6 Ideas How to Wear a Cage Skirt • Offeradi

It is a long time known fact that hoops, crinolines and cage skirts are worn to create an hourglass figure. A wide skirt makes your waist look smaller. Many people ask me what are cage skirts for and who wears them. Usually, I have a very long reply with lots of explanations and comments. To ease the overall pain, I decided to write an article on how to wear a cage skirt. Cage skirt is a universal piece of clothing but at the same time creates a great impression – what most wearers usually seek for. Cage skirt a perfect magnet to grab peoples attention. Any woman can feel fancy wearing a hoop skirt or a cage skirt. This way, she can put herself in edgy side of fashion and break all the rules. Almost every cage skirt can be adjusted to fit any type and size figure, including plus size and men.

Depending on your imagination, a cage skirt can be worn with any attire at most times. Below you will find some ideas how to wear and combine your cage skirt. I hope you will get inspired to wear a cage skirt at music & dance festival, themed party or on your wedding day. Grab all the attention and enjoy your time!

Wear Cage Skirt With Underwear

Originally, a cage skirt was an undergarment and was put on underwear before putting layers of other skirts and a dress. Actually, it still keeps its position as an underwear piece and is often used to achieve special looks and styles, for example Victorian style when wide dress is required. Most often, a cage skirt is accompanied with a corset if it is not covered by any fabric-skirt or dress. In such case, it is common to see Victorian style panties underneath the open-frame cage skirt.

In editorial fashion photography you can find a lot of examples of model wearing a cage skirt along with modern underwear. Cage skirt is usually combined with a 2-piece underwear set or bodysuit. Only here, a cage skirt adds a touch of avant-garde feeling to the whole look. Consider wearing a cage skirt in fetish-themed party, sure you will get a lot of attention!

Even Victoria’s Secret Angels wear cage skirts. Supermodels graced a catwalk wearing sexy cage skirts at Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2011. After supermodel Gisele Bündchen launched her underwear line, in 2013 she has chosen a burlesque style for her fashion show and wore herself a cage skirt as an accessory on a catwalk.

Wear Cage Skirt Underneath

If you want to give volume and make your gown dress wide and round, you should use a basic cage skirt under it. For heavier fabric skirt or dress a cage skirt has to be stronger and firmer. In other words, a wire or metal boning has to be inserted in horizontal hoops. Most of Offeradi cage skirts can be customized by inserting a stronger boning in horizontal hoops on client’s requested. A cage skirt with usual plastic boning perfectly holds lightweight materials such as tulle, chiffon, organza and similar.

Wearing a cage skirt under long and heavy dresses gives you a lot of space to movement and keeps material away from your legs. Wearing a long heavy dress can be very uncomfortable if all layers of different fabrics keep tangling around tights and feet. Also, a cage skirt solves ventilation problems by making a space for air to flow under a heavy skirt. Besides, wearing a firm cage skirt under a princess-style dress helps to keep the whole assembly in place, for example, when you do sudden moves on a dance floor. Basically, cage skirt works as supporting frame and maintains dress shape. You can wear tights underneath without worrying about static cling or additional bulk, because a cage skirt makes fabric to sit far out from the body.

Today, a cage skirt is used underneath various modern flare skirts as well. A cage skirt can be much longer than a fabric skit on top of it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with both skirts of various lengths because a cage skirt can be visible now.

Wear Cage Skirt on Top

In the past, a cage skirt (earlier called “hoop skirt”) was an undergarment used to give volume to beautiful Victorian dresses. Fashion is evolving so does the cage skirt. Today a cage skirt became more like a fashion accessory. It often appears to be worn on top of other clothing pieces and is no longer hidden under layers of fabric. It can be exposed!

You may wear your cage skirt on top of the other skirt or your whole assembly. Cage skirt can go on top of a short or very long fabric skirt, trousers, underwear, dress, shorts, leggings, bodysuit and so on. A cage skirt is more apparent in whole assembly when it is of different color than the garment under it. On the other hand, a white cage skirt can look great on top of white fluffy dress or skirt as well. You can use your creativity and experiment wearing a cage skirt on top of a mini tulle skirt. This way, you would put a tulle skirt into a cage.

