Skirt: Difference between revisions
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A '''skirt''' is an outerwear garment having the general shape of a cylinder, open at both ends and tapered (thus, like a tube or truncated cone). It is fastened about the waist of the wearer and hangs down covering and encircling both legs simultaneously. Within this description, the skirt can be made of a wide variety of fabrics, and can assume as wide a variety of silhouettes and lengths. | A '''skirt''' is an outerwear garment having the general shape of a cylinder, open at both ends and tapered (thus, like a tube or truncated cone). It is fastened about the waist of the wearer and hangs down covering and encircling both legs simultaneously. Within this description, the skirt can be made of a wide variety of fabrics, and can assume as wide a variety of silhouettes and lengths. | ||
The word ''skirt'' is of Scandinavian origin, coming from ''skyrta'', which originally meant ''shirt'', and was in use in English by about 1300. The shift in meaning from ''shirt'' to ''skirt'' may have been related to the fact that the peasant shirts in use at that time were long garments with an extension which hung down below the waist and over the legs; it was this lower portion which came to be referred to by the word ''skirt''. | |||
In any case, for many centuries, the common meaning of the word referred to the lower portion of any coat, dress, or such like garment, whether worn by men or by women<ref>Webster's 1913 Dictionary advances as their main definition of a skirt "the lower and loose part of a coat, dress, or other like garment; the part below the waist; as, the skirt of a coat, a dress, or a mantle".</ref>. The general restriction of the term to the garment of today is a relatively recent development, though the former usage still persists, gradually becoming more and more archaic. | |||
Pleats or darts are sometimes sewn into the fabric not only to provide the necessary tapering from hem to waist but also to change the look or ease of movement. | Pleats or darts are sometimes sewn into the fabric not only to provide the necessary tapering from hem to waist but also to change the look or ease of movement. | ||
Conventionally only [[women]] wear it. However, a similar dress [[kilt]] is worn by Scottish and Celtic [[men]]. | Conventionally only [[women]] wear it. However, a similar dress [[kilt]] is worn by Scottish and Celtic [[men]]. | ||
===Notes=== | |||
<references/> | |||
Revision as of 16:44, 12 February 2008
A skirt is an outerwear garment having the general shape of a cylinder, open at both ends and tapered (thus, like a tube or truncated cone). It is fastened about the waist of the wearer and hangs down covering and encircling both legs simultaneously. Within this description, the skirt can be made of a wide variety of fabrics, and can assume as wide a variety of silhouettes and lengths.
The word skirt is of Scandinavian origin, coming from skyrta, which originally meant shirt, and was in use in English by about 1300. The shift in meaning from shirt to skirt may have been related to the fact that the peasant shirts in use at that time were long garments with an extension which hung down below the waist and over the legs; it was this lower portion which came to be referred to by the word skirt.
In any case, for many centuries, the common meaning of the word referred to the lower portion of any coat, dress, or such like garment, whether worn by men or by women[1]. The general restriction of the term to the garment of today is a relatively recent development, though the former usage still persists, gradually becoming more and more archaic.
Pleats or darts are sometimes sewn into the fabric not only to provide the necessary tapering from hem to waist but also to change the look or ease of movement.
Conventionally only women wear it. However, a similar dress kilt is worn by Scottish and Celtic men.
Notes
- ↑ Webster's 1913 Dictionary advances as their main definition of a skirt "the lower and loose part of a coat, dress, or other like garment; the part below the waist; as, the skirt of a coat, a dress, or a mantle".