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 ). 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, , or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight Textile, 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 sometimes England.
The hemline of skirts can vary from Microskirt to floor-length and can vary according to Culture 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 Skirtini.
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 in Mesopotamia wore kaunakes (, ultimately from ), Unknown a type of fur skirt tied to a belt. The term originally referred to a sheep's wool, 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.Boucher, Francois (1987): 20.000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal Adornment. New York: Harry N. Abrams Kaunakes cloth also served as a symbol in religious iconography, such as in the fleecy cloak of John the Baptist.The Bible: Genesis 12:4-5Roberts, J.M. (1998): The Illustrated History of the World. Time-Life Books. Volume 1. p. 84
Ancient Egyptian garments were mainly made of linen. For the upper classes, they were beautifully woven and intricately pleated.Barber, Elisabeth J.W. (1991): Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p.12 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.Rief Anawalt, Patricia (2007): The Worldwide History of Dress. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 25 Beneath these, a shente, or triangular loincloth whose ends were fastened with cord ties, were worn.Rief Anawalt, Patricia (2007): The Worldwide History of Dress. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 24
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.Koch-Mertens, Wiebke (2000): Der Mensch und seine Kleider: Die Kulturgeschichte der Mode bis 1900. Artemis & Winkler: Düsseldorf Zürich. pp. 49-51
One of the earliest known cultures to have females wear clothing resembling were the Duan Qun Miao people (短裙苗), 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 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.
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.
+ |
An ankle-length daytime skirt, popular with women in the late 1960s as a reaction against miniskirts. |
A skirt with hem halfway between ankle and knee, below the widest part of the calf. Introduced by designers in 1967 as a reaction to very short mini skirts. |
Sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, separated as mini skirt, or shortened to simply mini, a miniskirt is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks. (2025). 9782953024012, Editions Falbalas. ISBN 9782953024012 |
A shorter version of the miniskirt, called the microskirt or micro-mini, which emerged toward the end of the 1960s. (2025). 9780857851437, Berg. ISBN 9780857851437 |
A skirt with an asymmetrical headline. |
+ |
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. Women's Wear Daily: Glossary |
A bell-shaped skirt, flared noticeably from the waist but then, unlike a church bell, cylindrical for much of its length. |
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. |
A form of divided skirt, split skirt, or pantskirt constructed like a pair of shorts, but hanging like a skirt. |
A skirt with fullness gathered into the waistband. |
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.Tortora, Phyllis G. et al. (2014): Dictionary of Fashion. New York: Fairchild Books. pp. 370-374 |
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. |
A skirt with regular ('plaits') or folds, which can be stitched flat to hip-level or free-hanging. |
A skirt that has one or more slits (or splits). |
A slim-fitting skirt with a straight, narrow cut. Generally the hem falls to, or is just below, the knee and is tailored for a close fit. It is named for its shape: long and slim like a pencil. |
Simple, basic skirt over which an overskirt, or drapery, hangs. |
A skirt that wraps around the waist with an overlap of material. |
+ | ||
Also referred to as a Juliet skirt or a romance skirt, it is a full skirt that is worn by ballet dancers and is composed of multiple layers of fabric. Ballet dancers wear the longer version of the skirt, while for fashion purposes the skirt is worn shorter, like a mini skirt for better dancing, the cocktail version. | ||
A light-weight ankle-length skirt with many crumpled pleats formed by compressing and twisting the garment while wet, such as around a broomstick. | ||
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. | ||
A plain utilitarian skirt with belt loops and numerous large pockets, based on the military style of cargo pants and popularised in the 1990s. | ||
A skirt in the Bavarian-Austrian dirndl style, made of a straight length of fabric gathered at the waist. The style derives from Tyrolean peasant costume. | ||
A skirt made of denim, often designed like 5-pocket jeans, but found in a large variety of styles. | ||
A skirt with godets, triangular pieces of fabric inserted upward from the hem to create more fullness. Popular in the 1930s. | ||
A skirt with a narrow enough hem to significantly impede the wearer's stride. It was called a "hobble skirt" because it seemed to hobble any woman as she walked. Hobble skirts were a short-lived fashion trend that peaked between 1908 and 1914. | ||
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. | ||
A skirt made of leather. | ||
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. | ||
A skirt with a mandala motif. | ||
A mini-length version of the crinoline, designed by Vivienne Westwood in the mid 1980s. | ||
A wide swing felt skirt of a solid color displaying a design appliquéd or transferred to the fabric,Stephen Feinstein: The 1950s. 2006 created by Juli Lynne Charlot in 1947. The design was often a coiffed poodle. Later substitutes for the poodle patch included , , and hot rod cars.Charles Panati: Panati’s Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias 1991 | ||
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". (2025). 9780300103991, Yale University Press / Museum of London. ISBN 9780300103991 | ||
A short, tiered, and often colourful skirt fashionable in the early-mid-1980s. | ||
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. | ||
A skirt with a pair of integral shorts hidden underneath. | ||
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. | ||
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 clothing, these kind of skirts are typically tight-fitting and made of fetishistic materials such as leather, PVC or latex. | ||
A one or two piece outfit based on Native American clothing. Fashionable in the 1940s and 1950s. | ||
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. | ||
A skirt made from a tee-shirt. The T-skirt is generally modified to result in a pencil skirt, with invisible zippers, full length two-way separating side zippers, as well as artful fabric overlays and yokes. | ||
A skirt made of several horizontal layers, each wider than the one above, and divided by stitching. Layers may look identical in solid-colored garments, or may differ when made of printed fabrics. | ||
Variant of a tiered skirt, a flared skirt with one or more flounces or tiers (1970s and on). | ||
A straight skirt with the part above the hips tailored like men's trousers, with belt loops, pockets, and fly front. | ||
Tulip skirt | A skirt wrapped over at its front and that bears angled ends which make it form a tulip shape. |
Aside from the wearing of , 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.
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.
|
|