Cage Skirt as a Fashion Detail

In present times, a cage skirt became an extremely versatile piece of clothing. Actually, it is now used more as a fashion detail or accessory to resemble or emphasize certain style. Cage skirt goes as an accessory to and is actually inseparable with Steampunk, Burlesque and Victorian style.

Besides, variations of cage skirts are limitless. You can find stylized, asymmetrical, cringed, oversized, minimalistic or futuristic cage skirts on the market. Likewise cage skirts are loved by avant-garde and sculptural fashion designers. There, a cage skirt provides a volume to skirts, or looses its traditional bell-shape and becomes an extravagant fashion detail. You can see models wearing a cage skirt on their arms, chests or even necks as caged couture-inspired adornments. Hence, cage skirt is a very versatile garment and can be produced in many different shapes and sizes.

Wear a Cage Skirt under Wedding Gown

Above all, cage skirts are still used in traditional gown fashion, for example worn under wedding dress. As earlier mentioned, wearing a cage skirt under your long princess-like wedding dress will give space to your legs and will help to maintain airflow underneath. You will be able to walk more freely as your dress won’t weight a ton. Instead of adding layers and layers of fabrics to achieve princess-style you can use a cage skirt under your big dress-skirt. Your wedding dress will be light but wide. Please note that wide cage skirts require additional wiring inserted. The bigger the cage skirt is the stronger boning must be inserted to maintain skirts shape.

Decorate a Cage Skirt

If you have crafty fingers you can decorate your cage skirt to make it totally unique piece of wearable art. A frame of a cage skirt can be decorated with live or artificial flowers, tulle, ribbons, bows, crystals, fringe, feathers, various lightweight fabrics and anything your imagination permits.

Using light in weight materials for decorations would be advised. Also, distributing weight equally on all fours sides (left, right, front and back) will keep a cage skirt straight and balanced. If you put more weight on one side it will push a cage skirt down and the opposite side of a skirt will go up. Sometimes, this can be done on purpose to make a cage skirt sit unevenly to achieve certain style, for example, lifting a front part of a skirt by putting more weight on the back of the skirt. Hot glue is really handy when attaching various embellishments to a cage skirt.

Where to Wear a Cage Skirt?

So, where can you wear a cage skirt? Obviously, you will not go downtown wearing lingerie and a cage skirt on Saturday night. Normally, nobody does that, but such assembly can work for GoGo dancers, circus performers, impersonators or drag queens.

You may also wear a cage skirt at summer music festivals such as Burning Man 2019, Lollapalooza 2019. Cage skirt is a very light and quite compact garment so you won’t have trouble transporting and storing it. It can also be easily fixed with hot glue if an accident happens. Furthermore, imagine putting LED lights on your cage skirt and dancing in dance rave or music festival. Cage skirt is a perfect festival outfit.

You can wear a cage skirt for your fashion shoot to make yourself look unique. I am sure photographers will love the idea! Simply combine with various different attires and try new concepts. If you have to attend a dress party or themed party, consider a cage skirt as well. Remember, normal is boring.

Another interesting idea to wear a cage skirt is wearing it on top of your baby-belly. Consider wearing a cage skirt for your baby shower party. In this case, you will position a cage skirt above your usual waistline so that baby-belly stays inside a cage skirt. Once again, your creative spirit has to play a role here, for example you can decorate a cage skirt with pink or blue bows or use a piece of tulle to cover a cage skirt. You can glue paper photographs on a cage skirt to make it a memorable piece of art.

Meanwhile, cage skirt is a perfect example how underwear can turn into outerwear. Everything changes during the time, so do fashion and fashion rules. Today, everyone is focused on being unique and unrepeatable so that their outer-shell would stand out in the crowd. Actually, there are so many venues where you can express yourself and be free to wear crazy outfits. In summary, I believe that cage skirt is the most affordable and effective garment to wear if you seek impression and comfort. In addition, you can wear a cage skirt on separate occasions because every cage skirt can be reshaped and decorated with little effort at home.

If you would like to know more about cage skirts please click to read “Modernizing a Hoop Skirt: What is Cage Skirt?”

You can order a cage skirt on our SHOP.