The hemline is the line formed by the lower

edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

of a

garment Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

, such as a

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts ar ...

, dress or

coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, ...

, measured from the floor. The hemline is perhaps the most variable

style line A style line is a seam in a garment made primarily for the purpose of its visual effect, rather than for the purpose of shaping of structuring the garment. By contrast, a dart or pleat A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

, changing

shape A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

and ranging in height from hip-high to floor-length. What is a fashionable style and height of hemline has varied considerably throughout the years, and has also depended on a number of factors such as the age of the wearer, the occasion for which the garment is worn and the choice of the individual.

Types

Similar to necklines and waistlines, hemlines can be grouped by their height and shape: * floor-length hemlines * ankle hemlines * midcalf hemlines * below-knee hemlines * above-knee hemlines * mid-thigh hemlines * hip-high hemlines * handkerchief hemlines * diagonal or asymmetric hemlines * high-low hemlines, usually short in front and dipping behind * other hemlines, such as modern-cut hemlines Dresses and skirts are also classified in terms of their length: *

mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

* ballerina length * midi * tea length * full length * maxi *

Intermission length An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with an entr'acte ( ...

History

In the

history of Western fashion The following is a chronological list of articles covering the history of Western fashion—the story of the changing fashions in clothing in countries under influence of the Western world⁠—from the 5th century to the present. History of ...

, the ordinary public clothes of upper- and middle-class women varied only between floor-length and slightly above ankle-length for many centuries before World War I. Skirts of lower-calf or mid-calf length were associated with the practical working garments of lower-class or pioneer women, while even shorter skirt lengths were seen only in certain specialized and restricted contexts (e.g. sea-bathing costumes, or outfits worn by ballerinas on stage). It was not until the mid-1910s that hemlines began to rise significantly (with many variations in height thereafter). Skirts rose all the way from floor-length to near knee-length in little more than fifteen years (from late in the decade of the 1900s to the mid-1920s). Between 1919 and 1923 they changed considerably, being almost to the floor in 1919, rising to the mid-calf in 1920, before dropping back to the ankles by 1923."Hemline Changes Mild Now," ''Tuscaloosa'' (Ala.) ''News'', 1 April 1954
accessed 1 March 2014. United Press syndicated article, summarizing the rise and fall of hemlines from 1900 to 1954. 1927 saw "

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

length" skirts at the kneecap and higher, before shifting down again in the 1930s. From World War I to roughly 1970, women were under social pressure to wear skirts near to the currently fashionable length or be considered unstylish, but since the 1970s, women's options have widened, and there is no longer really only one single fashionable skirt-length at a time. Another influence on the length of a woman's skirt is the hemline index, which, oversimplified, states that hemlines rise and fall in sync with the stock market. The term was brought up by Wharton Business School Professor George Taylor in 1926 at a time when hemlines rose with flapper dresses during the so-called Roaring '20s. The Great Depression subsequently set in and hemlines fell to the floor once again.

Gallery

Image:Red velvet mini dress 1435042510.jpg, Mini dress Image:Black cocktail dress 1435042634.jpg, Above-knee cocktail dress Image:Children of Sir Dawda Elementary School.jpg, Below-knee hemlines Image:Long evening dress.jpg, Tea length evening dress Image:Microskirt (Karmen Pedaru at Anna Sui crop).png, Hemline of microskirt ending above underwear

References

{{Clothing materials and parts Parts of clothing History of clothing Sewing

Types

History

Gallery

See also

References