Style changes on women's hemline length - Focus on daywear in Vogue's 1950~2013 magazine -

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find whether hemline cycles exist and whether hemlines show greater within-year variability over time. Utilizing US Vogue data from 1950 to 2013 on hemline length of women's daywear, total 2102 day-dresses or skirts on full fashion pictures were analyzed. The skirt length was divided by the total length of figure in the picture which was measured from shoulder to ankle. Aggregated yearly means smoothed by means of three-point moving averages were used to provide a better indication of the long-term direction of movement of the hemline. Within-year hemline variability was smoothed by the way of three-point moving average as well. The data showed five cycles on hemline change processes. The first cycle took 21 years from 1950 to 1971, which was the longest period and had the biggest hemline changes. The second cycle was the shortest from 1971 to 1977, in which hemline moved between below-knee length and midcalf. The hemline in the third cycle moved between midcalf and miniskirt. The third cycle took 16 years from 1977 to 1993. The forth was a short cycle from 1998 to 2001, and hemlines moved moderately between below-knee length and above-knee length. The fifth cycle has been on going since 2001, and the hemline has been getting longer after 2007. The within-year variability of hemlines was bigger in 1980s than previous years and was steadily increased.

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