Skirt's history

It is the most conventional female garment there is, but it only takes a few centimeters for it to become quite shocking. The skirt: too short or too long, too sexy or too puritanical. If there are more political garments than others, the skirt has a good pedigree as a debate creator. From rejection to appropriation: this garment is always the occasion for scandals and public questioning.

Through times...

The second half of the 20th century was, for Western women, a militant era: rejection of the skirt, appropriation of trousers and jeans, emancipation.

The skirt for men, on the other hand, is still caught today in a long, solitary journey, in the storm where occasionally a few clearings emerge. It had been glorified by Jean Paul Gaultier in the 1980s, but it remained niche at that time, reserved for a queer, proud, and sharp fashion community. Then it was forgotten.

It is poking its nose back into the streets, at least in the Western world, since it made a comeback on the catwalks such as at Thom Browne's in spring-summer 2018, at Louis Vuitton by Virgil Abloh in fall-winter 2019, and at Dior Homme by Kim Jones in pre-fall 2023. It is now a symbol of youth that sees gender boundaries as archaic and dusty. But it is far from being democratized.

Today, oddly enough, the skirt remains mandatory in several domains. Tennis is a sport particularly faithful to etiquette. Female players wear skirts only in tournaments, while they train in shorts and this dress code requirement is not stipulated in the tennis tournament regulations. But it is tradition, and several sponsors remain attached to this separation of genders in attire. When tennis champion Serena Williams arrives in a black bodysuit to play at Roland-Garros in 2018, the president of the French Tennis Federation jumps from his seat and wants to ban the outfit, deemed too revealing and immodest for a Grand Slam. A shaky, even hypocritical argument, considering that female players are forced to wear mini-skirts that reveal the beginning of their buttocks with every ball exchange. The champion loses the showdown and is forced to appear before the cameras in a regulation mini-skirt at the next match.

For some professions such as receptionists or flight attendants, skirts are legally imposed by the employer. This imposition is even legal: an employer can enforce a dress code in French law, even if the said garment is chosen only for gender stereotype reasons.