TV's Beat Girls dance troupe wearing miniskirts in 1966

Once the preserve of the young and daring, miniskirts are now being worn by women right up to their 40th birthdays.

Two decades ago few women would have braved the shorter length after they passed the age of 33 – a figure unchanged since the mini’s 1960s heyday, according to a study by department store Debenhams. But the age when the mini is finally discarded has been rising along with the hemlines.

Kylie is over 40 but still wears miniskirts. Marvellous.

Analysis of the store’s buying trends of skirts of 14 inches or less in length and the attitudes of 1,000 women shows that women’s skirts are staying shorter for longer.

According to the study women now regard it as acceptable wear up to the age of 40. Debenhams analysis of skirt sales over the last six months also shows how women’s love affair with the mini evolves over their lifetime.

The research shows that girls covet the short style from the age of 14 but the average female buys her first one at age of 16.

After 16 the only way is up with the average length of skirt bought by women between 16 and 19 shrinking from 18ins to 14ins.

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The tiniest skirts are to be found on 23-year-old women whose growing self-confidence and yet still-youthful thighs means they are happy to sport an average skirt length of 12.5ins.

In the south hemlines drop to 14.5ins between the ages of 23 and 27 while they remain resolutely high – at 14ins – in the north. Chilly winter weather is no bar to a shorter style for northern women with sales figures strong throughout the year, the study adds.

But in all areas sales of shorter skirts spike between 10.5ins and 13.5ins, perhaps as women have their last flirtation with the style before their 40s.  After 40 skirt lengths begin the journey south with 18ins the average until the age of 42 when they drop below the knee.

By the age of 51 the mini is a distant memory for most with maxiskirts – 32.5ins long – the most popular choice.

Debenhams’s spokesman Ed Watson said: “It shows that women now have an increasing confidence in their bodies and are happy to dress accordingly.

“If this trend continues, there is no doubt that, within the next decade, women in their mid-40s and early-50s will rightly regard a miniskirt as an essential part of their everyday wardrobe.”