History of pencil skirt

Narrow-fitting skirts have a long history in western fashion. The predecessor to the pencil skirt is the hobble skirt of the early 20th century, which is a full-length skirt which seriously impedes the wearer's walking, and sometimes those two terms are used as synonyms. However, it was the French designer Christian Dior who introduced the pencil skirt in the late 1940s, using the term H-line to describe its shape. It quickly became very popular, particularly for office wear. This success was due to women's desire for new fashions in the wake of the drudgery of the Second World War coupled with the austere economic climate, when fabrics were expensive and still rationed, and full-skirted garments were seen as wasteful. It again became popular for business women in the 1980s, as part of the "power suit" style of dressing, and has remained a popular mainstream fashion choice ever since.