Midi skirt is hailed as unexpected fashion hit of summer
Loved by Victoria Beckham and hipsters at Coachella, the length once seen as dowdy is perfect in unpredictable English weather
As the British summer falls flat on its face with yet another false start, a new fashion trend is on the rise. The midi-length skirt – with a hemline which falls below the knee and is most often written off as dowdy – is on course to be the sleeper fashion hit of the summer.
Thanks to an unlikely trio of factors including the blustery weather throughout the spring, Victoria Beckham's much-photographed personal wardrobe and a glut of hipster pop stars pictured at the Coachella festival, in California the midiskirt is being hailed as the skirt of the season.
The shape even scored a red carpet success earlier in the week. Fashion commentators praised the actor Carey Mulligan's appearance at the Met Ball in New York wearing a midi-length dress by Balenciaga at fashion's most high-profile event.
"The midi is grownup but slightly subversive," says Katherine Ormerod, senior fashion news and features editor at the magazine Grazia, "and that is a winning combination."
"It's a length that has been ignored for some time but women are rediscovering it," says Jane Shepherdson, chief executive of high street fashion retailer Whistles.
Retailers across the price spectrum are seeing a steady increase in sales. At the high-end e-tailer net-a-porter.com, sales of the midi length are 10% faster than other skirt shapes.
Meanwhile, insiders at the online fashion retailer Asos report that sales of the midi, which is on the front page of the site as a "right now piece", are up at least 200% on last year.
Part of the midi's success lies in its appeal across the fashion generations. Women in their 20s who are tuned into the celebrity aesthetic of Solange Knowles and Rita Ora are wearing the hemline, as are fortysomething women looking for a more grown-up look for the coming summer.
"It's an elegant length," says Sarah Curren of mywardrobe.com "I think you would be surprised as to who is buying them. It's as much twentysomething women as fortysomething women. The younger women see it on Victoria Beckham as her length of choice and for slightly older women it's a really flattering shape and length."
Fashion commentators agree that the midi trend will outlive the summer. "Fashion at the moment is completely polarised between a hip, street aesthetic, and a minimal ultra-luxe stealth look – both of which have a place for the midiskirt," says Ormerod.
Shepherdson, in common with many retailers, has a vested interest in the look lasting. In the autumn Whistles will stock a midi-length leather skirt which has already attracted a waiting list of fashion insiders. (guardian.co.uk)
Loved by Victoria Beckham and hipsters at Coachella, the length once seen as dowdy is perfect in unpredictable English weather
As the British summer falls flat on its face with yet another false start, a new fashion trend is on the rise. The midi-length skirt – with a hemline which falls below the knee and is most often written off as dowdy – is on course to be the sleeper fashion hit of the summer.
Thanks to an unlikely trio of factors including the blustery weather throughout the spring, Victoria Beckham's much-photographed personal wardrobe and a glut of hipster pop stars pictured at the Coachella festival, in California the midiskirt is being hailed as the skirt of the season.
The shape even scored a red carpet success earlier in the week. Fashion commentators praised the actor Carey Mulligan's appearance at the Met Ball in New York wearing a midi-length dress by Balenciaga at fashion's most high-profile event.
"The midi is grownup but slightly subversive," says Katherine Ormerod, senior fashion news and features editor at the magazine Grazia, "and that is a winning combination."
"It's a length that has been ignored for some time but women are rediscovering it," says Jane Shepherdson, chief executive of high street fashion retailer Whistles.
Retailers across the price spectrum are seeing a steady increase in sales. At the high-end e-tailer net-a-porter.com, sales of the midi length are 10% faster than other skirt shapes.
Meanwhile, insiders at the online fashion retailer Asos report that sales of the midi, which is on the front page of the site as a "right now piece", are up at least 200% on last year.
Part of the midi's success lies in its appeal across the fashion generations. Women in their 20s who are tuned into the celebrity aesthetic of Solange Knowles and Rita Ora are wearing the hemline, as are fortysomething women looking for a more grown-up look for the coming summer.
"It's an elegant length," says Sarah Curren of mywardrobe.com "I think you would be surprised as to who is buying them. It's as much twentysomething women as fortysomething women. The younger women see it on Victoria Beckham as her length of choice and for slightly older women it's a really flattering shape and length."
Fashion commentators agree that the midi trend will outlive the summer. "Fashion at the moment is completely polarised between a hip, street aesthetic, and a minimal ultra-luxe stealth look – both of which have a place for the midiskirt," says Ormerod.
Shepherdson, in common with many retailers, has a vested interest in the look lasting. In the autumn Whistles will stock a midi-length leather skirt which has already attracted a waiting list of fashion insiders. (guardian.co.uk)
