Women's Mini Skirt

Mid thigh is the cutoff a mini skirt lives above, the shortest hem length the category allows. A knee-length skirt covers the leg through nearly every motion; a mini covers it only while you are standing still. That single fact should drive almost every decision you make about buying one.

Try the sitting test before you buy, not after. Sit on a chair close to the height you will actually use, cross your legs, and lean forward slightly, since a mini that looks fine standing in a mirror can ride up to almost nothing seated. A hem more than a couple of inches above mid thigh usually fails this test in anything but a very straight cut. Trust the chair over the mirror every time.

Lining and opacity matter as much as length. Light or pale fabric held up to a window shows exactly how much it reveals, and a mini in an unlined jersey or thin cotton often needs a slip or built-in liner shorts underneath, both for coverage and to stop static cling. A stiffer fabric like denim or twill holds its own shape and needs less help than a soft, clingy knit does.

A denim skirt can be cut to mini length too, but its rigid cloth behaves nothing like a soft jersey mini and sits away from the leg rather than clinging to it. A skort solves the sitting problem structurally, since shorts are built in under the panel, which a plain mini never has. An A-line skirt at mini length adds flare below the hip and forgives more than a straight cut does. Because so much leg is already showing, most outfits balance a mini with more coverage on top, a higher neckline, a longer sleeve, or a layered jacket, rather than pairing it with something equally revealing.

Warm weather, dancing, and any setting without a written dress code suit a mini well. Offices with formal codes and any day involving a lot of stair climbing or car travel argue against it. Fit at the waist and hip first, since there is no length left to adjust for a bad fit elsewhere. Wash according to the fabric rather than the length, though a mini in delicate cloth is small enough to hand wash in a few minutes.