So revolutionary and popular were miniskirts in the 1960’s that a plethora of accessories were made for them. This “Original Mini- Skirt Accessory” is easily one of the more insane ones. I guess the object was to remind you you were wearing a miniskirt when, clipped to the hem line, the little ball swinging from the 1-1/2″ long chain bounced or tick-tocked against your knee with each step.

The manufacturer, listed nowhere on the product or card it’s attached to, was trying to combine two late 60’s trends into one – miniskirts and peace symbols, often worn by two different groups of teenagers and young adults.


I think the nameless company needed to be a little more generous with the 1-1/2″ length of the tickler if, in fact, it was to hit the knee. The only way this would’ve reached there was with a full-length above-the-knee skirt, totally taking ‘mini’ out of the equation. I’ve enhanced the Knee Tickler to about three times its actual size to demonstrate:

It would actually take ten Knee Ticklers to reach the knee were it attached to an actual miniskirt. I mean no copyright infringement to McCalls but I’ve doctored the image to demonstrate. The Knee tickers are almost double their real size because they’d be too small to see.

I always love a product that merely capitalizes on a craze as opposed to serving any real function. And regardless of whether the little gold ball bangs against your thigh or knee, I would think it was less of a tickling effect than a bruising one after it slapped against your skin all day. It would make a better lapel pin anyway.

But then it never could’ve had such a spectacular name.

 

4 Responses to “Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Miniskirt Knee Tickler”

  1. Georgia

    That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in ages. At least a kilt ion held a kilt together and kept you from flashing folks in the wind. The school I attended through seventh grade had a strict “Skirts can be no more than two inches above the knee” policy. in fact, one of the headmasters would line us up in the hall and check with a ruler just to keep us on our toes. I can remember pulling skirts down a little bit from their elasticized waists hoping that would cut us some slack when it was our turn to be measured. We weren’t trying to be a show off, we merely had hit a growth spurt and our wardrobe hadn’t caught up with us. However, if we had been wearing a knee ticker, perhaps we would have been more conscious of our skirt lengths.

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    • Allee

      Auto correct drives me NUTS. But not as nuts as the stunning inaccuracy and crash rate of Dragon Dictate.

      Reply