What The Fashion: A Retrospective on the Denim Skirt

What The Fashion: A new series analyzing what is going on in fashion, and how we got here.

The year was 2005. The icon was Paris Hilton. The key piece was a denim skirt. As Man Repeller astutely realized, fashion is getting dangerously close to the 2000s. Remember them? Turns out, it was sartorial nightmare for everyone—regardless of whether you frequented Limited Too or not. The most omnipresent 2000s revival is the jean skirt.

I’m not exactly sure when I started wearing a jean skirt again, or how five of them ended up in my 21-year-old closet. But for every Kylie Jenner in a ripped jean skirt and lace-up body suit captured on Instagram today, there is a mid-2000s paparazzi photo of Paris Hilton in a pleated denim mini. So throw on an ironic tee and skinny sequined scarf and let’s take a walk (in Uggs) down memory lane.  

The pleated skirt: Immortalized by Paris Hilton in her American Gothic-inspired Simple Life ads, the pleated skirt had all the trappings of a preppy staple, but the length of what Massie Block would call “a micro-mini.”

The embellished skirt: A favorite of tween stars (as seen on Jamie Lynn Spears here), this achieved the 2000s style nirvana of as many sequins or butterflies on a single outfit.  Best paired with a tank top—you know, for balance.

The slashed skirt: The cousin of the pleated skirt goes well with a bomber jacket and tube top. This is true Gabrielle Solis for Eva Longoria.

The red carpet skirt: Maybe because it was before the rise of Instagram, there was a time when a jean skirt, striped knee-highs and Uggs were red-carpet worthy. Oh what a time.

The waistband-less skirt:
Why bog yourself down with excess belt-weight when you can just strap on a strip of denim and be done with it?

The legging/jean skirt combo: The most prolific style of jean skirt. For those having to show up at middle school, a pair of leggings was the perfect classy addition to your aforementioned choice of jean skirt.

I guess if there’s anything to be learned from this, it’s that fashion is cyclical. Maybe this puts your gauchos into perspectives— er, sorry, I think we call them “culottes” now.