Skirt length - my experience

[Kirbstone]

Nice to have streams to wade in which are warm enough for bare legs, Taj. Here any stream would suck the life-sustaining temperature out of you in short order even in Summer, so waders are de-rigeur.

Tom

[Darryl]

The shorter the skirt, the heavier the material needs to be if you want to avoid creating the wrong sort of impression.

I've got a Lane Bryant pleated knit that's about knee length which is about the same material as a maxi that I also got from them. The swimskirt also seems to be about the same thickness of material. All are light and breezy compared to the knit pencil skirt. Which is helpful when sitting because they drop between the legs, hiding things.

Just wondering if we're talking transparent thin or what.

[pelmut]

The shorter the skirt, the heavier the material needs to be if you want to avoid creating the wrong sort of impression.

I've got a Lane Bryant pleated knit that's about knee length which is about the same material as a maxi that I also got from them. The swimskirt also seems to be about the same thickness of material. All are light and breezy compared to the knit pencil skirt. Which is helpful when sitting because they drop between the legs, hiding things.

Just wondering if we're talking transparent thin or what.

Perhaps I should have said "...the better the 'fall' the material needs to have...".

Thin materials can work if they are flexible enough, but some light materals just don't hang properly and short skirts made from them tend to take up strange - and often revealing - shapes. Another problem with a light material is how easily the wind can lift it, even if it does fall back into place nicely afterwards.

Transparent material can work if there is a denser underskirt to prevent people from seeing right through it. (Remember, on average you will spend 50% of your time with the light behind you and you don't want to dispay the sillhouette of obviously male underwear.) With a long skirt, the underskirt is usually several inches shorter, to prevent it from showing; but with short skirt, a shorter underskirt would become vanishingly small and it would probably cause it to flare out and look ridiculous.

Some of the best short skirts I have seen were worn by some American men in a visiting Contra Dance group a few years ago, they looked as though they were made from furnishing fabrics.

[skirtingtoday]

For me, it is generally mini to knee-length - the kilt beaing AT knee-length is the longest I would consider.

Personally, I am not keen on long(er) skirts on women - just not keen on the look. Think it was a throwback from the 70's where women wore which then became the micro-mini than that changed in one season to the midi and maxi at some fashion designers whim.

[Darryl]

The shorter the skirt, the heavier the material needs to be if you want to avoid creating the wrong sort of impression.

...
Just wondering if we're talking transparent thin or what.

Perhaps I should have said "...the better the 'fall' the material needs to have...".

Ah. Thanks.

The Lane Bryant ones will at least threaten to blow up more than I desire, but I haven't tested them yet in a safe, enclosed space with gusty winds. I just take a hold of one side and that keeps it down.

I got a cheap version for $16 at Meijer's and it will show outlines of what's underneath: shirt-tails mainly. I'll just be careful with that one, though I don't expect it to last as long as the 'good' skirts.

[Taj]

Nice to have streams to wade in which are warm enough for bare legs, Taj. Here any stream would suck the life-sustaining temperature out of you in short order even in Summer, so waders are de-rigeur.

Tom

Our mountain streams aren't very warm, Tom. They are mostly fed from snowmelt, but do become tolerable in summer. My feet and legs can survive if there is warm sun on the rest of me.

The short hem is also very comfortable in my fishing canoe. No crotch creep no matter how long I sit and paddle/fish.

[BBB]

I like knee or calf length, on the floor can get caught in footwear etc.

[crfriend]

The short hem is also very comfortable in my fishing canoe. No crotch creep no matter how long I sit and paddle/fish.

My team from work went on an excursion today as a group to Boston's Museum of Science, and amongst the things we saw was an OmniMAX presentation of Grand Canyon, A River Under Threat (or something very close). Watching a movie on the inside of a tilted planetarium-dome is something to behold, but one of the people in the picture (and not an actor, mind, as this was a documentary) was a native-American woman who wore nothing but skirts for the whole thing -- shooting rapids and all -- and did it with aplomb.

