave me my style back. That's not a small thing. It's actually quite a large thing, dressed up as a corduroy maxi skirt with excellent pockets.
Get the No More Nobody Valery Corduroy Maxi Skirt here: No More Nobody Valery High-Waisted Corduroy Maxi Skirt with Pockets
Browse more from our collections:
→ Latest Products
→ Apparel & Accessories
0 comentarios