The Power of the Miniskirt

By Molly Faulkner-Bond, Sirens Magazine. Posted July 18, 2008.

This article originally appeared on Sirens Magazine.

The miniskirt, "in" as it may be this season, has taken quite the media beating over the past few years.

It seems to have started in 2006, when the all of America shared -- or perhaps overshared -- a certain view of Ms. Britney Spears. Before the even more famous getting-out-of-the-car crotch shot incident, in the middle of an extremely high-profile interview with Matt Lauer, she shifted in her chair and gave the world a preview of what was to come: Because the skirt she had chosen to wear was very teeny and her moves weren't discrete enough, she flashed her unclad female bits to the cameras -- and, by extension, millions of watching viewers. Within hours, photos and video were everywhere, jokes and insults were flying, and Britney's dignity (what little she still had left) was pretty much history.

In the wake of Brit-Brit's first of many future incidents, similar gaffes have proliferated among high-profile starlets who cherish their teeny frocks. Lindsay and Paris spring to mind as repeat offenders, but so many women have been caught by now that Glamour magazine actually ran an end-of-2007 salute to the handful of celebrities they could find who hadn't been caught crotch first in their miniskirts (congrats, Evangeline Lily and Mandy Moore!). So predominant is the trend that articles have actually popped up offering step-by-step instructions for how to successfully exit a limo or car without showing the goods.

It's enough to make minis seem so slutty and overexposed at times that we want to pack up all of our formerly favorite flirty little numbers -- which, incidentally, have always made us feel sexily in charge, when worn at just the right moments -- and give them to Goodwill. But the embattled garment responsible for such incidents has fought such image problems since its creation nearly 50 years ago. So we ask: Is a high hemline a sign of empowerment, or overexposure? Is it feminist -- "I may be smart and capable but I can still be sexy" -- or just foolish?

Although it always walks a line of sorts, the miniskirt's initial incarnation was heavily weighted in the direction of empowerment; it exploded onto the 1960s scene as a symbol of liberation and rebellion for young women the world over. Although the design itself is credited to French designer André Courrèges in 1965, it is generally agreed that its popularization in the late 1960s can be largely attributed to British designer Mary Quant, who started selling miniskirts out of Bazaar, her hip Chelsea boutique, in 1966. Quant named the garment after her favorite car, the Mini, and created hers with an eye for practicality and liberation -- with their legs freed from the weight and cover of long skirts, women could literally move more easily through space; quite quickly this idea acquired symbolic social meaning as well.

The trend propelling the mini into superstardom was known as Mod fashion and the name says it all: "modern." Iconic figures of this era, like Twiggy and "The Avengers"' Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg), presented daring, edgy female images whose fashion choices represented strength and confidence rather than modesty and obedience. The futuristic designs of mod clothing were all about looking forward, rejecting past rules and roles, and generally asserting a new kind of aesthetic for young women in particular. It was about fashion, but it was also political -- in an era when young adults were beginning to question the authorities dictating their lives, the miniskirt's high hemlines became simply another way of challenging convention and looking forward toward a new era in which women were freer and could confidently show their bodies without being seen as slutty, ditzy or dismissible.

Simultaneous to all this, Tina Turner's use of the miniskirt around the same time was sending similar messages even without the strong mod fashion context. In her live performances especially, Tina's high hems, paired with her incredible stems (not to mention her voice and her moves) created for her an image as a sexual but powerful female figure who was unapologetically alluring but -- unlike Britney -- in a self-determined way. Turner's stage performance did trade on her sexy bod, but she used it to command attention and awe from her audience.

Despite all of this momentum, the miniskirt did begin to wane as the 1970s progressed. Fashion-wise, trends turned more toward small tops with bell bottoms, so short skirts were abandoned in favor of wide-leg pants, floor-length "maxi" skirts, Bohemian-style dresses and blouses, and full-length jump suits. Politically speaking, the rise of the feminist movement also spelled decline for the mini. As women began to fight hard for personal and professional rights, it suddenly seemed counterproductive to wear such blatantly alluring garments as the miniskirt; it was largely shunned in favor of more masculine styles like suits and trousers. At the time, it seemed the only way to be taken seriously in a man's world was to dress like a man oneself.

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Molly Faulkner-Bond is a recent graduate of Harvard University. She's currently traveling abroad to find herself ... and maybe a sexy barista or two.

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