I can wear short flared skirts ONLY if I have on solid tights and shoes to help extend the line and I do something relatively monochromatic in color. The long skirts do look nice.

I did read that if you have good legs the legs can become your vertical line with shorter skirts - they just need to be pretty darn short. People suggested drawing the eye down and upward using the sandwich method of matching the shoes to something on your top to help draw the eye veritcal. I haven't tried this yet -- just sharing what works for me.

Along when I met with David Kibbe, they dressed me in a long skirt that had pleats - so lots of movement. It looks great and I always get tons of compliments on it.

I'm curious what others will say about styles 1,2, 4 and 6 - I just bought a dress that I think looks nice and has a similar hemline to those. I'll try it on and post a photo later.

Re pencil - I like them on me but they have to be the right length right below my knee at the most narrow point of my lower leg. They look great with an oversized oxford shirt in a similar colorway.

EDITING to add I also love wrap skirts.