A miniskirt sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt , separated as mini skirt , or sometimes shortened to simply mini is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than 10 cm 4 in below the buttocks; [ 1 ] and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt dress.
A micro-miniskirt or microskirt is a miniskirt with its hemline at the upper thigh, at or just below crotch or underwear level. Short skirts have existed for a long time before they made it into mainstream fashion, though they were generally not called "mini" until they became a fashion trend in the s. Instances of clothing resembling miniskirts have been identified by archaeologists and historians as far back as c. Extremely short skirts became a staple of 20th-century science fiction , particularly in s pulp artwork, such as that by Earle K.
Bergey , who depicted futuristic women in a "stereotyped combination" of metallic miniskirt, bra and boots. Hemlines were just above the knee in , [ citation needed ] and gradually climbed upward over the next few years.
By , some designs had the hem at the upper thigh. Stockings with suspenders garters were not considered practical with miniskirts and were replaced with coloured tights. The popular acceptance of miniskirts peaked in the " Swinging London " of the s, and has continued to be commonplace, particularly among younger women and teenage girls. Before that time, short skirts were only seen in sport and dance clothing, such as skirts worn by female tennis players, figure skaters, cheerleaders, and dancers.
In the Warring States period of China , men could wear short skirts similar to a kilt. Russian writer Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky has noted numerous times in his ethnographic works about the 19th century Mordvin Erzya and Moksha people that their culture valued the beauty of female legs, and Mordvin women could wear short ponyovas [ ru ] a kind of traditional skirt.
