And above all, the English Class System is alive and well, and making for great plots.Three great plots, in fact, as Essie, Bessie and Dessie each move from their respectively obscure origins to find employment in the town houses of the rich. Actually, they are called Tilda, Lydia (the impressive Tabitha Wady) and Hannah. And they have been carefully selected to represent the full variety of class possibilities.Tilda (East End gel, canny) is in the house with the Unhappy Marriage ("Not now, Arnold!"), and the cook with the Terrible Secret. Brits take a bit of persuading that pleats are not just for Jean Brodie gels. But with a pair of kittens and a cardi, you're going to wear that knife pleat with the panache of the woman who patented it: Coco Chanel.. RUTH AND PEDRO Rendell and Almodovar. Doesn't sound like a marriage made in heaven, does it? West Country Policemen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown? Inspector Wexford in a PVC fetish suit? Well, not yet.
It will collapse gently from the waist and flutter playfully around the knee. How darling! On the high street, Burberrys, they of the county set camel check, have designed the most beautiful white satin knife-pleat skirt (pounds 180) and also one in white crepe (pounds 155), only available at their Regent Street flagship. This is the streamlined shape of things to come at Burberrys post-Nineties face- lift. Dorothy Perkins, Gawd bless `em, have done a light-weight black knee-length pleat skirt for pounds 30, yes, pounds 30 and it's cheap at twice the price. Miss Selfridge do the Vuitton-style back-and-front pleat skirt (pounds 22) in dove grey. It's above the knee, fairly light-weight cotton and it won't work for everyone.Some of you may still not be convinced by this skirt shape Don't blame you It's a Pond thing Americans know and love knife pleats. American designer Marc Jacobs made the most mouth- watering, shot silk, knife-pleat skirts in a kaleidoscope of blue hues.
He twinned it with delicate crop cardigans, sheer vest tops and neat little tanks. As artistic director of Louis Vuitton, Jacobs also took the pleat skirt into the LV collection The biggest Vuitton seller is a slate blue lightweight wool It's pounds 390 and it's pleated at the back and the front. Unless you've got hips as svelte as Dana International, full wool pleats round a skirt may not be kind, so Louis Vuitton has compromised brilliantly.You all know Style Police has championed the pencil skirt for the past two seasons. It's still with us but, trust me guys, the knife-pleat shape is also right Don't think that pleats equal bulk.
