You would have to be out of it not to notice that the more mindless TV becomes, the shorter the dresses.
Hemlines have gone from ankle to mid-calf to the knees to slip-a-glycerine-tablet-under-my-tongue-she's-crossing-her-legs. Few women are endowed with two dangling appendages they can call attention to. Just because legs are thin does not mean they are shapely.Take Murphy Brown and Corky Sherwood (whom I love). They are in the right profession - one where their knees are hidden under a news desk on TV. When they walk across the floor, I am reminded of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
I think everyone remembers where he was and what he was doing the day Kathie Lee Gifford appeared not only in a skirt the size of an oven mitt but sat on a stool and crossed her legs! I prayed she didn't drop her interview cards.
My philosophy of skirts has always been: Never wear anything so short it will leave visible wicker marks on the back of your thighs.
I know it's the current style, but before you buy a skirt that hangs 2 inches longer than your jacket, ask yourself these questions:
1. When does a skirt stop being a skirt and start to look like your underwear?
2. Bleacher seats, bus-stop benches and metal chairs are cold. Do you need a flu shot or do you plan on never sitting down?
3. Does your place of employment cater to women who wear short skirts and provide ramps in place of steps?
4. Do you have the physical strength to control a skirt that starts to curl from the bottom and won't stop?
5. Do your legs go straight all the way up or do they tend to go their own way at the knees?
A reader wrote me the other day and asked, "Whatever became of polyester pantsuits?" I can tell you what happened. Hard bodies that ran on treadmills to nowhere, climbed stairs to oblivion and had NordicTracks at the foot of their beds wanted the world to see what all their hard work produced.
For my generation, who were cautioned by their mothers to keep their knees together or they'd go blind, it takes a bit of getting used to.
Television has revealed every part of the human body there is to see. Where does it go from here? How about a plot or a story line?