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Rah-rah skirt

Type of skirt popular in the 1980s

Type of skirt popular in the 1980s

The rah-rah (or ra-ra) skirt is a short flounced, layered skirt that originated in cheerleading and became a popular fashion trend among teenage girls in the early 1980s. It marked, as the Oxford Dictionary noted, the first successful attempt to revive the miniskirt that had been introduced in the mid-1960s.

While the rah-rah skirt originated in cheerleading, it was introduced to mainstream fashion in 1982. It was popular in the 1980s until the mini skirt regained popularity, but the rah-rah experienced a resurgence in 2008.

Gifi Fields claims to have co-created the rah-rah skirt alongside designer Angela Stone, but there are claims that the skirt was originally created by Norma Kamali.

Examples of the rah-rah could be seen on the covers of music albums such as Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade (1984).

Etymology

Rah-rah is a reduplication of an abbreviation for "hurrah", which is used as a synonym for "cheering".

History

The rah-rah skirt was originally popularized in the early 1980s as an attempt at reviving the miniskirt, which had fallen out of fashion. It was based on the skirts worn by cheerleaders, which were designed to be short and flouncy to add flare to their performance.

Later in the 1980s, it was often worn with leather, denim or lace.

In the 1990s, the miniskirt regained popularity on its own, leading to the rah-rah largely falling out of style. The rah-rah eventually made a comeback in Britain in 2008, with a headline in London Lite proclaiming: "Eighties look is all the ra-rave."

Notes

References

  1. ''The Oxford Dictionary of New Words'', 1991
  2. (25 August 2018). "Rah-rah Skirt: The Popular Fashion Trend of Young Women in the Early 1980s".
  3. (22 June 2011). "A brief history of the Rah-rah skirt".
  4. (26 July 2016). "How I got here: Gifi Fields, founder of plus-size retailer Scarlett & Jo". Draper.
  5. Polan, Brenda. (2014-04-07). "Fashion archive: Ra-ra sweat skirts". The Guardian.
  6. Mulvagh, Jane. (1988). "Vogue: history of 20th century fashion". Viking.
  7. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rah-rah Merriam-Webster: Rah-rah]
  8. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rah Merriam-Webster: Rah]
  9. Polan, Brenda. (2014-04-07). "Fashion archive: Ra-ra sweat skirts". The Guardian.
  10. (22 June 2011). "A brief history of the Rah-rah skirt".
  11. See, for example, ''Daily Telegraph'', 19 March 1991
  12. ''[[London Lite]]'', 12 June 2008
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