Miu Miu’s Mini Skirt Was Everywhere At Paris Fashion Week, But Is There A Grown-Up Way To Wear It?

The mini is having a moment. In particular, a mini is having a moment. Miu Miu’s SS22 shorn skirts are so short the pocket bags fall beneath the hem, so low-slung that underwear peeps above the waist and so skimpy that the ‘micro’ is a more apt moniker.

There is nowhere to hide in them, nor from them. And yet this micro has made it big, having now been spotted on Nicole Kidman, Emma Corrin, Hunter Schafer, Saweetie and more. (At yesterday's Miu Miu show, the front row, including Kaitlyn Dever, Cindy Bruna, Violet Chachki, Molly Chiang and Jenny Tsang, all rocked up sporting the mini, while on the catwalk, it made another appearance, this time as sporty tennis-style skirts.)

Barely there but definitely viral, the skirts have been officially anointed a thing by the internet, courtesy of copious memes and their very own Instagram stan account: @miumiuset. So like it or not, the mini is happening.

Call it the revenge of waist-down dressing (or, in Miu Miu’s case, almost-dressing). Call it a celebratory sartorial kickback against sweats. Call it an unapologetic desire for attention. But whatever you do, do not say, ‘I’m too old for that.’ There is no age limit for the mini, nor is there a ‘right’ body shape for one. All they demand from their wearer is copious confidence and a generous dash of daring.

And take heart that the Miu Miu micro is the extreme sports version of high hemlines. Should you dare to do it, good on you; but you can also get a thrill from a (slightly) more sedate starting place. You don’t need to hit the underwear heights of the Miu Miu version, but do remember that anything below the mid-thigh is middle of the road. With their whisper of preppy polish, A-line or pleated styles and kilts are the ones to note now – and won’t land you in detention.

Then what you wear with yours deserves consideration. Fashion journalist Katherine Ormerod – a self-confessed ‘lifelong mini woman who thought she’d pass 35 and never wear one again, but oops here we are’ – advises balancing yours with a looser top, like a men’s shirt.

Libby Page, Net-a-Porter’s senior market editor, adds, ‘Pair with a chunky brogue or over-the-knee boot depending on the level of leg you’d like to show.’ And, of course, don’t forget your new best friend: tights.