SKIRTIMUS MAXIMUS

YESHIVA CHIC, courtesy man repeller

Trends in fashion usually fall under one of two categories, trends that work their way from the runways and gradually find their way into a shopping center near you three or four seasons later (think of Balmain’s 2008 eighties-glam shoulder pads, or more recently, Pheobe Philo’s minimalism at Celine-both of which have weaseled onto the racks of Ann Taylor and Macy’s), or trends that are inspired “bottom-up” by street style and other organic movements and end up on the runways (for example, Marc Jacob’s “grunge” collection for Perry Ellis back in the nineties).

            The recent trend of instep-grazing skirts, however, falls under both these categories, seemingly appearing both in stores, on street-style blogs and on runways simultaneously around the time of the fall presentations last year, in February 2009. While “maxi” dresses have been popular SoCal summertime wear for years, but longer skirts have long been delegated to the closets of neo-hippies and Orthodox Jewish women. Subcultures, yes, but usually not associated with the fashion tribe.

Long skirts for daytime haven’t been seen for quite a while; the fashion world’s preoccupation with the eighties for the last five years has spawned variation after variation of short and tight, but very little opportunities to experiment with the long and loose. So when hip girls started showing up on blogs like The Sartorialist and Jak and Jil wearing hems that scraped the floor, the effect was refreshing and new.  One of the great clichés of fashion is that it is a swinging pendulum-it revels in extremes and very rarely cares about practical moderation. It was only a matter of time, then, before pretty young things threw their minis to the back of their closets and started draping tablecloths, rather than dish towels, around their hips.

            “For a while, hems were jumping up really high”, explains Post-Dispatch Style Editor Deborah Bass. “Short, short short! is looking a little more dated and this length that used to be seen as frumpy is now looking fresh and new.”

            The most frequently seen breed of “maxi” skirt, as they are sometimes called, are flowy, full, and pleated rather than tight around the legs and hips. The preferred colors are currently black, tan, and other neutrals. However, editors are currently all a-buzz over Raf Simons for Jill Sander’s punchy, impossibly vivid skirts, similar in shape to the ones seen on the blogs but rendered in shocking magentas, indigos, and tangerines. The designer reportedly wanted the colors so bright that he had to use man-made textiles like polyester-usually unheard of in high fashion. Natural fabrics like silk or cotton simply couldn’t hold the amount of dye.

            At Jil Sander, the long skirts were paired with a simple white tee shirt-a popular way of wearing the trend. Dries Van Noten, in his Fall/Winter 2010 presentation, styled a long, abstract-print grape-colored skirt with a sloppy, oversized surplus-style tee shirt falling off a shoulder. Paired with a messy ponytail and sunglasses, it is in line with the way most girls are wearing the trend: with casual day pieces and a relaxed, slightly punky attitude.

With the new, long length, savvy dressers know that if paired with anything to precious or fancy, the effect becomes less cool and more “Where’s the gala?” In addition to simple tees, popular pairing include tweed blazers, as seen on the Sartorialist, or another trendy piece-a cropped, chunky sweater (As Tommy Ton shot for Style.com).  Coupled with tough-girl accessories, like a black beanie, a spiked bracelet, or a Fiorentini + Baker motorcycle boot, these girls make it clear they aren’t on their way to yeshiva or a weekly drum circle.

Yes I KNOW she's wearing wayfarers and at a douchy hipster festival. I'm a sucker for any girl with bangs. (Courtesy Topshop's Blog)

            The “lipstick index” concept gets thrown around a lot during a recession. The old maxim that when the economy goes down lipstick sales go up. Similar to the lipstick index is the “skirt length” index. When Wall Street plummets, hemlines do as well (think of the mini-happy mid-sixties). While there are exceptions to every rule (if this were true, how could one explain the success of Peter Dundas at Pucci or the Hervé Leger “bandage” dress?), the logic is (somewhat) sound.

            First, editors love to reference a “need for sobriety” during tough times. To some, traipsing around a spangled mini while people’s homes are being seized and families are being torn apart by a war oversees seems reckless and tacky. Secondly, the idea of “investment dressing”, or spending one’s money on classic items, always takes hold during a recession. Meaning, spend money, but only on “responsible” items, like a well-made coat (or a long skirt) and not six-inch platform sandals or a dress one can’t sit down in.

            However, it would seem counter-intuitive for dresses to get longer during a recession. After all, fabric costs money, and the more fabric a skirt uses, the more money it would cost to buy such a garment.

            Glenda Bailey, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, explains that that is the point.  Referencing the longer lengths during Fall 2011 Fashion week last month, she told New York Magazine, “I think that’s a sign that the designers are still feeling the recession is around us, and presumably this is a hope that more people will go buying as they want to change the length of their outfits and update their wardrobes.” People already own short and mid-length skirts. In a harsh economic climate, they’re not going to head into a store and buy something they already own. By introducing a new, longer silhouette, brands fulfill the constant need for new, new new! You heard it here: buy a long skirt, save the economy.

            The maxi needs to appeal to consumers as well as designers. The new, long, slightly asexual length fulfills an intellectual niche in fashion that hasn’t been seen for a while. Amanda Dwyer, of Saint Louis University, says  “We're so unused to seeing this kind of silhouette- delicate and flowy, vaguely Victorian- that seeing a maxi skirt in the wild can be genuinely thought-provoking…It's an expression of sexiness that we're not used to seeing, and that requires…a measure of sophistication to appreciate.”

            In other words, long skirts can be seen as a sort of anti-fashion, feminist statement: a way of keeping our bodies to ourselves. One of the most popular new blogs is The Man Repeller. The blog follows Leandra Medine, who describes a man-repeller as one who dresses in “an offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but are not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls, shoulder pads, full-length jumpsuits, jewelry that resembles violent weaponry, and clogs.” A man repeller is, then, a girl who dresses for her own love of fashion and not to attract the opposite sex. Long skirts reflect this sartorial philosophy.

            “Maxi skirts are women dressing for women because the typical American dude has not been conditioned to see them as sexy”, says Dwyer. “When you wear one you are saying to that typical dude, ‘I do not want to interact with you at this moment in a way that has you focusing on the shape of my thighs. Let us interact in a different way”.

            A garment that can act as feminist statement, save the economy, help one find a meaningful male relationship, and let one live out their Stevie Nicks fantasies?  GET ON THAT SHIT, MA, and don’t forget your spiked bracelet, and b) tambourine. 

Or your macaw...whatever! (Courtesy Iowa Grasslands)