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"Dear Pencil Skirts, Thank you for always being there for me&amp;amp;#8212;you&amp;#x27;re mega-chic, always appropriate for the office and I love the way you have the power to make me feel like a Hollywood movie star on a random weekday. Not to mention, there&amp;#x27;s tons of you in stores now at happy prices! (Read on to get my cheap-chic picks plus styling advice for how to wear the skirt you already own, after the jump). Dillard&amp;#x27;s Stoosh Tie Pencil Skirt, $17 at dillards.com Sign up for Glamour.com&amp;amp;#8217;s Style Tips of the Week and Beauty Tip of the Day newsletters! Big confession: lately I&amp;#x27;ve been getting a lot of styling inspiration from the J.Crew catalog. And after meeting designer Jenna Lyons here in the Glamour offices last week, I&amp;#x27;m even more obsessed with everything &amp;quot;Crew&amp;quot;. Jenna has a genius sense of style, especially when it comes to mixing guy-like (boyfriend) with girly pieces. The day she came to Glamour, she was outfitted in a men&amp;#x27;s button-down, belted, with slouchy harem pants (I swear&amp;amp;#8212;they looked great on her!), low-heel shoes and a major statement necklace that looked like 12 necklaces twisted together but was actually one ginormo creation. So, when I wanted to rethink how to put together my basic pencil skirt, I immediately logged onto jcrew.com to see how they&amp;#x27;re doing it. Here are three simple but inspiring ideas: 1. Skirt plus belted cardi over an untucked V-neck This is cute and semi-casual but polished enough for the office. I like how the neutral-color blush cardigan contrasts ever so slightly with the plain white tee&amp;amp;#8212;it&amp;#x27;s a combination I wouldn&amp;#x27;t have thought of but works really well. 2. Skirt plus ankle boots The booties totally refresh this skirt silhouette and highlight the model&amp;#x27;s great legs (my legs are one of my fave things on my body and I&amp;#x27;m constantly looking for new ideas on showing them off without looking trampy). I also like how the skirt here has a bit of metallic sheen that makes it feel festive but still conservative and not over-the-top thanks to the rugged natural materials of the belt and shoes. Also, note the fishnet ankle socks&amp;amp;#8212;can you say &amp;quot;amazing&amp;quot;? 3. Skirt plus a lot of ruffles I like to have fun when I get dressed and sometimes pencil skirts can feel a little too secretary-like. The perfect way to offset that? Ruffles! Love this sweet tucked-in top under an open cardigan or jacket. What do you guys think of these styling ideas? Do you already have a pencil skirt? If not, here are some affordable styles, from $12 and up. More Ways to Get Glamour You could win $50,000 just for registering or logging in to Glamour.com! Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage Follow Slaves to Fashion on Twitter! Photo: Dillards"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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