With the year 2023 almost at its end, it’s worth it to take a look at one of the most unexpected clothing trends: the maxi skirt. Throughout the entirety of the 2010s, if you asked someone about a maxi skirt, the first thing that came to mind was somebody’s grandma or someone who didn’t understand current fashion. Of course, this was also when skinny jeans were the bestseller in stores like American Eagle and you were only cool if you had a side part, but maxi skirts were not the pinnacle of fashion. In 2017, the people you would look up to as fashion icons wore athleisure or completely designer, so as preteens/teenagers, there wasn’t much room for creative expression through clothing.
Now when you walk around the city or just simply open the TikTok app, you will see women with incredible fashion sense owning these long skirts. The most popular of the various maxi skirts are denim. As the famous Y2K style slowly made more of a comeback this year, it seems like the baggy denim look has become more diverse as well. What used to be mom jeans are now jeans with a little more movement like skater or wide leg jeans, but girls who perceive themselves as a little bit more feminine have made their way back to the denim maxi skirt of the 70s. When many people first saw this piece of clothing at the beginning of this year, their initial reactions were: huh?
I’ve discovered that what makes the jean skirt fashionable is the fact that it’s exclusive and inclusive at the same time. The people wearing these long denim skirts aren’t concerned with what other people will think about their fashion sense, and they own what many people believe is unconventional. It can be styled casually as a normal pair of jeans, or it can be put into full glam at a runway show in Milan. The key element of being fashionable or someone with style is acknowledging the fact that there isn’t a certain way that someone should or should not dress. There isn’t one look behind the word fashion; the point of it is that individuals are given the ability to express themselves through clothing when they might not be able to do so otherwise. It gives people an artistic outlet, and I think that’s what makes the denim skirt so special. It challenges what we previously recognized as the norm, while also shedding a new light on men and women who dare to be different. Either way, the denim maxi skirt has become a staple piece in my closet.