When the woman began to show the calf

When the woman began to show the calf

Text: Patricia Plata Cruzdiseño Web: Miguel Ángel Garnica

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In female fashion the skirt has prevailed.There are all shapes and sizes, wide, the one that crawls through the soils.The length of this garment has caused controversy, especially when it began to shorten in the 20s.

At that time, at the enlightened universal it was read that female life is not measured by solar years, but for fashion seasons.It was also said that the trend was based on the desire to be different, of seeming good.

The search for innovation did not ignore female fashion.This created tight dresses, more pronounced necklines, designs with discovered arms and of course, the shortening of the skirts.

Far away were those large chainolins or miriñaques so uncomfortable, that they were later replaced by the polison and were used with kilos of fabric on top, in more than five garments that prevailed until the end of the 19th century to welcome other clothing to other clothing.

Dress from the late nineteenth century.Image taken from encyclopedia 6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976, Gustavo Casasola.

Thus, they began the skirts other than the accustomed, among them he entered her and the skirt-paid, which was only sewn in the middle and adjusted to the ankles, a design that caused a lot of a stir between the people of the first decade of the last century,In addition to the discomfort when walking, since it caused the bearers to have sudden falls.

The skirt-paid was imposed by Parisian dressmakers over 1912 and very few women dared to use it in public, who did it were persecuted and even stoned by other passers-by.

The Tiple and Actress María Conesa wearing a daring skirt pants.Image taken from encyclopedia 6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976, Gustavo Casasola.

Before the First World War the clothing used by women were corsets, long and huge skirts and colorful hats.After the Great War, Paris remained as a dressmaker par excellence and the women began to carry short and tiny hats tight to the head, they also left the Corsés aside.

Since 1919 the skirts to the calf began to cause a stir between the society of Mexico City, the young women dressed them, but among older men and women the cut of this legendary female garment was judged, the use was considered as an actof immorality.

It was a scandal when a woman climbed to the tram or carriage and showed part of the ankle.It was in that same year when the necklines, the stockings and ankles arrived to start wearing the footwear.

Comparison of the length of the skirts in the first decade of the twentieth century and the second.Image taken from encyclopedia 6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976, Gustavo Casasola.

Theater actress wearing footwear thanks to the short skirt.Image taken from encyclopedia 6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976, Gustavo Casasola.

Cuando la mujer empezó a mostrar la pantorrilla

In the 20s the skirt was reduced by comfort and to follow the trends that came from other countries with the influence of Hollywood cinema and Parisian fashion.Overnight.

One hundred years ago, it was said that it was only a matter of noticing the hands and face of the woman to begin to court her and offer respect.There were some more daring women who showed slightly part of the foot or a little more, they were seen among their own gender as the last degree of debauchery and among men as women unable to be a good wife.

The new female fashion with the short skirt.The Universal Illustrated 1928.

Although the short skirt received criticism, there were also positive comments, they highlighted the freedom conquered by women of feeling femininely safe to use that garment.

Censorship cases were given by ecclesiastical authorities.In 1920, the archbishop of Mexico, José Mora and del Río, issued a circular where they indicated how they should be dressed in the temple: without “scandalous” colors in the towales (veils), or short skirts, nor means of transparent tissues.These measures were sent from the Vatican, they passed through Spain, where the entrance to the temples to the women dressed in a "indecorous" way was denied.

This action was retaken in the state of Coahuila in June 1922.The short skirt was prohibited and the entrance to the Catholic temples to the women dressed as well as.This generated a huge disgust by the women of this entity, who as a protest, stopped going to the temples and their absence was noticed much.

It was in 1925, in July, when Dr. Leonard Hill of the Bath Medical Research Institute of England said that due to health reasons he was in favor of the neckline and short skirt, he argued that women “take advantage of the healthy ultraviolet rays contained in thesunshine".For the same reason I recommended adult men to wear shorts, exclusive only for infants.

Short skirt fashion.Publication: The Universal Illustrated 1926.

In October 1925, the situation became a bit contradictory in the Catholic Church.The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Dubois, declared that he was admirer of the short skirt and the “Bob” hair.He also said that the Church was not fought with fashion: "Religion is not an enemy of fashion.Fashion is the most popular form of art, and God is a friend of all true art ”.To his consideration, the virtue of a woman did not depend on the length of her hair or her clothes.

