Women Staying inMini-Skirts for Longer

British women arehappy nowadays to wear mini-skirts up until the age of 40,according to researchby

Debenhams.

Just 20 yearsago,few wonien would dare to wear a mini-skirt after the age of 33,the storesaid."

shows that women nowhave an increasing confidence in their bodies and are happy to dressaccordingly,"

added in astatement."If' this trend continues,thlere's no doubt that,within the nextdecade,women in the

mid 40s and early50s will rightly regard a mini-skirt as an essential part of their everydaywardrobe."

The figures emergedwhen the store exanjined the latest age profile of women buying short,36-cmskir

over the past sixmonths. Their results show that it has jumped from an average age of36-year-old at the sta

of millennium to 40today.Figures from 1980 showed that on average women stopped buying minis whenthe

reached 33 years old一a figure unchanged from the mid-1960s.

The store noted thatexperts believe that the popularity of intensive gym culture,providing womenwith

well toned bodiesfor longer may be the reason.The increasing number of British women living ontheir own

may also be afactor.

The Debenhams'studyshowed that a modern woman's love affair with a mini-skirt begins at the age of

14 but that shedoesn'tbuy her first one until the age of 16.Instead,she flouts school rules byrolling up the

waistband of theschool uniform to give the impression of wearing a mini-skirt.

Skirts get shorterbetween the ages of 16 and 19,reducing in size from 46 to 36 cm before reachingtheir

shortest,a mere 32cm,at the age of 23.Skirt length increases slightly between the ages of 23 and27,rising

to 37 cm,possiblydue to girls being in their first stable relationship,with no desire to attractattention,the

store said.

However,it foundshort skirts suddenly zoom in popularity between the ages of 27 and 34,as thoseearly

relationships breakdown,and new relationships are formed.The move into longer skirts beginsirreversibly

40 years old,when46-cm skirts,still slightly above the knee are the norm.From then on,skirtlength increases

dramatically,fallingbelow the knee for the very first time since school days at the age of 42.We can infer fromthe second and third paragraphs that in 1970s_______.

A.a lot of womendared to wear mini-skirts at the age of 40

B.most women between33 and 36 were still happy to wear mini-skirts

C.even women intheir early 50s rightly regarded a mini-skirt as an essential part of theireveryday wardrobe.

D.mnost women nolonger wore mini-skirts when they m,eached the age of 33