How Do High School Girls Make Their Skirts So Short? The Curious Culture of School Uniforms

While I was walking outside at lunchtime today, I passed a high school girl wearing an extremely short skirt.

This was not something she had chosen as casual clothing. It was part of her school uniform.

Recently, I have often seen high school girls wearing miniskirts this short.

I am not complaining. I am actually curious about how they manage to make them so short.

Surely they are not cutting their uniform skirts with scissors.

When I looked into it, I learned that they apparently shorten the skirts by folding the waistband over several times.

So that is how it works.

But does folding it over that many times not make the waist uncomfortably tight? Fashion is not easy.

When a skirt is that short, another question arises: does it not reveal their underwear?

According to something I once saw on television, they wear what are known in Japan as misepan. These are shorts worn over underwear so that an accidental glimpse is not a problem.

In other words, they fold over the waistband to shorten the skirt, and then wear an additional layer to solve the problem created by shortening it.

Thinking that every problem could be solved by simply wearing the skirt at its normal length is probably the perspective of a middle-aged man.

If Students Have That Much Freedom, Why Not Let Them Wear Their Own Clothes?

At the same time, I also see high school girls wearing ordinary knee-length skirts.

School rules probably differ. Some schools are strict, while others appear to allow considerable freedom.

That raised another question in my mind.

If students are allowed to alter the way they wear a uniform that much, why not abolish uniforms altogether and let them wear their own clothes?

It turns out that uniforms have reasons for existing.

One is to make economic differences between families less visible.

If students attended school in their own clothes, children from wealthy families might wear different designer brands every day. Children from less wealthy families, meanwhile, would have to rotate through a limited wardrobe.

With uniforms, everyone at least appears to be dressed the same.

I see. That certainly makes some sense.

Then again, uniforms themselves are quite expensive. It is rather ironic that clothing intended to conceal economic inequality places a burden on household finances.

What Exactly Is a Uniform?

When I think about it, a uniform is a strange thing.

Schools try to make everyone wear the same clothes. Students, however, change the length of their skirts or adjust how they wear the uniform to introduce their own individuality.

A uniform intended to make everyone look the same somehow becomes a tool for competing over individuality.

Even when people are made to wear the same clothes, they do not end up looking the same. A uniform is a remarkably interesting system.

When rules are too strict, people want to find loopholes. On the other hand, perhaps too much freedom can feel unsettling.

In any case, I personally welcome the fact that more miniskirts are appearing on the streets.