The Impact of the Mini Skirt

By: Veronica Perez

Throughout history, clothing has been used to make many statements whether it be fashion or political. This essay will explain how the miniskirt packed a powerful punch throughout history. I will give examples of the negative connotations surrounding the miniskirt while touching on how the history of the miniskirt led girls and young women on the path of emancipation. I will connect on how studying girls’ culture and their history while dismantling the labels and stereotypes placed on girls is essential. Lastly, it will discuss the spectacularization of girlhood through media and clothing and why the miniskirt caused a moral panic.

Reflecting back on my childhood/girlhood, I recall being criticized and judged for the clothing I decided to wear. Going through puberty and trying to decipher who I was and whom I wanted to become was difficult and exhausting, let alone hearing the critical and judgmental remarks on my clothing choices. As a preteen, I always wanted to express myself through my clothing and try new fashion trends to see what I loved and felt most comfortable wearing. The experience of being criticized and judged for the way I decided to dress left me with long-lasting effects throughout my teenage years and young adulthood. The things said to me by peers and even family members for wearing short skirts or what they thought was revealing clothing made me feel belittled and self-conscious and left me with low self-esteem for years. However, I began to see things differently once I became part of a group of young girls in a high school prep for a college program. The program helped us discuss things that happened in our past and what we were currently experiencing as girls in this society. Having a place where other girls like me were experiencing the same things gave me comfort that I had never felt before.

The study of girlhood is critical because girls are often excluded from many vital topics or considered a women's subcategory. Girls experience things differently than women do, and those conversations have to happen for everyone to understand the girl. Understanding how certain events in a girl's life can affect how they begin to perceive themselves is pivotal. Studying and learning about girlhood can help create unity in girls and give them a sense of belonging to a community for them.

From my research, the miniskirt has been credited to being a British invention, specifically by Mary Quant. Others will claim it was John Bates, Andre Courreges, or Rudi Gernreich, but no one knows who indeed invented the miniskirt. Mary Quant claims that the miniskirt kind of invented itself. What is clear is that the miniskirt impacted the empowerment and liberation of girls and young women.

According to archeologists, short garments can date back to 4700BC. During the 1920’s we saw hemlines go from below the knees to above the knees. “A post-war escapism and progression with women’s rights and emancipation led to this more daring attire. However, after the more conservative calf-length hemline of the 1930s, fabric rationing during WWII brought back a shorter skirt” (Jonella, 2018). But the actual miniskirt itself was born through the youth culture movement that aimed to diverge from repressed post-war 50’s fashion.

The miniskirt revolved around rebellion, sex, empowerment, and sixties high-living at its core. Miniskirts started to creep into the mainstream through film. In the 1960’s the miniskirt became iconic when it appeared in fashion and media which then led it to become political. It symbolized the rebellion of the young, no longer wanting to dress like the older women of previous generations. Young women felt like they had to dress like old ladies, and they decided to change that with the miniskirt. “Contemporary spectacular girls are part of the evolution of post-feminism. As the literal and figurative daughter of post-feminists, the current girl inherits the desire to “have it all,” while embracing (unlike her mother, with no angst) both girl power independence and persistent commodity consumption that puts her sexualized body and herself on display. Hence the current fascination with the girl both produces a moderate transformation of hugely successful postfeminist discourse and is a cultural tool to make sense of contemporary gendered and neoliberal politics” (Projansky, 12). The miniskirt began to represent the conversion of a societal shift for girls and young women.

Girls and young women wanted to be heard and seen, and they used miniskirts to push that agenda. Throughout history, the experiences of girls and young women have been either excluded or devalued. Girlhood studies have been a devalued subject for decades when girlhood studies play such a significant role in understanding the girl and the effects caused by what the girl experiences throughout her life. “In the 1950s, phrases such as “date rape,” “domestic violence,” and sexual harassment” were not part of contemporary America’s lexicon (though many women experienced these things). As women’s experiences were brought to the forefront by feminists in the 1960s and the 1970s, names for these phenomena entered the public’s vocabulary. So, it is with the many feminist perspectives on girlhood, which are united in recognizing that the experiences of girls are unique compared to those of boys, though they are often subsumed into broader categories that ignore the specifics of gender” (Limpkin, 14). It is imperative to understand that girlhood is just as crucial as boyhood, and it should not be pushed to the back burner as if it does not matter.

