Skirt - WikiHQ

A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.

At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fitted to the body at the waist or hips and fuller below, with the fullness introduced by means of darts, gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight fabrics, such as denim, jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts of thin or clingy fabrics are often worn with slips to make the material of the skirt drape better and for modesty.

In modern times, skirts are very commonly worn by women and girls. Some exceptions include the izaar, worn by many Muslim cultures, and the kilt, a traditional men's garment in Scotland, Ireland, and England.

The hemline of skirts can vary from micro to floor-length and can vary according to cultural conceptions of modesty and aesthetics as well as the wearer's personal taste, which can be influenced by such factors as fashion and social context. Most skirts are complete garments, but some skirt-looking panels may be part of another garment such as leggings, shorts, and swimsuits.

History

Prehistory and ancient history

thumb|upright|Drawing of a girl's skirt made of wool yarn found in a [[Bronze Age tomb in Borum Eshøj, Denmark]]

Skirts have been worn since prehistoric times as the simplest way to cover the lower body. Figurines produced by the Vinča culture (–4500 BC) located on the territory of present-day Serbia and neighboring Balkans from the start of the Copper Age show women in skirt-like garments.

A straw-woven skirt dating to 3900 BC was discovered in Armenia at the Areni-1 cave. Skirts were the standard attire for men and women in all ancient cultures in the Near East and Egypt. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia wore kaunakes (, ultimately from ), a type of fur skirt tied to a belt. The term originally referred to a sheep's fleece, but eventually came to be applied to the garment itself. Eventually, the animal pelts were replaced by "kaunakes cloth", a textile that imitated fleecy sheepskin. Kaunakes cloth also served as a symbol in religious iconography, such as in the fleecy cloak of John the Baptist.

File:Vincha 066.jpg|Vinča figurine depicting a skirt

File:Fur skirt.jpg|Sumerian man wearing a kaunakes,

File:Egyptian kilt.jpg|Statue of Ramaat, an official from Giza wearing a pleated Egyptian kilt,

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Ancient Egyptian garments were mainly made of linen. For the upper classes, they were beautifully woven and intricately pleated. Around 2130 BC, during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, men wore wraparound skirts (kilts) known as the shendyt. They were made of a rectangular piece of cloth wrapped around the lower body and tied in front. By the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, longer skirts, reaching from the waist to ankles and sometimes hanging from the armpits, became fashionable. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, kilts with a pleated triangular section became fashionable for men. Beneath these, a shente, or triangular loincloth whose ends were fastened with cord ties, were worn.

During the Bronze Age, in the Southern parts of Western and Central Europe, wraparound dress-like garments were preferred. However, in Northern Europe, people also wore skirts and blouses.

Early modern history

thumb|Duan Qun Miao women from a One Hundred Miao Pictures album, pre-1912

In the Middle Ages, men and women preferred dress-like garments. The lower part of men's dresses were much shorter in length compared to those for women. They were wide cut and often pleated or gored so that horse riding was more comfortable. Even a knight's armor had a short metal skirt below the breastplate. It covered the straps attaching the upper legs iron cuisse to the breastplate. Technological advances in weaving in the 13th–15th century, like foot-treadle floor looms and scissors with pivoted blades and handles, improved tailoring trousers and tights. They became fashionable for men and henceforth became standard male attire whilst becoming taboo for women.

One of the earliest known cultures to have females wear clothing resembling miniskirts were the Duan Qun Miao (), which literally means "Short Skirt Miao". This was in reference to the short miniskirts "that barely cover the buttocks" worn by women of the tribe, and which were probably shocking to observers in premodern and early modern times.

In the Middle Ages, some upper-class women wore skirts over three meters in diameter at the bottom. At the other extreme, the miniskirts of the 1960s were minimal garments that may have barely covered the underwear when the woman was seated. Costume historians typically use the word "petticoat" to describe skirt-like garments of the 18th century or earlier.

19th century

thumb|thumbtime=1|The Evolution of the Skirt, Harry Julius, 1916

During the 19th century, the cut of women's dresses in western culture varied more widely than in any other century. Waistlines started just below the bust (the Empire silhouette) and gradually sank to the natural waist. Skirts started fairly narrow and increased dramatically to the hoopskirt and crinoline-supported styles of the 1860s; then fullness was draped and drawn to the back by means of bustles. In the 1890s, the rainy daisy skirt was introduced for walking or sportswear. It had a significantly shorter hemline, measuring as much as six inches off the ground, and eventually influenced the wider introduction of shorter hemlines in the early 20th century.

