The unexpected fashion hit of summer

Victoria Beckham and Rita Ora in midi-length skirts. Photograph: Rex Features and Barcroft Media

As the British summer falls flat on its face with yet another false start, a new fashion trend is on the rise. The midi-length skirt – with a hemline which falls below the knee and is most often written off as dowdy – is on course to be the sleeper fashion hit of the summer.

Thanks to an unlikely trio of factors including the blustery weather throughout the spring, Victoria Beckham's much-photographed personal wardrobe and a glut of hipster pop stars pictured at the Coachella festival, in California the midiskirt is being hailed as the skirt of the season.

The shape even scored a red carpet success earlier in the week. Fashion commentators praised the actor Carey Mulligan's appearance at the Met Ball in New York wearing a midi-length dress by Balenciaga at fashion's most high-profile event.

"The midi is grownup but slightly subversive," says Katherine Ormerod, senior fashion news and features editor at the magazine Grazia, "and that is a winning combination."

"It's a length that has been ignored for some time but women are rediscovering it," says Jane Shepherdson, chief executive of high street fashion retailer Whistles.

Retailers across the price spectrum are seeing a steady increase in sales. At the high-end e-tailer net-a-porter.com, sales of the midi length are 10% faster than other skirt shapes.

Meanwhile, insiders at the online fashion retailer Asos report that sales of the midi, which is on the front page of the site as a "right now piece", are up at least 200% on last year.

Part of the midi's success lies in its appeal across the fashion generations. Women in their 20s who are tuned into the celebrity aesthetic of Solange Knowles and Rita Ora are wearing the hemline, as are fortysomething women looking for a more grown-up look for the coming summer.

"It's an elegant length," says Sarah Curren of mywardrobe.com "I think you would be surprised as to who is buying them. It's as much twentysomething women as fortysomething women. The younger women see it on Victoria Beckham as her length of choice and for slightly older women it's a really flattering shape and length."

Fashion commentators agree that the midi trend will outlive the summer. "Fashion at the moment is completely polarised between a hip, street aesthetic, and a minimal ultra-luxe stealth look – both of which have a place for the midiskirt," says Ormerod.

Shepherdson, in common with many retailers, has a vested interest in the look lasting. In the autumn Whistles will stock a midi-length leather skirt which has already attracted a waiting list of fashion insiders.

Molly Richards, 21, student

Molly Richards

I got this skirt
from a stall in Camden
for ￡10. Midi length is the
only length for a
blustery English
summer because it
doesn't blow up in
the wind. It's
the perfect length
when you don't want
show off too much
flesh and when
you wear your socks
with them you don't
have to flash
any leg at all.

Ting Zhi, 21, student

Ting Zhi

I got this
from Bangkok.
It's actually
a school skirt.
I think midi-length
skirts are popular
because they
are really easy
to match with
anything and
much more
suited to the
freezing British
weather.

Aija Koke, 20, student

Aija Koke

I got this
dress from H&M.
I love that these
lengths are in
fashion because
they are the most
flattering cut on
figures and can
be worn with
anything. You
don't feel too
body-conscious
in them either.

Anastasia Achilleos, 37, facialist

Anastasia Achilleos

I got this
dress from Zara
last year. I'm
glad there are
midi-length skirts
in all the shops
right now because
they are so elegant
and easy to dress
up. You can wear
them in the day
without feeling
overdressed and
dress them up
for night-time too.

Kuzivakwashe Punungwe-Mutandiro, 23, administrator

Kuzivakwashe Punungwe-Mutandiro

The dress I'm wearing
is from Asos. Midi-length
dresses are just
easier to function in.
I think with the whole
60s Mad Men revival
there's a lot of these
styles available on
the high street. Also,
crop tops are in fashion
right now and they go
really well with
midi-length skirts and
dresses.

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