The skirt was the second piece of clothing ever invented (before the dress), and was a hand-woven straw affair found in an Armenian cave in 3,000 BC . Skirts were worn by men and women back then — much as they are now — and were all about practicality. After the Middle Ages, clothes became a hallmark of importance: a floor-length, bulky skirt meant you were rich — especially if it was more than three meters in diameter around the bottom. Next, the flamboyant fashion of the Victorian era made its debut, with skirts being layered and bustles added in. Victorian women's fashion was about creating the 'ideal' bell shape and showing one's status, but, crucially, the amount of layers were to make it harder for them to be promiscuous. The hope was that it wouldn't be worth taking off five pieces of clothing, including a corset and a skirt cage — a sort of style-minded chastity belt had been invented. Pretty extreme, sure, but this was around the same time when showing your ankles made you a harlot and table legs were covered because they looked too much like the real deal. Allen Jones would be in exile.