Mini's minor appeal
LONDON: Six months ago the style prognosis for the northern hemisphere summer was pretty dire. The world's fashion experts spoke with one voice and announced that this season, the hemlines would be short. Not just mid-thigh short, but excruciatingly, don't-bend-over short.
But now, after a couple of sunny weekends, the shopping landscape looks rather different. Those lofty diktats from the high-end designers, those predictions from the likes of Vogue.com, are being rudely ignored by the British shoppers anyway. Despite having almost no presence on the international catwalks, a new hem length is fast gaining dominance. From Primark to Laura Ashley, the high street has fallen for full-length and fabulous. It is the maxi-length dress (or even skirt), in all its floor-skimming, empire-line, thigh-friendly glory, that is set to be the cult buy of the summer.
Reports of maxi-dress demand outstripping supply are rife on the high street. At Miss Selfridge, a floral 70s-style maxi-dress sold out in a day. At Laura Ashley, a reissue of a maxi-dress the label first designed in the 60s sold out on its website in just 24 hours, and at ASOS.com, the virtual high-street store dedicated to selling clothes similar to those that celebrities have recently worn, "maxi-dress" is currently the site's second most popular search term, only beaten in frequency by the ever popular "Kate Moss".
Long or short, women make their own decisions about what to wear. Reuters |
How could this have happened? How has the maxi-dress crept under the fashion radar? The answer is that the designers got it wrong: They went too short. The super-short tunic dresses on the Chloe catwalk and the much lauded mini-dresses created by Christopher Kane did inspire high-street copies, but those copies only really appealed to the very young and very skinny. For those not blessed with model limbs, the length proved a turn-off. And no amount of advice from the fashion experts was going to make them think any differently.
Then along came maxi-dresses, and suddenly shoppers in search of a new, fashionable summer dress had an alternative and one with real advantages. Maxi-dresses shout summer, they're hugely flattering, and you don't need to shave or moisturise to wear one.
Of course it isn't the first time that the fashion industry has whipped itself up into a frenzy over a trend, only to be shafted by plain commonsense. Metal-clad leggings and turbans are two other non- starters this season, and so far no one seems keen to splash out on the "deluxe sportswear" trend.
"We're not slaves to the catwalk," says Melanie Rickey, fashion news and features editor at Grazia magazine. "Yes, we look at (the catwalk), but it's an outdated idea to believe we follow it completely - we make our own decisions about what to wear. Mini-skirts will still be around, but maxi-dresses are just more forgiving."
Alison Edmond, creative/fashion director at Harper's Bazaar UK, is a long time fan of the maxi-hem. "The maxi is easier to wear for many more women than skimpy short dresses," she says. "I've worn them since I was 16. I'm not blessed with skinny legs, but I always had a tiny waist and a flat stomach, so they were perfect for my shape." She isn't convinced, however, that the success of the maxi-hem will spell complete disaster for the super-short minis. "Women with fab legs will still buy short dresses and they certainly won't look unfashionable," she says, "but this gives consumers twice the choice, which is great."
Retailers aren't daft, of course. Edmond believes that the high-street designers' use of the maxi-length was a contingency plan designed to hoover up all the women who wouldn't buy minis and that that has played a part in the resurgence of the maxi-hem. "I would imagine that last season's bum-skimmers didn't sell and retailers decided it was wiser to give women more options," she says.
Some retailers claim to have predicted this move to floor-length months ago, but most admit that the recent sunny weather gave them their first glimpse of what consumers would really be buying this summer.
As with so many trends, celebrity patronage has undoubtedly played its part. At ASOS.com, Oshodi says that "we predicted the look because all the celebs have been wearing it since last summer, like Jessica Alba and Paris Hilton. The buying team came back from Los Angeles where the maxi-hem is a bit of a uniform at the moment." Edmond concurs: "It can be quite an LA look. Wear your vintage maxi-dress with your flat Jimmy Choos and you're away."
Yasmin Yusef, creative director at Miss Selfridge, is a proud wearer of the label's sell-out maxi-dress wearer. "For our buyers the idea came from watching how women were wearing vintage maxi-dresses at festivals last year."
Whatever kicked the maxi trend off, it's the forgiving length that will (probably) make it the look of our summer. After all, there aren't many styles of dress that are as universally flattering. Yusef believes the shape has the potential to be a truly democratic dress. "I've watched pairs of women in the store come in and try the dress on together and they are completely different shapes and yet they both look great in it."
The Guardian
(China Daily 05/11/2007 page18)
