Article Fashion

Take for example the Mini Skirt.
Mary Quant
chanteuse of the swinging 60’s Carnaby Street
is credited as the first to reveal the ultra-short miniskirt. The mini was shocking
and not since the 20’s flapper had exposing your knee caused such a stir. Respectable ladies wore skirts at knee length
and young girls were supposed to follow the respectable path
but something happened when the daring Quant shortened skirts
and the world went mod.

Designer Andre Courreges is also credited with the mini’s creation
but Quant successfully commercialized the new freedom of teenage fashion
exposing the sexually explosive 60’s to the mini. The all-too-revealing miniskirt coincided with the birth of the sexual revolution
and exposed more than legs. The birth control pill hit the market in 1960
and in 1962
feminist and future Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown published Sex and the Single Girl
a support manual for young women who refused marriage but didn’t want to sacrifice the most primal urge. Sex was everywhere
and even more shocking than girls enjoying sex was that they were talking about it. And the miniskirt was the best advertisement for the sexual revolution.

Girls could strut their stuff
free to expose their sensuality
and men were just going to have to deal with it! No more covering up
keeping flesh under wraps because of the consequences of temptation. The miniskirt boldly stated the new confidence of a woman’s body
and her place in the feminine world. Protection and ‘providing for’ was no longer what the 60’s gal wanted. She called the shots
and in her sexy new miniskirt
she got what she wanted.

The miniskirt has remained a major staple throughout the years
as a sign of both sexuality and confidence (though we should warn you that showing thigh won’t instantly turn you into an Amazon princess. The mini might make you look sexy
but the confidence part is up to you). The 80’s returned the miniskirt back to pure unadulterated sensuality when Madonna slithered across the floor in thigh-high
black lycra miniskirts. Paired with lace tights and mesh shirts that exposed the navel
the 80’s miniskirt was unashamed and in your face. The 60’s mini was mild in comparison to the body-hugging shamelessness of 80's cotton lycra.

The mini-skirt received even more controversy when it found its way into the professional realm of the 90’s. Heather Locklear’s ‘Amanda’ on Melrose Place stirred up attention in her skirts that barely hung below the hemline of her suit jackets. Professional women were conflicted: yes
the mini-skirt made your legs look fabulous
but was this going too far? When Calista Flockhart’s title character on Ally McBeal received more attention for her skirts than for her law practice
girls had to wonder if the line had been crossed.

Hemlines rise and fall faster than the stock market—where liberated women are down on the exchange floor beside their fellow man
thank you very much. The true fashion icon of the 60’s
the mini skirt is fearless: it allows women to celebrate their sexuality
and yet defies the old fashion convention of yesteryear.