{"id":13151,"date":"2011-11-08T00:01:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T04:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=13151"},"modified":"2019-10-31T11:29:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T15:29:27","slug":"fashion-repeats-itself-car-wash-skirts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/fashion-repeats-itself-car-wash-skirts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion Repeats Itself: Car-Wash Skirts"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I saw this picture of a “Bias Streamer Skirt” by Alexander Wang in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, I screamed (in my head), “Car-wash skirts are back at last!”<\/p>\n

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$465 at Barneys. Click to shop.<\/p><\/div>\n

I didn’t know I was missing car-wash skirts, but apparently, deep down, I was. If I remember correctly, car-wash skirts — so-called because the fringe-like panels look like the equipment in an automated car wash — had a big moment in the early ’90s<\/a>. I know I had one then.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/center>Car-wash skirts have turned up occasionally since that time, but now I believe they’re poised to have a big moment. People are used to asymmetrical hemlines thanks to the popularity of the high\/low hemline (aka the mullet skirt\/dress<\/a>), and the car-wash look is really just a variation on the “now you see my legs, now you don’t” concept. The fact that the influential label Rodarte showed a car-wash skirt in September 2010 as part of the spring 2011 collection<\/a> is another sign that the style might be about to blossom into a trend. The New York Times blog post on that show noted that the car-wash look was hot in the 1960s. Another website says the style was also popular in the 1920s<\/a>, although it was called a “petaled” hemline then. I reject the fashion axiom that if you wore a trend the first time around, you’re too old to wear it again<\/a>, so I hope to bump into some 110-year-old ladies sporting their ’20s petaled skirts. Talk about Advanced Style<\/a>!<\/p>\n

If you can’t decide between a mullet or car-wash skirt, the Wang skirt shown above is a good choice because it’s both! Here’s another view.<\/p>\n

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Click to shop at barneys.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s not just car-wash fashion that has resurfaced repeatedly. The 1976 No. 1 hit song “Car Wash<\/a>” — the theme song of a movie of the same name<\/a> — was covered in 2004 by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott for the soundtrack of the animated movie Shark Tale<\/a><\/em>. Unlike the original, the 2004 version didn’t crack Billboard’s Top 40. But how many other songs mention tuna fish? Not enough, I say! Enjoy.<\/p>\n