FASHION Magazine

If given the choice, I’d have been around in the late ’50s, when curvaceous women wore form-fitting dresses that grazed the knee. Last spring, when scads of dresses floated down the runways, I was thrilled. But—such is fashion—the trend has now evolved: Skirts and dresses are smaller, shorter and so liberating that young celebrities leave the house free of even their undergarments. Who is the lady sporting this barely there look, minus the safety net of opaque tights or leggings? It’s not the first time we’ve asked the question. In 1980, former editor-in-chief John MacKay wrote, “Another mini is appearing. One wonders just what kind of reception it will get this time, and what that reception might say about the success or failure of the ’70s as a women’s decade.” Judging from our pages, the ’80s woman lived large—at the top, that is, with monstrous shoulder pads and frilly sleeves. By the late ’90s, eternally irritating television lawyer Ally McBeal was prancing about in a tiny suit that was all jacket and little else. As for today’s gal? She’s probably not rocking the mini for political reasons nor sporting it to the boardroom. Nope, she probably wears it because it’s the bold, youthful look of the moment. But thank goodness it’s not the only one.

SUMMER 1981

A "striped two-toned piece turn on a summer suit" from Gerald Franklin, shot on location at Englishman River Falls in British Columbia

By Jacquelyn Francis