Several designers have been credited with the “invention” and naming of the miniskirt in the 1960s: Andre Courreges, Mary Quant, John Bates, and of course, Pierre Cardin. However, regardless of who coined the phrase or was the first to cut a skirt’s hemline to the mid-thigh, the small but mighty miniskirt represents advancements not only for fashion, but for women.
Above-the-knee skirts first became popular after World War II. Throughout the 1950’s the skirts gradually shifted to become shorter and shorter, and hemlines often fluctuated mere inches between each season. But with the arrival of the 1960s, skirts were not alone in revolution. The 1960’s called for rebellion against greater social norms such as schooling and cultural formalities, as well as in music, fashion, and drug use. The civil rights movement was fighting for racial equality, and the women’s liberation movement began questioning the patriarchy and sexual and social hierarchies. With the rise of second-wave feminism, women were becoming more liberated in their rights, sexualities, and careers. In the same token, the Pierre Cardin exhibition writes, “Fashion was becoming not only more democratic, but more pluralistic and individualized: the length of your skirt did not dictate whether you were in our out of fashion.” Coinciding with the broadening social and political landscape, daily dress practices had the potential for greater variance and dynamism. It no longer became necessary to have one dress code for everybody. In the 1960s, fashion evolved to be a medium used to express oneself. No single skirt hem was in season — they were all in season. Cardin said, “It would be insane to lengthen skirts just to follow an up-and-down cycle. It is ridiculous to change the silhouette every six months.” Cardin saw the practicalities within the fashion industry to cut the skirt’s traditional hem length to a miniskirt, but perhaps what he did not realize was how optimistic of a garment it was in regards to women’s liberation. The miniskirt “speaks” many things, but one of them may be “I am a woman, these are my legs, and you can look but can’t touch.” Megan O’Grady writes in the New York Times article, “Fashions for the Future”, “FASHION IS A TERRIFIC time-travel machine. There is a kind of optimism built into the industry that makes the future a recurring theme, a kind of sustained argument that there will always be people who need to make a statement with what they wear.” Perhaps as women marched down the streets protesting for their rights wearing their miniskirts, the miniskirts themselves embodied in the future they hoped for: no longer oppressed by excess weight, lifted higher than before, and the opportunity to rise to new standards. In this lighter, freer, and liberated future, women and their skirts would never drag on the ground again.
