HISTORY OF THE SHIFT DRESS
The 1960s saw the appearance of the mini-skirt. Up until that time, skirts and dresses in Australia finished sensibly at the knee. New soaring hemlines created huge controversy when they first appeared, exposing centimetres of thigh never before seen in public.
At the Melbourne Cup in 1965, English model Jean Shrimpton created controversy by wearing a synthetic white shift dress with a hem high above her knees. She did not wear stockings, gloves or a hat. Shrimpton's outfit was considered scandalous, and made headlines around the world. By the end of the decade, however, shift dresses and mini-skirts had become widely accepted