Skirts can, and do, work in many situations. I'd never have imagined trying to shoot rapids in a boat one of them, but somehow it did.

More on the (team) trip under another cover someplace more appropriate.

[dillon]

Even NC Mountain streams remain chilly all year, though not terribly so in summer, when they are a pleasing relief. I live in the lower part of the state, however, the coastal southeast. We don't wade streams here. First, they tend to be quite deep with mucky bottoms, and then there is the matter of leeches, alligators, snapping turtles, and venomous cottonmouth water moccasins. Our swamps are better left untrodden, unless one is navigating in a canoe or kayak. Even then, I have had a snake dislodged from an overhanging branch ending up sharing my boat until I could scoop him out with the bailer!

[pelmut]

... a native-American woman who wore nothing but skirts for the whole thing -- shooting rapids and all -- and did it with aplomb.

Skirts can, and do, work in many situations....

Some years ago, I helped my neighbour to re-wire his house. If I knew that I would be spending the whole day working, I would put on some trousers, but one morning I popped in to just check something and finished up working the rest of day in a long skirt. To my surprise it was no trouble at all, not even when I had to climb a stepladder or stand on the bannister rail to reach the light fitting over the stair well. It was thick black cotton, nearly ankle-length and very full with a heavy underskirt (the weather was cold).

On another occasion, a woman volunteer turned up on a canal archæological dig wearing a skirt which was mid-calf length. She didn't seem in any way inconvenienced by it and there were no safety issues as we weren't burning stuff on a bonfire that day.

There seems to be a rapid transition point, around about ankle length, where a skirt goes from being no problem at all to suddenly becoming a serious tripping hazard which needs careful management.

[crfriend]

There seems to be a rapid transition point, around about ankle length, where a skirt goes from being no problem at all to suddenly becoming a serious tripping hazard which needs careful management.

Indeed, once one gets past ankle-length skirts do become a bit of a management headache on anything besides fairly flat ground.

Personally, I find longer ones work best, hang and drape well, and one doesn't need to worry much about showing off the coming weekend's laundry unless one commits a really heinous blunder. I've got a bunch of skirts that are calf- to ankle- length, a couple that graze the tops of my shoes, a couple of floor-length ones (which look awesome in motion), and nothing that ranges from much above mid-calf to lower-thigh; I have two minis which very rarely see time out.

"Control-assistance" underskirts (read, "petticoats") are pretty much required for most of the very long looks as those tend to keep the skirt-hem out of the way of one's feet when in motion. The only exceptions to that are my "Long Tall Sally" "Ellery" skirt and the floor-length pleated maxi, neither of which respond well to petticoats so one just lives with "active management".

[Taj]

I couldn't imagine rafting or any boating in a long skirt. If I take an unintended swim from my canoe in a short hem I needn't fear the material getting in the way of my legs. It would probably puff up around my waist and be no problem. I'll have to try it under controlled conditions this summer. Its best to test all gear to know what to expect in crisis.

[crfriend]

I couldn't imagine rafting or any boating in a long skirt.

The native American woman's skirt was just a bit below the knees.

When I go sailing, I'm usually wearing something mid-calf length and typically quite lightweight else I'd have to ditch it if I somehow went into the water.

[DenIM]

I like knee length skirts. I feel self-conscious with anything above the knee when I sit down because the skirt rides up. I am a decorator and have a 'Workman's Kilt' that I wear quite often. The weight of the material together with its fullness provides confidence when working and has lots of pockets for screws, nails, etc. and loops for holding tools. I bought it from Rugged Tough http://www.ruggedtough.co.uk/Mens-Work- ... lass=tier3

[JeffB1959]

I like knee length skirts. I feel self-conscious with anything above the knee when I sit down because the skirt rides up.

Maybe it's just me, but that's no concern in my mind. I've worn skirts as short as 15 inches in public and never gave so much as a single thought about sitting in it. If women don't worry about a short skirt riding up when they sit, then why should I?