ask mrs. exeter; How mini is too mini when it comes to the new leggy looks.

Question: I know there are more important things in the world these days than hemlines, but I must say I was rather surprised to find so many short lengths in the resortwear collections. Two to three inches above the knee-what are these designers thinking? My inclination is that women of a certain age, or even any sophisticated woman over the age of 30, should resist. Even so, my daughter, a college senior, is pushing me to buy an above-the-knee Marc Jacobs sequined tunic I saw and wear it with black leggings or trousers. I am not convinced. What do you think, Mrs. Exeter?

Answer: To knee or not to knee; that is the question.

Shorter is one of the ways designers-Chanel, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, John Galliano, Narciso Rodriguez, Peter Som, and Tory Burch, just to mention a few-are playing with the new shapes, volumes, and silhouettes that are making fashion so interesting now.

The shorter lengths come in every style from angelic flou with unstructured hems to boxy minis, bell-shaped baby dolls, wrap skirts that close on a diagonal, and more. To behold, these can be beautiful. To wear, they can be problematic if you don't have the confidence (or the legs). Even wearing trousers under the tunic in question might not be a solution if it proves only to be too much material that pulls you down.

Will I be raising my hems from where they are now, a half-an-inch or so above mid-knee? I don't think so. Will I continue to seek new experiences in volume, shape, and silhouette? Yes.

Higher skirt lengths just for the sake of higher skirt lengths interests me only when they are political, as in the Roaring Twenties, say, when the liberated flappers bobbed their skirts, or the sixties, when we wore minis to irritate our elders. Right now, my goal is to demonstrate some competency. If we cannot find competency from Hollywood to Washington, at least we might find it at our house or office, our wee universe, and that begins by dressing appropriately for our age.

Even when the legs are great, short skirts on grown-ups (and, like you, I mean anyone over 30, especially in the workplace) are usually a bit triste. Short skirts on tall women? Too much information. Very short skirts on petite women? Arrested development: Short skirts reference dolls and girlhood. Why try to turn back time? Isn't it more youthful to move on, to be here now, in the present?