Think back if you will, to summer 2022, the height of the micro miniskirt revival. Miu Miu’s SS ’22 show reinvented everything we thought we knew about the mini skirt, debuting a utility-stroke-preppy mini not much thicker than a belt, and suddenly legs were back on the agenda and creating a hot talking point. The response of the general public? Immediately covering up, and by spring/summer 2023, the look du jour was the sweeping maxi, the very antithesis of teeny weeny skirt. But, as they say, fashion is cyclical, and as quickly as a trend comes around it can leave again, but if one thing is for certain, it’s that there is no getting rid of the mini.
As references to Y2K pop culture continue to dominate both the runways and street style, the divisive mini hemline is back, but this time is the turn of the far more wearable mini dress. Thanks in part to Sabato De Sarno’s Gucci debut and Hailey Beiber and Kendall Jenner’s affinity for bodycon minis, the short dress is a talking point again, and despite what the “hemline index” might suggest, we’re more keen than ever to swap winter warmers for something a little shorter. And with so many iconic references for inspiration, who could blame us? Think Carrie Bradshaw’s figure hugging charcoal dress, Princess Diana’s “revenge dress”, Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack dress. The list goes on; but so many of the best remembered dresses come up short (that is, on the leg).