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I am, each January, reminded of the timelessness of a pleated skirt. ‘Timeless’ is a weighty word to use—and thrown around far too liberally by sartorial commentators of my ilk—but in this case, cross my heart, I intend it fully. Among the potpourri of references you stir up in a pleated skirt—Downtown girls in Sandy Liang, school uniforms, American Apparel in the age of Tumblr grunge—is the vintage kind, the feisty 1920s women who were the blueprint for athleisure. Pleated skirts and gamine Jeanne d’Arc hairstyles worn to lounge and caper: this was the post-war uniform. People itched for freedom.
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I say January because the new year marks the return of the Australian Open, an event which, whether or not you’re proficient in racquet-wielding, encourages much pleated skirt activity. It wasn’t just dancing, after all, that took the flapper’s fancy, but sport; thus the pleated skirt made its way onto putting greens and yes, tennis courts. In 1921, French player Suzanne Lenglen shocked the crowds at Wimbledon in a look designed by Jean Patou. A knee-length skirt and a cardigan that bared the arms? Pearl-clutching stuff. Though later, in 1926, Vogue would write that Patou’s design was “a tennis costume that is extraordinarily chic in the freedom, the suitability, and the excellence of its simple lines”.
