Attention ladies! The official uniform for Hot Girl Summer 2022 is here. The Mini Skirt is back with a vengeance. And this time, the ‘thigh is the limit’ (or is it?). Seen on almost every runway at Fashion Week and everyone’s FYP, this eenie-meenie micro-mini Y2K trend is back with a bang like Britney Spears from the 2000s, looking all ‘Sexsi’ (if you’re a ‘00s baby, you know what this means) and we are here for it.
But, in today’s day and age, when the hemlines rise and fall according to the desires of designers, it’s crucial that we take a look at the controversial origins of this iconic piece of clothing. What most people don’t know is that the mini skirt was much more of a political statement than a style statement back in the day. Seen as a ‘defiant’ piece of clothing in the ’60s and ’70s, it appealed to the playful and frisky noughties. The British designer Mary Quant, who has been credited for the launch of the minis said, “A miniskirt was a way of rebelling.” According to her, to make the perfect ‘mini’ it required the bottom edge of the skirt to hit roughly halfway up the thigh and fall no more than four inches below the butt.
In the 1990s, Julia Roberts gave a whole new meaning to minis when she paired super short skirts with thigh-high boots in the cult classic, Pretty Woman. And then came the 2000s. Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera, the Spice Girls, and Beyoncé became the flagbearers of this super sexy garment. We can all agree that it was an iconic time to be alive.
Fast forward to 2021 and Boom! Mini skirts become a coping mechanism for pandemic restrictions. Will we cover our faces? Absolutely. Will we cover our legs? Absolutely not. With the revival of the Y2K fever and growing obsession over pop culture icons from the 2000s, mini skirts have started making headlines again. Every designer has made our core belief only stronger that Spring/Summer belong to miniskirts ONLY. Take cue from Miu Miu, Versace, Balmain, Chanel, Prada, Missoni and many more, who are putting their own spin on this playful and fun trend.
But over all these years, something must’ve changed right? Yes. It totally has. The minis in the limelight today have a more structured silhouette, are more figure-hugging than flared, come in a tonne of colours from hot pink and lime green to coral blue and bright orange—there’s something for everyone. You can choose to sport a low-rise on like Britney Spears or rock it like Kim Kardashian with the high-rise.
The appeal will always be the same which is a nuanced combination of sultry and provocative yet feminine and angelic. For the love of the noughties, the minis are back for good. This time, with way more room to be styled according to different body types and more flexible to experimented with. You can style it however you want to. That’s the best part about these iconic fashion trends from the ’00s. You can do just about anything as long as you keep the proportions right (read as ‘as short as possible’).
Pair one with a cool, oversized sweatshirt and blazer, Bratz-inspired heels and lots of layered necklaces and chunky rings. Or… we can do one better! Why not pay homage to the era that we are all bewitched with at the moment and go full-on Y2K? Pair the low-rise minis with some strappy, sequinned frisky halter neck tops, a spikey bun, big belts and face-covering sunglasses. Voilà! You now look like a popstar.
So basically, if it wasn’t evident enough throughout the article, we are loving the mini skirt moment here (maybe drooling too) and we can’t wait to see how the thigh-baring garment gets its due in 2022. After all, what goes around comes around and we hope that the mini skirt stays in this loop, forever.
