How poodle skirts introduced teen fashion to Utah

The big picture: "Teen fashion" wasn't really a thing until the mid-20th century and one iconic look really got it going: the poodle skirt.

Caveat: We're using "poodle skirt" as a catch-all term for full, felt skirts with appliquéd or embroidered decorations.

The inspo: Juli Lynn Charlot, a 25-year-old aspiring actress in Los Angeles accidentally pioneered the fad when she cut a full circular skirt from felt and decorated it with cloth Christmas trees for a holiday party in 1947.

• Full skirts were already popularized by Christian Dior in his postwar "New Look," which celebrated the end of wartime thrift with designs that were generous with fabric.

The intrigue: Charlot's cheap and easy skirt had wide appeal — but the personalized decorations made it especially fun for teens.

Zoom in: The following fall, the wool circle skirt with applique had popped up in Utah's back-to-school clothing sales.

• By 1951, the Salt Lake Telegram was calling the skirts "date bait."

The bottom line: The skirt has been called the "first teen fashion trend," and I'd still wear one happily.

Previously in Old News

• Utah's first recorded dino still whispers prehistoric secrets
• Salt Lake's 1999 tornado: Your memories
• 110 years of speed at the salt flats — plus photos
• When the church banned Black kids from Boy Scouts leadership
• The hot-air ballooning sex abuse scandal that fueled efforts to privatize Liberty Park