The mini-skirt is not an age. It is a look. Stylish, sophisticated women of any age may be able to pull it off. A shapely figure and good legs on a sixty year old woman will carry the look much better than the same style on an out-of-shape, overweight, dumpy eighteen year old.
The mini-skirt is a look for the young - and the young at heart. Little girls look forward to playing "dress up" with a short skirt and a pair of strappy sandals when they have a chance to go out with mom. Big girls look forward to dressing up in a short skirt and a pair of strappy sandals when they have a chance to go out with the man in their life.
The look is playful, sophisticated, sexy and eye-catching. As with all fashion, there is a time and a place for the mini-skirt. There is also a time (and often a place) where the mini-skirt is no longer appropriate. Knowing the difference, or even caring about the difference, is all that comes into play in deciding when, or if, that time has come.
There are five simple questions to ask yourself when deciding if you are too old to wear a mini-skirt. If you answer "yes" to even one of these questions, it's time to retire your current wardrobe of short skirts.
1) Do I weigh an additional thirty pounds or more now than I did at the height of my mini-skirt wearing days?
2) Are my knees pudgy? (Total body weight notwithstanding, pudgy knees are a detracting feature.)
3) Does my current shoe wardrobe consist of tennis shoes and sensible shoes with arch supports? The mini-skirt is not a stand-alone look. (If you can't pull off the entire look, don't hang onto the skirt)
4) Varicose veins? (Need I say more?)
5) Am I an embarrassment to my children when I wear my mini-skirt? (This is one question that could go either way depending on the desired result. This may be just the opportunity you were looking for to embarrass your children.)
Attitude is the final component of the look. Hold your head high, put a little wiggle in your gait, and step out into the world. Self confidence is an attractive feature that shows in posture, poise, and wardrobe selection. It is the proper attitude that makes any style work, not the clothing.
In the end, to coin a much used cliche, "If it feels good, do it!" If you can pass the critical questions test reasonably well; if you can look at yourself in the mirror and feel good about what you see; if the look, style and feel of a mini-skirt shouts your name then, by all means - Wear It!