He was the only member of the Catholic hierarchy that supported this fashion.By March 1926, Queen Victoria Eugenia de España seconded Pope Pius XI against walking with her arms discovered, the short neckline, short skirt and other transparencies.

The Pope's objective was to abolish this usual and appealed to the queen of the most Catholic country in the world, one of the most influential women at that time, to direct a movement against those customs.The Parisins took these statements as a direct attack and, despite respecting the queen, they predicted that her movement would fail.The favorite garment of women continued to be used.

In 1928 in Los Angeles, the United States, all employees were prohibited to wear short skirts and dress without sleeves, ran the risk of being immediately dismissed for that reason.

Evolution of the short of the skirts from 1915 to 1924.6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976 by Gustavo Casasola.

Positive and negative comments were going and went to the new way of dressing.It was a complete revolution that even caused disputes in families.In a letter published in this newspaper on October 14, 1929, a girl was a bit undecided regarding the opinion that should have for the short skirt.

His father said: "The dress that does not cover the calf is a propaganda of deco and an exchange of malicias".Meanwhile, if Mother argued that she would be ridiculous in her daughters.

Cardboard where women who wore short skirt and those who wore a long skirt were confronted.The Illustrated Universal 1930.

The veto of the short skirts within the Catholic temples was repeated in Chihuahua, in April 1930, where the entrance of women made up and with short skirts to the churches of that city was prohibited.

In the column "My daily talk" of Dorothy Dix, published in El Universal in 1930, it was said that men preferred the woman who uses short skirt because it gave them more confidence, contrary to the long skirt ladies.

In his opinion, the girl with a knee skirt was like a little brother who knows how to take care of himself;Instead, the long skirt woman is like a delicate vine to whom she should bring from the arm and hold her before anything.This was considered "masculinize", today empowering the woman for not depending on a man.

Cover of El Universal Illustrated April 10, 1930.

Short skirt fashion durante un concurso de jóvenes para definir quién tiene las mejores pantorrillas.The Universal Illustrated 1925.

At that time, only girls under 12 used the dresses and short skirts, as it was immoral that an older lady wore those garments.A opposite situation happened 15 years after the prohibition of short skirts in the United States.In 1943, in Germany, the short skirt became mandatory and the pleats, wide skirts and night costumes were prohibited.

In the same decade of the 40, some dressmakers tried to rescue the fashion of the long skirt, but in August of 47 the American women protested for this reason, although they became fashionable, they would dress them to "not be rare".

It was even intended to extend the skirts in the WAC uniforms (from the US army) but Mamie Eisenhower (wife of the incoming president) thought that long skirts were less favoring most of the women.

Following these protests made in the United States, in Mexico the "war" was also declared against the long skirt in the month of December 1947.

The main reason was the economy, because the middle -class women of our country did not have the luxury of getting rid of their garments just because a designer of somewhere, who did not know, had occurred to him to impose a new fashion.The second reason was the aesthetics, they considered that the cutting looked much better, especially in women who had a good figure.

Sketchs of social life.Ladies who wear short skirt. Tomada de The Universal Illustrated 1928.

And this was how the woman has gradually showed her leg, cutting the skirt to the ankles, half leg, until reaching the knee and at the beginning of the thigh.Until the arrival of the miniskirt in the 60s.

In the middle of 2019 in many regions of the world, women are still considered to show their legs, they even ban short of short skirts in institutions such as schools and again, religious temples.

A clear example was in 2008, when the rector of the University of Sinaloa prohibited the use of short skirts to his high school students, as a method of prevention against acts of violence.

Be that as it may, the skirts of all sizes are still in force in the female wardrobe and today, fortunately, there is more freedom to choose how to dress without fashion or society being imposed on the carriers of such a legendary garment.

Our main photo is from 1928 of El Universal Illustrated, shows the new female fashion released in New York: the little girls with little pools and socks for the cold.

The ancient comparative image is from the book 6 centuries of graphic history of Mexico 1325-1976, Gustavo Casasola.In the photo foot you read: "The artist of the lyric theater, Blanca Calveti wearing a dress 1928".In current photography we see the young Karla Daniela Mora Nieto carrying a dress of similar cutting.

Sources: The Illustrated Universal, El Universal Newspaper library.Photographic Archive of El Universal and 6 centuries of Graphic History of Mexico 1325-1976 by Gustavo Casasola.

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