Paris Fashion Week always gives us unforgettable looks, runways, and garments. Pieces that made history like the Chanel itsy bitsy bikini that Stella Tennant wore in their 1995 show. This year, one show stood out to me in particular, the Miu Miu Spring 2022 Ready-To-Wear.
Miu Miu has always and forever will be one of my favorite brands. However, this year, even though the show was breathtaking, I was let down with one garment in particular—the Micro Skirt.
It’s not the first time we see a micro skirt walk the runway. A trend back in the early 2000s is now haunting us through the Y2K trend leading us deeper into the past. Seeing all these trends come back got me thinking, what happens to body positivity if the micro skirt comes back?
I am in no way trying to bring down the Y2K trend. It has given us some great gifts to the fashion industry. We, as a community, have constantly pushed the industry to include curvier models on the runway. But on the runway, while we saw beautiful garments (including the micro skirt), we only saw them in one size. One size that was very close to the heroine chic body trend, that also was a part of the late 90’s early 2000’s. We have come so far with body positivity in the past decades. Learning to accept our bodies and how to take care of them.
There is no ideal body. No silhouette that we should all fit in. Our bodies are meant to be happy and healthy. A balanced diet, the workouts, knowing that there are millions of body types. Even though we can put ourselves in categories like squared or hourglass or pear-shaped, there is no such thing as two same bodies. Physically and biologically.
Keeping this in mind, we have seen a vast improvement in the fashion industry celebrating body types, seeing plus-sized models walk from NYFW to PFW, and even height being now more versatile. Yes, there is still a high demand for the iconic “Super Model” body type. I don’t expect that or hope that goes away because, even though not everyone has it, there are people in this world born with such a figure.
My disappointment with Miu Miu was leaning more towards the fact that we didn’t get to see these micro skirts on different bodies. I would have loved to see more of these skirts. We are not meant to it fit into clothes. They should fit us. Knowing how you want to dress is a personal journey. Not displaying a garment like this on different shapes can easily create insecurities in people today, especially young girls, causing body dysmorphia and eating disorders. We would be going back in time not only following trends but falling into the dark unstable trap of body insecurities that follows that trend.
Trends inevitably tend to come back. But it shouldn’t be received the way they were before. The difference should be us. At the end of the day, they are dictated by our preferences, not the other way round.
Words by Alessia Giha and Rhea Gupta.
Graphic by Emily Monet.