In the 1960's the miniskirt stopped being a fashion choice and became a political act. Young girls became more aware of the hegemonic thinking of society and how they were being treated differently than their male counterparts. "The focusing upon our oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics. We believe that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else's oppression" (Combahee River Collective, 19). To think girls and women were being degraded, judged, sexually assaulted, and even arrested for wearing a piece of clothing that expressed their femininity. At this time, young girls and women decided to band together and fight for their right to wear their skirts as short as they desired. They were beginning the fight for women's rights, feminism, and women's liberation.

As the miniskirt crept its way into fashion, the garment was portrayed as just a costume girls or women used in the film industry. If girls or young women dared to sport the miniskirt, they would be judged and ridiculed by people who disagreed with that type of dress attire. The miniskirt sparked a moral panic in people who still held traditional values. "As has been well documented, young people have become the focus of a variety of moral panics during social change and economic crisis. Paradoxically, they have also been traditionally perceived as "the future" and held up as fearless pioneers who will show the way forward in uncertain times" (Harris, 2). The miniskirt was highly instrumental in the 1960s sexual revolution that challenged people's conventional behavior and upset many traditional conservative commentators who envisioned the end of society as they knew it.

In the 1960s, women started to realize how they were treated differently than their male counterparts. This caused the mini skirt to jump from fashion straight into politics. This newfound knowledge helped women ban together with a fight for the right to wear their skirts at whatever length they wanted. The mini skirt was an encapsulation of women’s rights, feminism, and women’s liberation. Young women wore miniskirts to their protest to make a statement. As stated by Gloria Steinem in the 1970s “many women including herself held on to the notion that the mini skirt was a transgressive act, wearing miniskirts to rallies and speeches, was proving that young women can be strong and wear feminine clothing at the same time” (Lubitz,1).

In conclusion, the miniskirt is a considerable part of girlhood and deserves acknowledgment. Discussing how it helped young women be liberated and progress in society. Currently, we wear all types of skirts, and we do not give them a second thought. Not many appreciate the history of the miniskirt, the next time you decide to wear a skirt, I recommend that you think about its rich history and the magnitude of the power this garment held for young women. “Once women had the opportunity to experience the freedom of skirt-length equality, there was no turning back, and as if to prove that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, a magnitude of protest sprung up defending the new higher hemline called the mini” (Anglia, 1). So, the miniskirt was not just a piece of clothing for girls or young women to wear. The miniskirt was the start of female liberation and empowerment.

References

Taylor, K.-Y. (2017). How we get free: Black feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Haymarket Books.

Dean-Ruzicka, R. (2012). Girls’ studies. Elline Lipkin. Berkeley, CA: Seal press, 2009. 256 pp. $14.95 paperback. The Journal of Popular Culture, 45(3), 665–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2012.00950_2.x

Harris, A. (2005). Future girl: Young women in the twenty-first century. Routledge.

Projansky, S. (2014). Spectacular girls: Media fascination and celebrity culture. New York University Press.

Jonella, Luca, Ward, C., Claire, & Beca. (2021, September 24). History of the miniskirt: 60s Hedonism & Youth rebellion. Contrado Blog. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.contrado.co.uk/blog/history-of-the-miniskirt/

Lubitz, R. (2016, April 7). Power clothes: The unabashedly feminist history of the miniskirt. Mic. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.mic.com/articles/139429/power-clothes-the-unabashedly-feminist-history-of-the-miniskirt

On the hemline - miniskirt protests. Voices of East Anglia. (2014, August 29). Retrieved May 10, 2022, from http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2013/07/miniskirt-protests.html