Everything to know about the history of the pencil skirt
ROSALIND JANA
Associated with sex symbols and power women alike, the pencil skirt has many guises—and rather surprising origins. Vogue recaps its history. Image credits: Getty Images
The pencil skirt has long been an evocative garment—stirring admiration and frustration in equal measure, its history one of femme fatales, bookish authors and movie stars.
Its origins are said to lie in one rather curious incident in 1908 when Mrs Edith Hart O. Berg became the first American woman to fly as a passenger in an aeroplane, tying a stretch of rope around her ankles to save the fabric of her skirt from billowing in flight. This allegedly inspired the trend for hobble skirts—though French couturier Paul Poiret claimed he'd devised the design independently. Whichever way, the ensuing taste for skirts tapering sharply around the shins, forcing wearers to move in short, rapid steps, was rapacious—and mercilessly mocked. Satirical cartoons took potshots at the vanity of prioritising appearance above movement, while special hobble skirt-friendly carriages were added to streetcars in New York and LA. The trend was brief, dispensed with in favour of easy motion and much shorter hemlines.
The pencil skirt as we recognise it today first entered the world several decades later in 1954, when Christian Dior's H-line collection introduced another new shape for the modern woman. Named after the way its silhouette resembled a capital 'H', complete with straight lines and a slight emphasis on the waist, it had the advantage of both lengthening the wearer's legs and placing greater attention on the hips. It also offered something tighter and more streamlined for those tired of the New Look's excess fabric and frou-frou prettiness. Of course, Dior can't fully claim credit. The skirt's precedents can be seen in the boxier shapes of the 1940s, typified by Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, as well as in the work of other contemporary designers—especially Cristóbal Balenciaga, who cut clothes directly onto the contours of the body rather than relying on padding or crinolines.
Above: Christian Dior's spring 1954 collection featuring a tailored suit.
The pencil skirt became a defining garment of the 1950s and early 1960s. It could be luxuriously smart, as seen in lime green on Grace Kelly in Rear Window. It could exude sex appeal, as demonstrated by Sophia Loren who paired it with strappy tops and tightly tailored jackets. It could be chic in black on Audrey Hepburn. For Marilyn Monroe, perhaps the most famous wearer of the pencil skirt, it came to define an entire aesthetic: one predicated on a particularly voluptuous projection of femininity, complete with tight sweaters, crisp white shirts and an overarching emphasis on her hourglass figure. Like the hobble-skirt, it required a very particular way of walking—see Monroe's famous wiggle epitomised in Some Like It Hot, her wide-eyed character Sugar Kane sashaying provocatively in the skin-tight skirt.
Above: Audrey Hepburn on the set of Sabrina in 1953.
Grace Kelly on the set of Rear Window.
Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, 1959.
When it comes to movement, the pencil skirt's restrictions on gait and emphasis on particular points of the body are often associated with conscious displays of sex appeal (no wonder that Rizzo in Grease and Joan in Mad Men wear them) and empowered women (think Joan Collins in Dynasty). It can also be either erotic or camp (or both) in its nods to fetish wear when rendered in fabrics like leather and latex—think Dita Von Teese or Aquaria's shiny red entrance look on RuPaul's Drag Race. Arguably, the pencil skirt is also the forerunner to and participant in the 2000s and 2010s' interest in body-con—typified by the Kardashian clan's propensity for clinging fabrics and form-hugging designs.
Above: Dita Von Teese at Melbourne airport in 2011.
In contrast, however, the pencil skirt also came to be thought of as a very practical garment in the 1950s and 1960s: a smart working uniform for women, especially with a little pleat at the back to help motion. It's a garment that's still a crucial part of the office wardrobe for many today, often favoured by those with roles in public office, as seen on Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama. Under those circumstances it embodies a particular kind of neutral chic, the kind reflected recently on the catwalk by designers such as Victoria Beckham and Rejina Pyo.
Above: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Sussex in 2018.
First Lady Michelle Obama in Dallas in 2012.
Sensual or serious, undone or polished, beloved or rebuked, worn by everyone from teenage girls in the 1950s determined to defy their parents to modern-day drag queens, it's clear the pencil skirt isn't a straightforward piece. Enmeshed as it is in questions of movement, appearance and gender (see Art School's autumn/winter '19/'20 gender-neutral pink pencil skirt), no doubt it will continue to inspire designers, one rather small step at a time.
Art School menswear autumn/winter '19/'20. Image credit: Gorunway.com
Victoria Beckham ready-to-wear autumn/winter '19/'20. Image credit: Gorunway.com
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