Ex-model Elle McPherson, actress Jennifer Aniston and singer Kylie Minogue are all in their 40s and challenging the “mutton dressed as lamb” notion by wearing mini-skirts to flaunt their fabulously toned legs.
This backs up a survey by Debenhams department store in the UK that British women are not afraid to wear mini-skirts up until the age of 40 and if this trend continues, women in their mid-40s may consider a mini-skirt as an essential in their wardrobe in years to come.
Just 20 years ago, few women would dare to wear a mini-skirt after the age of 33, the store said.
“It shows that women now have an increasing confidence in their bodies and are happy to dress accordingly,” it added in a statement.
“If this trend continues, there’s no doubt that, within the next decade, women in their mid 40s and early 50s will rightly regard a mini-skirt as an essential part of their everyday wardrobe.”
The store noted that experts believe that the popularity of an intensive gym culture, providing women with well toned bodies for longer may be the reason for the shorter hemlines. So if you’re going to wear a mini-skirt, make sure you’ve got the legs to do them justice. Women need to dress for their shape and this fashion rule holds for the fashion illiterate whether you’re 16 or 60.
Mary Quant has been credited with experimenting with shorter lengths in the 1950s but it wasn’t until international model Jean Shrimpton wore a mini-skirt and raised hemlines and the ire of the Australian press at the Melbourne Cup in 1965, that the popularity of the mini-skirt was boosted. Since then, every era and season brings a different skirt hem length for women to adhere to whether it is the mini-skirt, pencil skirt or peasant skirt.
Women are always walking a fine hemline with their skirt lengths trying to conform to the fashions of the day and dress age appropriately. But if you feel comfortable in your own skin, you enjoy wearing mini-skirts, it makes you feel good and you’ve got the body to show it off, then really where is the harm?
If the 40s are the new 30s, and the 30s are the new 20s, then any belle de jour wearing a mini-skirt in their 40s shouldn’t warranted any odd glances. They are more likely to get admiring looks and jealous glances.
If this is indeed mutton dressed as lamb, then make sure you’re the hottest dish on the menu.