Short Skirts in the Sci-Fi Future

Throughout the ages, man has envisioned the future in variety of ways, but one thing remains constant.... all women will wear short skirts!

The thought occured to me after completing my last post (which had a couple pictures of people in short skirts), and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was true. It is basically a known constant in science fiction that women of the future will wear mini skirts. I think even Nostradomus mentioned it in is 32nd quatrain: "And I beheld the fairer sex wrapped in garments at great heights above the calf". Seriously, the trend probably began with the film Forbidden Planet.

Anne Francis wears a series of "futuristic" dresses supposedly tailored by Robby the Robot, but actually designed by Helen Rose. Rose decided that "with excercise, dieting, health and beauty consciousness, the human body, especially the female body was getting more and more beautiful". She settled for a very short, styish dress that was to become the first 'mini-skirt.' (Source: Forbidden Planet)

According to AMC Scifi Scanner, the upcoming Star Trek movie will also feature mini skirted women as the original series did. "For me, ubiquitous miniskirts are the sum totality of my vision of a perfect future," says AMC. Food for thought.


I think the omnipresence of short skirts in sci-fi has very little to do with actual predictions of what the future will hold, and a lot to do with the fact that most sci-fi writers are men.

Lest you think I'm over generalizing, allow me to present you with a mere sampling, a tip of the sci-fi iceberg, of visions of the future from TV and film.

Evidently, in the 25th Century the uniform for a Colonel directing Earth's space defense will include a mini skirt and a sassy hat.

Even Mrs. Partridge wears a mini in 2200 A.D. However, it appears that bell bottoms will also be making a comeback in a couple hundred years.

Note: According to the series "Space:1999", mini skirts will NOT be worn; instead, women will wear velour pants. We will disregard this wayward example considering 1999 is not in the future. Also no mini skirts in Star Wars, but that was a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). Again, not in the future - so it doesn't count.

Whether it was the film, TV series or comic book, one thing could be counted on in Logan's Run - very short skirts.

Then there's the Irwin Allen television shows "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants". (Thanks to cinebeats).

And pretty much every sci-fi comic book ever made (thanks cover browser) features ladies with skirts at various levels of shortness.


So what's the point of bringing this up? No idea. Just another trivial observation from your pal, gilligan.