Midi

A mid-length for skirts and dresses that, as a consequence, has struggled to make a mark. At the end of the 1960s, the midi appeared with its message of restoration: almost twice as long as the mini and only a little shorter than the maxi, it was often worn with knee-high boots. But attempts to establish this fashion met with little success. Only a decade later, with the recession that occurred in the 1970s — in the West skirt lengths are an economic barometer — did skirts lengthen again and the midi resurfaced, although without a precise role. Now it is often simply referred to by the French word, longuette, and every now and then it plays a part in designers’ collections.