Skirt and dress
A skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped
garment which hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the
legs. Unlike
trousers, a skirt is "unbifurcated" — that is, not divided into separate legs. A dress is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.
In
Western culture, skirts and dresses are usually considered
women's clothing. However, there are exceptions. The
kilt is considered a traditional
men's garment in
Scotland, and is growing in fashion in other parts of the world.
Encyclopedia
A
skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped
garment which hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the
legs. Unlike
trousers, a skirt is "unbifurcated" — that is, not divided into separate legs. A
dress is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.
In
Western culture, skirts and dresses are usually considered
women's clothing. However, there are exceptions. The
kilt is considered a traditional
men's garment in
Scotland, and is growing in fashion in other parts of the world. Additionally, garments which are identified as skirts are being proposed as men's clothing by some of the trendier fashion houses such as
Jean-Paul Gaultier.
At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of material , but most skirts are fitted to the body at the waist and fuller below, with the fullness introduced by means of darts, gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts and dresses are usually made of light to mid-weight fabrics, such as
denim, jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts and dresses of thin or clingy fabrics are worn with slips to make the material of the skirt drape better and for modesty.
The hemline of skirts and dresses can be as high as the upper
thigh or as low as the ground, depending on the whims of
fashion and the
modesty or personal taste of the wearer.
Some medieval upper-class women wore skirts over 3 metres in diameter at the bottom. At the other extreme, the
miniskirts of the 1960s were minimal garments that may barely cover the underwear when seated.
Dresses and skirts in the 19th century
During the
nineteenth century, the cut of women's dresses in western culture varied more widely than in any other century. Waistlines started just below the bust 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. Dresses were generally one-piece garments from 1800 through the 1840s; after that it became common for a dress to be made as a separate skirt and bodice, and many dresses had a "day" bodice with a high neckline and long sleeves, and an "evening" bodice with a low neckline and very short sleeves.
Throughout this period, the length of fashionable dresses varied only slightly, between ankle-length and floor-sweeping.
- See also History of Western fashion: 1795-1820, 1820s, 1830s-40s, 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s
- Victorian fashion, Artistic Dress movement, Victorian dress reform.
Dresses and skirts in the 20th and 21st centuries
Beginning around 1915, hemlines for daytime dresses left the floor for good. For the next fifty years, fashionable skirts became short , then long , then shorter , then long , then shortest of all during the
1960s, when skirts became as short as possible while avoiding exposure of
underwear, which is considered taboo.
Since the
1970s and the rise of
pants as an option for all but the most formal of occasions, no one skirt length has dominated fashion for long, with short and ankle-length styles often appearing side-by-side in fashion magazines and catalogs.
Styles of dresses and skirts of the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries include:
Dresses
Basic shapes:
- Shirtwaist, a dress with a bodice like a tailored shirt
...
and an attached straight or full skirt
- Sheath, a fitted, often sleeveless dress, sometimes without a waistseam
- Shift, a straight dress with no waist shaping or seam
- Sundress, a sleeveless dress of any shape, with a low neckline in a lightweight fabric, for summer wear
- Tent, a dress flared from above the bust, sometimes with a yoke
Fads and fashions:
- Chanel's Little Black Dress
- Tea gown, a frothy, feminine semiformal dress
- Dinner dress, a semiformal dress worn when fashionable people "dressed for dinner"
- Evening gown or formal, a long dress for formal occasions
- Ball gown, a long dress with a full, sweeping, or trained skirt for dancing
- Kitty Foyle, a dark-colored dress with contrasting collar and cuffs
- Cocktail dress, a semiformal party dress of the current street length
- Granny gown, an ankle-length, often ruffled, day dress of printed calico, cut like a Victorian nightgown, popularized by designer Laura Ashley
Skirts
Basic shapes:
- Straight skirt, a tailored skirt hanging straight from the hips and fitted from the waist to the hips by means of darts or a yoke; may have a kick-pleat for ease of walking
- Full skirt, a skirt with fullness gathered into the waistband
- A-line skirt, a skirt with a slight flare, roughly in the shape of a capital letter A
- Pleated skirt, a skirt with fullness reduced to fit the waist by means of regular pleats or folds, which can be stitched flat to hip-level or free-hanging
- 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
- A Divided Skirt looks like a skirt, but is divided into two legs, much like a loose-fitting pair of trousers or long shorts
Fads and fashions:
- Hobble skirt, a fashion of the early 20th century, with fullness at the hips narrowing to the ankles
- Poodle skirt, a circle or near-circle skirt with an appliqued poodle or other decoration
- Dirndl, a skirt made of a straight length of fabric gathered at the waist
- Prairie skirt, a flared skirt with one or more flounces or tiers
- 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 somewhat closely the general appearance of a kilt, including the usage of a plaid pattern more or less closely resembling those of recognized tartan patterns of Scotland.
