'Skorts' and tennis skirts are back! Get in on this season's throwback trend
Fashion trends come and go, but one that is ripe for summer is the classic "skort."
A skort is a skirt-shorts hybrid where you get to wear both as one garment.
Actress Charlize Theron was recently spotted wearing a black mini skort while attending a CTAOP event for her Africa Outreach project.
She paired the look with a crisp white shirt and bright red lipstick.
Not only have celebrities such as Theron got in on the throwback skort trend, but it's also showing up on several social media platforms.
Rewinding back through history, the first version of skorts dates back as early as the 1930s and was primarily noticed and worn amongst sports players.
"Long divided skirts were worn by equestrians, cyclists, and mountaineers in the 19th century, but the short version gained notoriety in 1931 when Spanish tennis player Lilí Álvarez began wearing a 'divided skirt' by couturière Elsa Schiaparelli at tournaments," fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman Campbell told "GMA."
"Even though it was long enough to cover her knees and she wore stockings, the outfit caused controversy; at the time, only men wore pants except in the most informal, private settings," she continued.
Nearly three decades later, the term "skort" was used in the Independent Press-Telegram for the first time in 1957. The southern California newspaper described the garment as "short and sporty" along with the subheadline "Skort gives outdoor girl a new look."
"Earlier skirt/short hybrids were either a skirt or modesty panel layered over or attached to a voluminous pair of long shorts or a skirt that was significantly longer than the shorts attached underneath, making the short aspect more akin to built-in underwear than a notable part of the garment," Allison Pfingst, director of fashion studies at Fordham University, told "GMA."
Pfingst added, "Though often touted as somewhat of a novelty item each time it comes back into fashion, the skort has been in regular circulation for the past 70 years. The skort embodies the practicality, ease and emancipation that has been synonymous with American sportswear since Clare Potter, Bonnie Cashin, and Claire McCardell defined the genre in the 1930s."
A TikTok user under the name talllivingtiny caught the attention of more than 900,000 people when she appeared to make her first discovery of a skort.
"You know how we get so excited about dresses with pockets," she said at the beginning of the video. Talllivingtv later showed her printed skirt, saying, "Skirts that are shorts!"
One person responded, "Sorry love had one of these like 20yrs back. It's not a new invention."
Another TikTok user Tizzie Robinson-Gord celebrated the new trend in a video spotlighting that "private school girls who have played tennis and hockey since the age of 3" own hundreds of club and team skorts.
Her short clip has been viewed more than 16,000 times and lends itself to another micro-trend happening around tennis skirts this summer.
Searches for "skort" have significantly spiked in the last few years, according to Google Trends.
Retailers have created skort and tennis skirt offerings ranging from athletic and athleisure-inspired picks to animal-print and dressier options.
Ahead, check out a range of options that might just deserve a spot in your wardrobe this summer.
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