Miniskirt Report of 2006
Its length is about 10~20cm above the knees. Mini literally, is the abbreviation of the word Minimum. Miniskirts were first displayed by French designer Courrèges in a Paris Collection in 1964. However, they did not attract international attention until English designer Mary Quant brought them into vogue in 1965. To make them smaller and shorter, she had taken belts down below the hip-bone. As a result, they appeared more chic and sexy than previous skirts.
In the spring of 2006, miniskirts compliment the bright fresh scenery as many female students love to wear them around campus. Well, then who thought up the “mini”? The miniskirt, regarded as a Clothing Revolution, was born in England. Fashion designer Mary Quant drew thousands of sketches to form a new design for that summer season. However, failing to create a new summer look, on searching for alternatives, she attempted to analyze the male mentality. She considered what part of the body men focus on most when they look at the opposite sex. After considering the face, breast, hips and body silhouette in turn, she came to the conclusion that it was the area just below the hipline leading to the legs that fascinated men most. As a result the miniskirt was born. To her surprise, it caused controversy; how dare women expose their bodies in such a way, and became sensationally popular. Thanks to this little item, Mary Quant was decorated with an OBE (Order of British Excellence) by the Queen of England.
Let’s look at the story in Korea. The early days of the miniskirt caused great sensation when it was first introduced in 1967. This was when the then famous singer, Yoon Bok-hee performed on stage in miniskirt for the first time. Soon after, it became in fashion with young women. Due to wide spread antipathy by conservatives against women exposing their thighs, police regulated the length of skirts women could wear. Those wearing skirts more than 20cm above the knee were punished under the Minor Offenses Act. When hot pants came into fashion miniskirts went out. However the endurable “mini” has come back into vogue again since about 2000.
From a time when miniskirts were once not permitted, to a time when many women walk the streets in super miniskirts whose length is less than 25cm from the waistline we decided to ask students at CNU what they think about that the “mini.” The Tribune survey for 2006 Miniskirt Report during the third week of May had 50 male and 50 female students as the subjects.
1. What do you think of wearing miniskirts?
<Male> <Female>
2. How long do you think the proper length of skirt should be?
<Male> <Female>
3. How often do you wear miniskirt? 4. Why do you wear miniskirt?
As you can see from the result of survey, most students regardless of gender had positive opinions on wearing miniskirts. This implies their attitudes to wearing miniskirts are quite favorable. Some of them even tend not to care about the length.
Over 30% of students said that 5cm below the waistline is too short. This demonstrates a rather conservative position. Over 70% of male students consider that women who wear miniskirts look good. In contrast, 54% of female students didn’t care about it and 34% of them responded that they’d feel embarrassed to see someone put on a miniskirt. The statistics show that female students who wear miniskirts get the cold eye from those who don’t.
Questions about the frequency of wearing a miniskirt which was only asked to female students show that over half of the female students have never worn one. 70% of the students who wear a miniskirt remarked that they put it on for practical purposes and convenience like on hot days. There were other reasons for wearing one: a refreshing feeling or trying it just for fun.
“Basically, I don’t care if only they are careful not to show their underwear. To see underwear shown under the miniskirt is really embarrassing for me, though. Anyhow, that’s the way, I think, they express their confidence. There can be many women who don’t care about their appearance,” said Kim Go-un (Dept. of Japanese Language & Literature).
The survey research shows that more students than expected display an interest in miniskirts. As the research has shown, female students wear miniskirts for convenience, not to show off their legs. Tribune wants male students to look comfortably not shrewdly at them. If students have open mind about miniskirts, this summer could be cool.
Economic condition has something to do with length of miniskirt?
As the economic conditions get worse, so the length of the miniskirt gets shorter. People tend to think that way. According to the ‘Skirt-Length Theory,’ as the length of skirts get shorter, stock prices begin to rise.
Economists including Mabry (USA) say that it is quite the contrary. He conducted a study of correlation between New York securities markets and business conditions. It relates how women used expose their legs by wearing knee-length skirts during the boom days of the 1960s and they wore ankle length skirts during the Depression caused by the oil crisis in the 1970s. For example, in the 1920s called the jazz age as jazz flourished back then, women wore short skirts for the first time. Over the next decade, skirts began to get longer due to the Great Depression.
The truth was quite different from the assertion. Regardless of the assumption, women tend to have worn short skirts all throughout history even in the depression days. It is traditionally said that women try to dress as provocatively and skimpily as possible, lest they should look shabby. In other words, women tend to buy miniskirts when they can’t afford to buy more expensive clothes. Isn’t it funny?
