Up until sixth grade, I was required to wear a skirt or dress to school.

In kindergarten, I recall wearing a dress that ended a few inches below the knees. Over the years it inched up, with my increasing height, somewhere above my knees. I do not recall anyone taking notice. But from second or third grade on it seemed that everyone’s eyes were on my hemlines, and they had to be just so.

According to the fickle rules of fashion, there was the two-fingers rule above the knee one year, the two-fingers rule below another, and there was the year that the hemline was to fall mid-knee. The hemlines of my dresses and skirts rarely adhered to these strict codes.

Some years later girls and women, guided by their daily whims, were wearing minis, midis, maxis, and various lengths in between.
Oh happy day!