Pleated skirt

A pleated skirt is a skirt whose fabric is doubled back upon itself. A wide piece of fabric is thus gathered to a narrower circumference at the waistband. A pleated skirt allows greater freedom of movement.

There are different ways of folding the pleats, such as knife pleats or box pleats. The pleats can be pressed, that is, ironed or otherwise heat-set into a sharp crease, or unpressed, falling in soft rounded folds. A pleated skirt can be any length, from ankle to knee length up to ultra short (as in the photos to the right).

Use

Pleated skirts are often found in girl's traditional clothing and school uniforms. The stereotypical "Catholic" school uniform has pleated tartan skirts that resemble Scottish kilts.

Short "schoolgirl" style pleated skirts (that show much of the leg and may provide glimpses of the wearer's panties and/or buttocks, panty flashing^{[Note 1]} are also popular "sexy" fashion items and popular for fetish/erotic purposes, adult roleplay (see schoolie), erotic (spanking) videos, etc.

For spanking (e.g. over-the-knee, etc.), a pleated skirt can be easily flipped up to provide access to the wearer's bottom.