Patent pencil skirt with an organza shirt and biker jacket

Three finishes of black that take the city lights differently. A high-shine black patent pencil skirt, high-waisted, knee-length with a short side slit, that reads like wet tarmac under the rooftop lamps. Over it a black organza shirt with a pointed collar, buttoned, worn with an opaque black camisole beneath so the organza is a layer and not a window. A black patent biker jacket sits open on the shoulders with its zips undone, and black patent ankle boots with a block heel close the column.

Worn walking, not standing: the skirt catches light on the move and goes flat when it stops. Jacket on the shoulders, never in the sleeves, hair loose, nothing in the hands. Autumn and spring nights, a rooftop drink, the kind of night out that starts after eleven. Boots over heels because rooftops have stairs.

The skyline was out of focus. The skirt was not.