Rah-rah skirt

The rah-rah skirt is a short flounced skirt that originated in cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 and became popular among teenage girls in the early 1980s. As such it marked, as the Oxford Dictionary noted, the first successful attempt to revive the miniskirt

Miniskirt

A miniskirt, sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees – generally no longer than below the buttocks; and a minidress is a dress with a similar meaning...

 that had been introduced in the mid 1960s. Later in the 1980s it was often worn with leather, denim or lace.

In the 1990s the mini came back into fashion in its own right, largely discarding the frills of the rah-rah. However, the latter did return again in Britain in 2008: "Eighties look is all the ra-rave".

Examples of the rah-rah were to be seen on the covers of gramophone records or compact discs such as 99 Red Balloons by Nena

Nena

Gabriele Susanne Kerner , better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she...

 (1983) and Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade

Strawberry Switchblade

Strawberry Switchblade was a female pop rock band formed in Scotland in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, best known for their song "Since Yesterday" in 1985.-Before being signed:...

(1984).

Etymology

Rah-rah is a reduplication of an abbreviation for "hurrah", which is used as a synonym for "cheering".