Hints on Skirts from Everylady's Journal (1926)

The May 1926 issue of Everylady's Journal offered these patterns free to its readers: on the left a "slip and skirt" (the skirt attaching to the slip and worn with an overblouse) and on the right, a "jumper suit".  If you wanted an image to illustrate "typical" 1920s fashions you couldn't go far past this one.  Everything fits the decade perfectly, from the cloche hat worn by the model on the right, to the flattened, straight lines of the costumes, the dropped waists, and of course, the short skirts.

 

Ah, the skirts!

By 1926 skirts were shorter than they had ever been in Western history.  Women, who had first bared their ankles only a decade earlier, were suddenly trying to manage garments different from anything they had worn before.  Fortunately for them, Everylady's Journal was on hand to tell them (via Vogue) how to wear the new short skirts with grace and elegance.

All About Skirts.

A writer in "Vogue" says:

"There was a time when to reveal a glimpse of her ankle was a thing to make a woman blush.  To-day her knee is too often her most prominent feature.  Knees confront one from every place where seats are provided; they glisten above slim legs at fashionable restaurants; they bulge above fat legs in drawing-rooms; they protrude above meagre legs at smart resorts.

"It can hardly be denied, however, that an unduly abbreviated skirt is not a thing of elegance.  No one wishes to go back to the age of petticoats and feet that run in and out beneath them like little mice, but one is compelled sometimes to wonder whether all the short-frocked women one sees have really looked at themselves fairly and squarely in their own looking glasses before facing the world.

"Skirts, it is clear by what we see of the new mode, are not to be definitely longer.  At some of the French houses, in fact, the skirts of the new models are shorter than ever, and only a determined woman can obtain an extra inch on her new frock.  But before buying such a frock one should look oneself squarely in the legs and temper the length of one's costume to the shape one sees.  A wise precaution before going out, is to sit as well as stand before one's full-length mirror.  A still wiser precaution is to be seated when you are being fitted.  Many a gown that hands with protecting discretion when the wearer stands, proves unequal to the emergency when she sits down.

Keep in Mind That—

"A nice discrimination as to what length or brevity of skirt one can wear without sacrificing good taste and elegance is essential to the chic of the woman of today.

"A point to remember is that a full skirt may be shorter than a tight one and still be less revealing.  A short skirt with longer panels at either side is to be avoided by the woman whose legs are not her best point, as it emphasises defects.

"Every woman must decide for herself at what point a fashionably short skirt becomes too short for her own wear.  This point will vary considerably with each individual.

"Another point to remember is that the low, deep, soft-cushioned seat holds treachery as well as comfort, for the lower you sink into its depths the higher your skirt will rise."