In the 19th century, in the United States and United Kingdom, there was a movement against skirts as part of the Victorian dress reform movement, and in the United States, the National Dress Reform Association. There was also the invention of different ways to wear skirts. For example, in 1851, early women's rights advocate Elizabeth Smith Miller introduced Amelia Bloomer to a garment initially known as the "Turkish dress", which featured a knee-length skirt over Turkish-style pantaloons. Bloomer came to advocate and promote the dress, including instructions for making it, in The Lily, a newspaper dedicated to the "Emancipation of Woman from Intemperance, Injustice, Prejudice, and Bigotry". This inspired a craze for the dress, which came to be known as bloomers. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone, other early advocates for women's rights, also adopted this style of dress in the 1850s, referring to it as the "freedom dress". Concurrently, some female labourers, notably the pit brow women working at coal pits in the Wigan area, began wearing trousers beneath a short skirt as a practical component of their uniform. This attracted the attention of the public, and various photographers produced records of the women's unconventional manner of dress through the mid to late 19th century.

20th and 21st centuries

thumb|right|upright|A 21st-century skirt

Fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Kenzo and Marc Jacobs have also shown men's skirts. Transgressing social codes, Gaultier frequently introduces the skirt into his men's wear collections as a means of injecting novelty into male attire, most famously the sarong seen on David Beckham.

Styles

Lengths

{| class="wikitable"

! Image !! Name !! Description

| 100px || Maxi skirt || An ankle-length daytime skirt, popular with women in the late 1960s as a reaction against miniskirts.

| 100px || Microskirt || A shorter version of the miniskirt, called the microskirt or micro-mini, which emerged toward the end of the 1960s.

| 100px || High-low skirt || A skirt with an asymmetrical hemline.

Basic types

{| class="wikitable"

! Image !! Name !! Description

| 100px || A-line skirt || A skirt that is fitted at the hips and gradually widens towards the hem, giving the impression of the shape of a capital letter A.

| || Bell-shaped skirt || A bell-shaped skirt, flared noticeably from the waist but then, unlike a church bell, cylindrical for much of its length.

| 100px || Circle skirt || A skirt cut in sections to make one or more circles with a hole for the waist, so the skirt is very full but hangs smoothly from the waist without darts, pleats, or gathers.

| 100px || Culottes || A form of divided skirt, split skirt, or pantskirt constructed like a pair of shorts, but hanging like a skirt.

| 100px || Full skirt || A skirt with fullness gathered into the waistband.

| 100px || Gored skirt || A skirt that fits through the waistline and flares at the hem. May be made of from four to twenty-four shaped sections. Dates from the 14th century and much used in the 19th century. Very popular in the late 1860s, mid-1890s, early 20th century, 1930s, 1940s, and now worn as a classic skirt style.

| || Inverted pleated skirt || A skirt made by bringing two folds of fabric to a center line in front and/ or back. May be cut straight at sides or be slightly flared. Has been a basic type of skirt since the 1920s.

| 100px || Underskirt || Simple, basic skirt over which an overskirt, or drapery, hangs.

| || Broomstick skirt || A light-weight ankle-length skirt with many crumpled pleats formed by compressing and twisting the garment while wet, such as around a broomstick.

| 100px || Bubble skirt || Also called a balloon skirt. A voluminous skirt with a hem that is tucked back under to create a "bubble effect" at the bottom. Popular in the 1950s, 1980s, and again in the 2010s.

| || Kilt-skirt || A wrap-around skirt with overlapping aprons in front and pleated around the back. Though traditionally designed as women's wear, it is fashioned to mimic the general appearance of a man's kilt.

| 100px || Leather skirt || A skirt made of leather.

| 100px || Lehenga || Also called Ghagra or Garara. A long, pleated skirt, often embroidered, worn mostly as the bottom part of the Gagra choli in North India and Pakistan.

| 100px || Mandala skirt || A skirt with a mandala motif.

| 100px || Mini-crini || A mini-length version of the crinoline, designed by Vivienne Westwood in the mid-1980s.

| 100px || Poodle skirt || A wide swing felt skirt of a solid color displaying a design appliquéd or transferred to the fabric, created by Juli Lynne Charlot in 1947. The design was often a coiffed poodle. Later substitutes for the poodle patch included flamingoes, flowers, and hot rod cars.

