Modern Living: The Midi's Compensations

The midi skirt is ungainly, unflattering and unwarranted. But it is nonetheless a fashion fact. Rebellious consumers have raised voices, but the hemlines have stayed down: the fall collections include hardly a mini. Still, the new lengths offer compensations, sometimes by baring the bosom, often—in a sudden, gratuitous flash—by revealing the upper thigh. Zippers and buttons, snaps and laces—all open a variety of ways designed to persuade girls, and girl watchers, that all is not lost.

Ultimate in Zip. The wearer need only decide how much or how little she wants to reveal; fasteners will get her there in a flash. Sportswear Designer Anne Klein, determined "to give the customer the ultimate in zip," has done so with the ultimate in zippers—one that is so cleverly concealed by the material that the slash appears as if by magic and not by the mechanical gnashings of a hundred metal teeth. To ensure greater visibility, Klein styles feature side closings, and those that do not ride low on the hips lace like a corset above the waist. Skirt Designer Stella Sloat shows a few wraparound midis ("for a little exposure while walking"); otherwise, like Designer Luba, she sticks to buttons down the front or just plain slashes at the center or sides.

Chester Weinberg zippers one sweater dress straight up the middle, slashes a velvet version well above the knees, and matches a short suede battle jacket to a "hula skirt" made entirely of strips of suede. Pierre Cardin's ready-to-wear collection stars a three-toned jersey midi slit in front and back, and others slashed into inverted U's or petal shapes.

Jack-o'-Lanterns' Teeth. Valentino was first with the layered look (either a shorter skirt worn underneath a midi coat, or the skirt itself divided into tiers of different lengths), but Jacques Tiffeau, Bill Blass and Donald Brooks have added frosting. Tiffeau has wrapped a deeply slashed camel-colored midi over a maroon mini skirt and topped some of his evening wear with necklines that do not stop till they hit the waist. Bill Blass settles for the double hemline for daywear and pulls out all stops at night with a series of multilevel chiffon dresses, plus some crepes with hems that look more like jack-o'-lanterns' teeth. Giorgio di Sant'Angelo uses raw, unfinished leather in midi skirts that end up ragged, jagged, and almost Neanderthal in effect. Mollie Parnis lets her hems hang any old way, and does most of her exposing higher up, in necklines that gape open in V's, scallops, horseshoes or scoops.

Halston's midis tell more than most minis did. His sarong-wrap skirts, held together with two buttons, swing apart with the slightest movement, and his figure8 skirt—one section in front, one in the back, with a good deal in between left out—would be certain to leave the Ice Capades cold.