So I have been seeing tos reruns and im just boggled by the skirts. Its like anime fan service as you get glimpses of starfleet standard issue panties. Im sitting here thinking. How did I not notice how short they were as a young boy growing up. Like I knew you saw a lot of leg and they were short but feels like wow seeing it now. My best guess is given broadcast resolution back in the day and having a tv under 20 inches and the fuzzyness of analogue rabit ears. Maybe it was not so noticable. Now im seeing it though on HD broadcast to a 90 inch screen and its like. yowzaa!! Seriously its like a live action anime.
Let’s be frank that it was a male-gaze titillation to sell the show much like the frequency of ripped tunics and visible muscles were intended for women viewers. Both were introduced after the ‘more cerebral’ pilot of ‘The Cage.’
In any case, mini skirts were a fashion trend that constrained women and girls as much as ‘liberated’ them — Especially, as garters and stockings rather than pantyhose were the norm at the time. Looking at TOS now, I wonder if the show had to order specially made pantyhose or ultra fine tights.
While it was good for women and girls to be out of the 1950s tight-waisted skirts with crinolines so profound that they had to increase the spacing between lab benches and cooking class units (as was explained to me when I hit junior high), mini skirts meant that women and girls were constantly monitoring their exposure.
It’s no surprise that ‘pantsuits’ became an acceptable fashion option by 1970 and pantyhose rapidly replaced stockings.
Well said!