The miniskirt: how the garment that conquered the world came about
Among the many revolutions of the prodigious 1960s, from The Beatles to the first man on the moon, the miniskirt remains one of the most enduring icons of the time.
Although there are different opinions on who invented the shortened garment - with Mary Quant, André Courrèges, John Bates and Jean Varon vying for the title - the launching pad for the miniskirt in London was local designer Quant, who at the time was the engine of fashion in a city that was setting the pace.
"The miniskirt was an extraordinary phenomenon and had a great impact as it was part of the emerging youth culture of the 1960s," Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the New Fashion Institute of Technology museum, tells the BBC. York.
"It was largely an expression of that youth culture and the beginning of the sexual liberation movement that brought the invention of the contraceptive pill. It was like a historic moment," she adds.
"In the 1920s there had already been something similar with a youth culture and short skirts, but despite the fact that young women of the 1920s were considered more sexually free than their predecessors - they could date their partners without supervision, choose to her future spouse, kissing several men before marrying and exchanging caresses, continued to be threatened with what had always limited women's sexual freedom: the danger of becoming pregnant. "
A skirt for the car
Few women, mostly athletes, had worn miniskirts until Quant began selling them in her legendary Bazaar boutique on the equally legendary King's Road.
But she had experimented with something similar in her youth, when she hooked the skirt of her school uniform up to "look more interesting."
Quant's muse was a stomping dancer whom he spied on in the dance studio where he took ballet classes.
"Once, I heard the music coming from next door and when I looked out I saw a tapping class and in the middle of the room, a girl a couple of years older than me, who reflected everything I wanted to be," he told her. Quant told The Week magazine.
"She was wearing a short pleated skirt about 10 inches long, with a tight black sweater, black stockings, and a bob haircut. What surprised me was how her entire appearance was focused on what she had on her feet: a pair in white socks and a pair of stomping shoes with ankle straps ... From that day on I was fascinated by that beautiful image of legs and ankles. "
Quant, who turned 80 in February, named her famous miniskirt after her favorite car, the Mini Cooper. "The mini car went perfectly with the miniskirt; it did everything you wanted, it looked great, it was optimistic, exuberant, young, flirtatious ... all in its proper measure," said Quant in the documentary "Mary Quant, Mini Cooper, Mini skirt".
Obscene
With an intoxicating mix of messaging, Quant's flirty miniskirts communicated mischievous innocence and playful feminine demeanor, while delivering a rebellious punch to the repressed 1950s post-war generation who grew up amid basic utilitarian designs.
With its bold short hem, the miniskirt - which was then worn with low strap shoes or high-top zip-up boots and chunky tights in bold colors - challenged society by shaking conservative values.
"Businessmen were banging on the window and yelling, 'It's obscene, it's disgusting.' Extraordinary, isn't it?" Exclaimed Quant in wonder in an interview with Alexandra Shulman of British Vogue. Her detractors included none other than Coco Chanel, who called the miniskirt "simply horrendous."
"From the 30s to the 50s, an increasingly conservative attitude developed. The youth culture of the 1960s dramatically broke with that, even though it had its roots in the 1950s," observes Valerie Steele.
For Quant, it was the girls on the street who invented the miniskirt. Her clients even asked her to shorten her creations further. "It all started in Chelsea (London borough). The spirit was to break the rules," the designer told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.
Playtime!
Before the 1960s women had to dress like their mothers; later the young women began to dress as young men.
Suddenly, fashion with its jolt of crayon colors, contrasting with the dull yellows and browns of postwar Britain, all seemed like a playground, with Twiggy leading the way.
With an androgynous look, gangly legs, Peter Pan-style hair, seductive Bambi eyes, and makeup lashes, the British model strayed from the debutante elegance of 1950s models.
Staying true to the hem index, whereby the hem of skirts reflects stock prices, the miniskirt perfectly captured the London boom of the 1960s.
And, with the worldwide craze of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the demand for short skirts quickly took off (solidifying the trend, Jackie Kennedy chose a short white Valentino dress for his marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968).
While the popularity of the miniskirt was overshadowed by the new hippie silhouette of flared pants and loose skirts, the garment has become a classic, resurfacing during the 1980s, with "rah-rah" skirts and skirts. suits with short skirts.
Age limit?
Collecting various personalities over the years, with variations in length, materials and accessories that project different moods, the miniskirt, more than any other garment, is a symbol of youth.
With women wanting to stretch the age limits imposed by society, particularly during this age of celebrities with great bodies, the question is what is the right age to wear a miniskirt.
According to a recent study by the British department store Debenhams, women like to wear miniskirts until they are 40 years old, while in 1980 women stopped wearing them from the age of 33.
However, such a democratic point of view remains somewhat myopic.
Or limits to freedom?
With the prohibitions that apply in several countries, the miniskirt has not entered certain territories.
In Indonesia, a sign says: "Don't tell me how to dress, tell them not to rape us."
As recently as 2010, the mayor of an Italian seaside resort, Castellammare di Stabia, ordered the police to fine anyone wearing a miniskirt "too short", while at the end of February, 200 women took to the streets of the capital. from Uganda to protest against new anti-pornography legislation, dubbed the "miniskirt law" by local media, which prohibits women from showing their thighs, breasts and buttocks and dressing indecently for sexual provocation.
Fifty years after its invention, the garment still has many barriers to break.
"With the rise of different types of religious fundamentalisms around the world, there is a backlash against women and sexual liberation," says Steele.
Despite the fact that the initial impact factor of the miniskirt is already behind in most western cities, as well as cities like Tokyo or Shanghai, "in many parts of the world, I would definitely hesitate before putting on a miniskirt," she added. .
However, "if we look forward, we hope for a freer future while if we look back we see a more restrictive past, and the miniskirt is a symbol of that."
