Rah-rah skirt

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Strawberry Switchblade in polka dot rah-rah dresses, 1984 (from cover of 7" single, Since Yesterday)
Strawberry Switchblade in polka dot rah-rah dresses, 1984 (from cover of 7" single, Since Yesterday)

The rah-rah (or ra-ra) skirt was a short flounced skirt that became popular in about 1982 and remained fashionable, mostly among teenage girls, for several years. It was derived from the skirts worn by cheer-leaders at American sporting and other events and, as the Oxford Dictionary noted, was the first successful attempt to revive the mini-skirt that had been introduced in the mid 1960s [1]. Later in the 1980s it was often worn with leather, denim or lace [2].

In the 1990s the mini came back into fashion in its own right, largely discarding the frills of the rah-rah.

Examples of the rah-rah were to be seen on the covers of gramophone records or compact discs such as 99 Red Balloons by Nena (1983) and Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade (1984).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ New Words, 1991
  2. ^ See, for example, Daily Telegraph, 19 March 1991