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SUNRAY PLEAT, SUNBURST PLEAT, ACCORDIAN
PLEAT are all one of the same thing. Whilst there was a
time when I thought there to be a difference between these different
types, it appears that the names generally follow the skirt’s
country of origin.
A Sunray pleat skirt is one where the pleats start very small at
the waist and flare out as they reach the bottom. Unlike knife and
box pleats, they don’t exactly fold back on themselves, rather
simply crease one way and then the other, thus creating the folded
effect seen in a bellows or an ACCORDIAN (well fancy that!). Of
course there is another important difference between this and other
types of pleat, and that is the factor of wear in use. Whilst a knife
or box pleat can sometimes be ‘sat down on’ with the pleats closed,
the Sunray pleat skirt always has it’s pleats pressed open,
regardless how careful the wearer is. |
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I’m afraid that the sunray pleat skirt is my definite
favourite, partly as it always seems to be the most
feminine - even with the tackier examples one sometimes
finds in cheap clothes shops.
The example on the left is a typical longer length
sunray pleat skirt; in this case about 41 inches long
from the waist to hem. Very pretty when worn feels very
sexy when walking about in one and looks sexy in the way
that the pleats ripple and move. |
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The picture on the right is an example of an
‘ordinary’ sunray pleat skirt in a pretty pastel blue
colour.
Although this skirt appears to be little worn, it has
a nice feminine ‘flair’ to it at the hem, something that
will become even more prominent as the pleats wear and
become increasingly pressed open. | | |
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A young woman proudly spreads the pleats of her
pretty maroon sunray pleat dress to display the fullness
of her skirt.
Although all sunray pleat skirts are by nature fairly
full, the amount of fullness varies enormously between
one and another. How about the black ‘dance’ skirt on
the right? |
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Of course the complete opposite look to the long
skirt on the left are the ‘floaty’ variants, made of
polyester georgette materials for instance like in the
skirt on the right. The skirt below, shows a common
feature of these light and flimsy garments where the hem
is ‘lettuce-leafed’. This is where the sharp pleat edges
at the hem are rounded off and curled. | |
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So let’s move on to some more ‘dressy’ examples of sunray
pleat skirts. First of all, how about this sharply pleated
well-below-the-knee length example with a pretty navy blue
rose pattern? The right hand picture shows a close-up of the
material. |
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The black skirt shown above right is quite full by any
standards, but depending how the sunray pleat skirt is made
up, looks can be deceiving...
Take a look at the dressy skirt below, with the garment
hanging straight it looks a bit drain pipey to me (not really
to my taste) but on being spread out, just look how much
shimmery material it contains! Imagine dancing in that then
doing a spin or two.. Wow! |
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If you are interested in seeing how well pleated
skirts fare in ‘dance mode’ then go onto my ‘flare’ page
which will probably be a treat to your eyes! Meg slipped
on skirt after skirt of mine and I clicked away with
that camera! Thus you will be able to see all sorts of
unusual shots, like for instance, how much flare we can
expect from an ‘office wear’ navy skirt (clearly miles
from it’s ‘home territory’) when it’s sharply pressed
pleats are opened out under the pressure of swing-dance
moves . |
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