| || Puffball skirt || Also called "puff" or "pouf". A bouffant skirt caught in at the hem to create a puffed silhouette. Popular in the mid-late 1980s when it was inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s "mini-crini".

| 100px || Rah-rah skirt/Cheerleader skirt || A short, tiered, and often colourful skirt fashionable in the early-mid-1980s.

| 100px || Sarong || A square or rectangle of fabric wrapped around the body and tied on one hip to create a skirt that can be worn by both sexes.

| 100px || Skort || A skirt with a pair of integral shorts hidden underneath.

| 100px || Skater skirt || A short, high-waisted circle skirt with a hemline above the knee, often made of lighter materials to give the flowing effect that mimics the skirts of figure skaters.

| 100px || Spank skirt || Also called spanking skirt. A skirt that has an additional opening in back designed to expose the buttocks, so that the wearer can be spanked without removing or repositioning the skirt. Considered fetish wear, these kind of skirts are typically tight-fitting and made of fetishistic materials such as leather, PVC or latex.

| || Squaw dress || A one or two piece outfit based on Native American clothing. Fashionable in the 1940s and 1950s.

| || Swing skirt || A flared skirt, circular or cut in gores, fitted at hips with a wide flare at the hem. Popular in the late 1930s and at interval since. Very popular in the mid-1980s.

The hakama is worn in Japan. There are two types of hakama, divided umanori (馬乗り, "horse-riding hakama") and undivided andon hakama (行灯袴, "lantern hakama"). The umanori type has wide and divided legs, similar to culottes. Some hakamas are pleated.
The kilt is a skirt of Gaelic and Celtic history, part of the Scottish national dress in particular, and is worn formally and to a lesser extent informally. Irish and Welsh kilts also exist but are not so much a part of national identity.
The sarong is a piece of cloth that may be wrapped around the waist to form a skirt-like garment. Sarongs exist in various cultures under various names, including the pareo and lavalava of the Hawaiian islands and Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and Fiji), the Indian dhoti and lungi, and the South Indian and Maldivian mundu.

Aside from the wearing of kilts, in the Western world skirts, dresses, and similar garments are generally viewed exclusively as women's clothing which, historically, was not always the case. However, some Western men have taken up skirts as forms of civil protest. Other Western men advocate skirts as a measure of co-equality between women and men.

Norms and policies

The skirt is a part of uniforms for girls in many schools around the world, with lengths varying depending on local culture. The pleated tartan skirt began as a component of girls' school uniforms in the early twentieth century in the United Kingdom. Most UK schools now allow girls to wear trousers, but many girls still wear skirts in primary and secondary schools, even where the choice of trousers is given. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many schools began changing their uniform rules to allow trousers for girls amidst opposition to skirts-only policies. Although it is commonly accepted that girls may wear trousers to school, no test case is known to have been brought before the courts, making the legal position uncertain on requiring skirts as part of girls' uniforms. The rule is still enforced in many schools, particularly independent and selective state schools. In fact, United Kingdom government guidelines expressly state the decision of allowing girls to wear trousers is with individual schools. In June 1999, University Professor Claire Hale took legal action against Whickham School when they refused permission to allow her daughter Jo Hale to wear trousers. Amongst others, the Equal Opportunities Commission decided to back the case. On 24 February 2000 the school avoided a legal battle by announcing that, in future, girls would be able to wear trousers.

In the 1980s in Puerto Rico, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén was not allowed to enter court in trousers and was told to wear a skirt. She sued the judge and won.

In 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled against the Charter Day School in North Carolina, which had required girls to wear skirts due to the idea that girls are "fragile vessels" deserving "gentle" treatment from boys. The court ruled the requirement was unconstitutional.

Since 2004, the International Skating Union has allowed women to wear trousers instead of skirts in competition if they wish.

Dancing

Many forms of dancing require women to wear skirts or dresses, either by convention or competition rules. In Scottish highland dancing, for example, women wear the Aboyne dress, which actually involves a skirt, for the national dances, and wear a kilt-based outfit for the Highland dances.

References

Brockmamn, Helen L.: The Theory of Fashion Design, Wiley, 1965.
Picken, Mary Brooks: The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition )
Tozer, Jane, and Sarah Levitt: Fabric of Society: A Century of People and Their Clothes 1770–1870, Laura Ashley Ltd., 1983;

External links

Apparel Search glossary of textile and apparel terms
An international dress size converter
New South Korean Law Might Make Miniskirts Illegal
France Revokes 214-Year-Old Law That Made It Illegal For Women To Wear Pants