Home & People A Quant prediction about the miniskirt this year
By
SUE ABBOT
They buried it with full honours in 1970. No-one v anted it any more, they said. It was too frivolous for those grim times, and both men and women were sick of the sight of it. Four years later, they were saying it all again. The miniskirt, assassinated by the fashion pundits, simply refused to die. The same thing happened two years later in 1976 when the skirt that leaves virtually nothing to the imagination made yet another comeback in the Paris Collections. And now 1979 could well be the year when the mini, shorter and more daring than ever, sparks off the biggest short-skirt revival since the long-legged look
first burst on the fashion world 13 years ago. Who says so? None other than Mary Quant, pioneer of short skirts back in the swinging sixties, and who relaunches the mini for 1979 with the prophecy:
‘‘l’m certain there’s going to be a mass return to short skirts. We can all look forward to a terribly sexy summer.”
Among Mary’s newest fashion collection are mini-bloomers and minis in shiny satins and "provocative” shades like deep
purple. Nor is she alone in her prediction that 1979 will be the year of the mini. Walston, one of America’s most fashionable designers — he dresses Jackie Onassis and Liza Minnelli among others—has already announced eight inch - above - theknee minis for the coming year. He is backed by another of America’s most influen.rial couturiers, Rudi Frenet, who declares: “At least there will be one thing to look forward to in 1979. It's been a hard time for the wolf-whistle brigade since hemlines dropped.”
Ever since Qumt and Andre Courreges ureamed up the mini in 1965. it’s proved the truth of the maxim: what goes up must come down. From a mere inch above the knee tn 1966, it soared to 10 inches in the next two years, being banned by the Vatican and attacked
by everyone from bosses and politicians to roadsafety officers. By 1970, it was on its way down. But not for long. Another peak of popularity was followed by yet another slump. By 1974, it was virtually impossible to buy a mini in any major London store and the style was pronounced extinct. Two years later, it had made yet another miraculous recovery! It was during the last boom that the mini seemed intent on proving
that "the thigh’s the limit.” With skirtf, reaching 10 inches above the knee, new categories had to be invented. One columnist said: “Now there is the mini, the micro-mini. the micromicro. and the ‘Hello officer’.”
The mini even stormed the ultra-traditional world of grand opera when soprano Grace Bumbry, known as the "greatest Carmen of all time,” appeared on stage at the Rome Opera House in a skirt six inches above the knee.
The next day, she. said: “It was the most enthusiastic audience I have ever played to.”
What do women think of the latest bring-back-the-mini campaign? A recent fashion poll found that 27 per cent of girls in the 21) to 24 age group would like the miniskirt back. The percentage dropped to 19 per cent in the 25 to 34 age bracket and two per cent among the over-355.
Men. on the other hand, can’t wait for short skirts to return — nearly 80 per cent said they hoped the mini would be back in 1979. The highest level of approval came not from the youngest, but from 25 to 35-year-olds. A typical comment came from a 40-year-old father of three, who said: "Hemlines are lower this year than at any time since I started taking an interest in such things!" Girls are swathed in warm woollies right down to mid-calf. “The long-legged look can’t come back soon enough for me.” But not everyone agrees. Pierre Courreges has always maintained that “only girls with beautiful knees should wear a really short skirt and beautiful knees are very rare. In fact, the perfect knee is found only mi negro girls.” The Royal couturier, Sir Norman Hartnell, is also apprehensive about the return of short skirts:
"When the mini was all the rage last time, many girls wore it when they just hadn't the legs for it.”
he said. “I don’t think this would happen again. Girls are too discriminating nowadays.” That Bible of American fashion, “Women’s Wear Daily,” a devoted foe of the miniskirt for more than a decade, is already doing all it can to stop a revival. It has named the latest version “the Skimp,” and has remarked that it’s reminiscent of the “teenybopper look” found in lhe chain stores 10 years ago.
What do bosses think of the possible reappearance of another 12 inches or so of female leg? In a phrase, not much. One major bank says that young women employees who turn up in skirts more than an inch above the knee “will be advised before long to wear something more suitable for the office.”
And a leading multiple store has already decided that if hemlines shoot up there will be a company policy “requiring them to be at least an inch below the knee regardless of what fashion dictates.” Other firms have already taken steps to ensure that the soaraway hemlines of the past don’t make a reappearance in their offices. One organisation has insisted that skirts must, cover a girl’s knees when she is seated — which means they will fall below the knee when she stands up.
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Press, 17 April 1979, Page 13
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922Home & People A Quant prediction about the miniskirt this year Press, 17 April 1979, Page 13
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