Sheer Black Hakama Skirt 'Kagerou'

Black pleated culottes with a sheer wrap that lifts, and a tie at the hip

The wrap on these culottes lifts, which is what the photograph shows: a sheer black layer over a pleated black panel, fastened with a tie at the left hip, that can be held out like a wing or left to fall. Under it, the culottes are divided and opaque, falling from a fitted waistband to mid-calf. Black on black, one layer sheer and one solid, and the tie the only thing holding them together.

It is the most dramatic piece in the collection and the most practical, because a sheer wrap over trousers is a skirt you can run in.

The name, Kagerou, is the heat haze, the shimmer above a summer road, and the sheer layer is that shimmer over the black.

The pleats are pressed, and the mesh is a separate layer over an opaque one, so nothing shows through. The cloth is a polyester blend, chosen because pressed pleats hold in it and mesh drapes from it, and because black in this cloth stays black. It washes cold, inside out, and hangs.

Wear them with a white tee, as in the photograph, for the contrast, or a black one for a column, and white trainers. The tie fastens at the hip; the wrap falls or is lifted, and both are correct.

The waistband is fitted and flat, the legs are wide and divided, the hem is at the calf, and the mesh is cut a little longer than the pleats so it falls past them. They are the culottes for an evening with a dance in it.

From across a street they are a black skirt with a shadow over it. From close the mesh shows its weave, the pleats show their edges, and the tie shows its knot. They are the piece in the range that looks most like it belongs on a stage, and it does not mind the street.

The divide in the legs is high and hidden under the wrap, so the culottes read as a skirt until you stride, and the mesh over the top moves before you do. It is a garment with a wind built in.

They go with white, with black, with a grey tee, and with any shoe that is not a heel. They are the culottes that get photographed with the wrap held out, and they should be.

Sizes run from S to XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.