If skirts are an area of your wardrobe that feels sparse in 2026, especially compared to pants, shorts, and dresses, let me introduce you to the one silhouette you need to invest in to look “in the know” this year. Pencil skirts have taken over the skirt genre, showing up on A-listers like Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid, as well as runway models at Toteme, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Khaite, and more. Everyone who’s anyone in fashion is either producing pencil skirts or wearing them right now, but to do them correctly, you need to know one thing. No one with authority in the sartorial space is wearing pencil skirts with flats. It’s just not a thing. Instead, they’re styling them with heels, and one specific style is leading the charge: Heeled mules.

The combination was most recently seen on actress Camila Morrone, who is currently doing press for her new Netflix horror film, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Morrone was spotted in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday wearing an all-black ensemble (her preferred color combination throughout her press tour for the film) by Max Mara, including a cropped mock-neck sweater with elbow-length sleeves and a matching pencil skirt, both from the Italian brand’s spring/summer 2026 collection. To finish off her pencil-skirt outfit, she and her stylist, Emma Jade Morrison, added a pair of sky-high heeled mules with a delicate peep-toe detail from Black Suede Studio.

On Camila Morrone: Max Mara top and skirt; Black Suede Studio Shania 100 Satin Mule ($345)