If you were at secondary school in the late 1980s ...

[fivestarperformance]

... was the fashion at your school to wear a long skirt almost down to your ankles?

It was at mine. We wore a long navy pleated skirt, with opaque tights in winter and white ankle socks in summer, and of course thought we were very cool and 'alternative'. 😁

It struck me that the current trend for "branded" school skirts not only fails to stop skirts from getting too short (because they can be rolled up), but also prevents girls from rebelling by wearing a long skirt. Shame.

I remember those skirts with the pleated band at the bottom - and 80s fashion never to be repeated

It's interesting really how fashion went from the 50s 60's from my mothers photos how women went from showing off their legs , to why should I feel to the need to off my body .
To be fair my black long skirt was so tight it left little to the imagination , but I didn't feel the need to have it all on show like my mother did .

Long skirts, big baggy shirts, tie on the thin bit and big clumpy shoes
Hair was permed, back combed and hair sprayed to a crisp

I left 1990

My mum started at her convent school in 1958. The girls all wore pinafores then. Strange to think that she married my dad just nine years later, when she was 20. They're still married 56 years later.

Baggy woolly socks with espadrilles OR red pixie boots ...the bomb 🤣

We had a really strict uniform policy so it was all knee length or slightly longer with a big split. Fat ties and massive baggy jumpers. I remember having over-knee socks for years. In the summer many resurrected the check cotton summer dresses from 1st and 2nd year which were well short on 18 year olds. In the upper 6th we used to go to the pub at lunch time quite often so attired. I imagine that might be frowned upon these days. I expect my Grammar school headmistress probably would have frowned a lot then too if she'd caught us.

My mum wore a gingham summer dress, but by the time I went to secondary school, they were deemed to be primary school wear only. In summer, our uniform was our school skirt, white open collar blouse, no tie, with white ankle or knee socks. We could wear a sweater, cardigan or sleeveless sweater, but we weren't expected to wear them all the time. Blazers were strictly outdoor wear only, to be hung in the cloakroom on arrival to school.

No. All the girls at my school petitioned the head to allow us to wear trousers so one that was granted we never wore skirts - just skint tight grey Farah trousers with white shirt, skinny tie and batwing cardis.

I used to sew so firstly had one with enough fabric to dress several large blokes that would sweep dramatically when I walked and was lethal on stairs. The next one - made from the first - was super tight with a slit and just below the knee. Suddenly I had to take two steps to my one normal one…loved the variation in our various clothes and hair styles.

I left in 1988. I remember long skirts with pleats accompanied with DMs (listening to The Communards), but also tight long pencil skirts with a split (and flat pointed slip on shoes). I must have had an identity crisis as I think I experimented with both!

I left in 89. We wore ours just touching the top of our knee.

Yes long with thick socks rolled down and chunky shoes like DMs or hush puppies

We could wear trousers at my school too and farahs and chinos were all the rage

At our school we had to wear A line grey skirts until sixth form (which everyone rolled up), but in sixth form you could wear any grey skirt. Of course most if us chose long grey skirts. We also got to wear any grey jumper while the rest of the school had bright red ones. It was such a relief to reach sixth form.
We didn't have to wear blazers and I am forever grateful for that as my girls found blazers so uncomfortably restrictive.

At least those girls are wearing tights with those tube skirts! It's even worse when they are bare legged 😏

Does anyone remember wearing white ankle socks ON TOP of navy or black tights? When I started secondary school in 1986, that was the fashion!

I went to secondary school in the west of Ireland. We wore a pinafore to the knees.

@Vicyes are you searching for old uniform posts just so you can post those pics ?

At my school (private girls') in the lower school (Y7-11) we were made to kneel as we entered the daily assembly and your skirt has to exactly touch the floor. If it didn't, you were handed a very unflattering one out of a spares box and made to change into it. The kneeling could also be required at any other time of the day.

In the 6th form it was much more flexible. I wore a long, tight skirt with a slit up the back almost to my arse. The 6th form also wore sashes which were all a standard length. The length of your 'tail' demonstrated how small your waist was, which was an issue in a very skinny-centric school.

You've posted pics of teenage girls arses on at least two separate threads

On my sibling's 1989 5th year photo, there's a lot of long skirts, and the grungy girls were still wearing them through the early 90s when I went to secondary.

Trousers were tolerated as girls' uniform but they were just the boys' uniform trousers so many girls favoured the long skirts over them for comfort if they wanted a more modest uniform.