- Miniskirt, a thigh-length skirt, and micromini, an extremely short version
- Maxiskirt, a midcalf-length skirt
- Broomstick skirt, a skirt with many crumpled pleats formed by compressing and twisting the garment while wet
- Sarong, a square of fabric wrapped around the body and tied on one hip to make a skirt; worn as a skirt or as a cover-up over a bathing suit in tropical climates.
- Trouser skirt, a straight skirt with the part above the hips tailored like men's trousers, with belt loops, pockets, and fly front
- Jean skirt, A trouser skirt made of denim designed like 5-pocket jeans
How skirts and dresses are worn today
In Europe and America skirts and dresses can be worn by males and females of all ages as an alternative to
pants. A skirt may be worn as part of a suit. Skirts or dresses are the garments of choice for many women in formal situations, such as
weddings and geopolitical summits. In cold climates, girls and women may wear trousers, hosiery, or
long underwear for warmth and/or modesty, with a skirt or dress on top to mark their femininity or other reasons . In traditional societies, such as in many countries in
Africa, the
Middle East and
Central and
South America, it is considered inappropriate for girls and women to wear trousers rather than a skirt or dress.
A disadvantage of skirts and dresses that contributes to many girls and women preferring trousers and
shorts is that they may be either too long and therefore limit freedom of movement such as when climbing ladders, or too short, in which case one, because of
modesty will need to take the trouble when sitting down, such as crossing legs, to avoid exposure of the
underwear.
Dresses however can be cooler and less confining than many trouser styles, and they are still very popular for special occasions such as
proms or
weddings.
Men in skirts, etc.
Aside from
kilts, which have traditionally been worn by men throughout the British Isles and to a lesser extent by Scottish, Irish, and Welsh descendants in the
United States and elsewhere, skirts, dresses, and similar garments are still considered primarily women's clothing in the
Western world and the wearing of them by men in these areas is generally considered
cross-dressing. Notable exceptions include skirts specifically made for men, usually worn during outdoor activities or while running. In many other countries and regions the wearing of these garments by men is normal or accepted as traditional costume.
Male skirts include:
- The sarong, a wrap skirt worn by both men and women throughout Southeast Asia and many islands in the Pacific ocean. Such skirts are called lungi
...
in South Asia,
tupenu in
Tonga, kain in Malaysia ,
longyi in
Burma, and
pareu in
Tahiti.
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
and the Balkans. By the mid-20th Century, it was relegated to period/costume/traditional wear.
Male dresses or robes include:
- A long-sleeved, ankle-length loose robe worn in the Middle East and Africa -- often called a kaftan or djellaba. In Arabia it is called a thobe.
- Christian clergy and choristers still wear ceremonial vestments derived from the robes and tunics of the late Roman empire. The cassock is one such garment.
- In China, Japan, and Korea, the traditional dress for both men and women is a long robe. In Japan, this garment is called a kimono; light-weight cotton kimonos are called yukatas and are commonly worn as loungewear.
Underwear
Skirts and dresses are, like other outer clothing, usually worn with
underwear. The
kilt, on the other hand, is often worn without underwear. Indeed the uniforms of several Scottish military regiments mandate wearing no underwear with the kilt except at specified occasions.
See also
References
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Brockmamn, Helen L.: The Theory of Fashion Design, Wiley, 1965.
- Picken, Mary Brooks: The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957.
- Tozer, Jane, and Sarah Levitt: Fabric of Society: A Century of People and Their Clothes 1770-1870, Laura Ashley Ltd., 1983; ISBN 0-9508913-0-4
External links
