Sometimes coming up with a decent blog entry is tough.
Sometimes it’s just way too easy.
Like today.
SFSignal pointed me to Retrospace, which has a piece on women’s clothing fashions of the future. Retro makes the obvious observation that according to what we’ve seen from science fiction, women will be wearing short, short, short skirts.
Unfortunately, their history is wrong.
They state that the origin of SF-Minis is probably Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet. Forbidden Planet was released in 1956 and was probably in production as early as ‘53.
Here’s Dale Arden in 1940’s Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe: 
Looks to me like Dale Arden is wearing a micro-mini, and nifty little heeled booties, not to mention that fetching barracks cap with feather thing.
Me, I want the raygun rifle Flash is holding.
No. I’m not being picky or pedantic. When it comes to mini-skirts, shapely legs and thighs that “go all the way up to ‘here’”, I believe it is very important to get our facts straight. VERY important.
Dear Crotchety,
Appreciate your efforts to dispel all the ignorance out there in the blogosphere. The folks at Retrospace are off by a mile. However, they might be able to quibble with you about Conquers the Universe. While that photo of Carol Hughes and Buster Crabbe is a famous publicity shot, I can’t honestly recall seeing her wear that costume in the serial itself. I may have to go back and look at it again. I couldbe wrong but if memory serves correctly she either wore long pants or long dresses in the film. The mini-skirt may have been a publicity man’s idea after the fact. Also Flash never used a ray gun like that. It IS a prop from the film. But those long rifles were mainly used by Ming’s soldiers. Flash normally used a sword or a ray pistol. Nevertheless I too would love to have one hanging over my mantle. To be taken down and used on certain people at certain times.
But Retrospace is off the mark by at least five years. Flight to Mars, a very cool film in vivid color, features the shapely Marguerite Chapman in the shortest, and sexiest mini-skirt outfit on any planet. Flight to Mars was released in 1951. The film also used the bright blue, red, and green space suits used in Destination Moon made the year before.
Anne Francis looked good, but there was always a wounded, vulnerable look about her that made you wonder if she would break if you treated her too rough. Marguerite Chapman on the other hand looked like she knew which end of the gun the ray came out of and could probably teach a space traveler a thing or too about orbital reentry.
Here’s the IMDB link.: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043545/
I was scarred in my youth by the appearance of a male crew member wearing one of those one piee uniforms that was cut into what looked like a short skirt in a very early episode of STAR TREK:TNG.
I couldn’t get past the man-skirt. I think I watched one or two more episodes that opening season, and didn’t go back to it until late season 2 or early season 3.
But from a purely male point of view, I have to say I was a fan of early SF female costume selections.
^JR^
I just took a quick look at Conquers the Universe and what it is is she’s wearing that outfit but with light grey leotards or tights under it. A 1940s cop out to Saturday matinee kid audiences. The publicity photo was probably touched up so it looks like there are no leotards.
John,
I was only searching for the earliest mini I could easily recall as incontrovertible proof.
If you look closely at her legs, looks to me like flesh-tone tights.
JR – back in the 60’s, Life magazine ran a feature on clothing of the future and the two things I remember distinctly about were:
disposable paper clothes and the prediction that EVERYONE would be wearing skirts, kilts, shifts and gowns by the year 2000.
It wasn’t off entirely – there’s a website selling ‘utili-kilts’ and there does seem to be a small movement afoot for ‘man-skirts’ in the workplace.
I say – destroy the fashion biz! let global warming go its course and we can live in a world-wide nudist colony…
Yeah, utilikilts are popular in some circles. I love scottish heritage, but I’m not sure I’m ready for a kilt just yet. But I’d take that over the chromed, plastic mini-man-skirt, any day of the week and twice on sunday. Of course, I’m sure my opposition is a sign of the era I grew up in. There are a lot fo things about the present 21st century that were unthinkable to people in the 50’s.
But I’m sticking to my no man-skirt rule. Hopefully this will never happen…ever!
^JR^
I stand corrected. Indeed, my post was not a product of countless hours of research, but rather 15 minutes of a feeble memory. Whatever the true origin of the sci-fi mini-skirt, whoever is responsible deserves some kind of medal.
Great picture!
Both the female and male cast members wore mini-skirts in Alexander Korda’s Things to Come released in 1936.
http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/images/cd/large/Things_To_Come_8120597.jpg
Brit,
you are correct sir! I’d completely forgotten the ‘far future’ scenes in that film (which I’ve seen oh, about 20 times).
Quite fetching those skirts were, in a ‘everyone will wear the same thing in the future’ kind of way.
Thanks for the find!