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PARIS, (AFP) - As if to bring a little cheer amid the global gloom, the mini-skirt, born in the peaceful prosperous 1960s, is poised for a comeback.

From Paris to Milan, London and New York last month, designers showing off their upcoming spring-summer collections have propelled the mini back onto the catwalks.

The tiny skirt timidly resurfaced on the catwalks a few seasons back, but only as a fashion accessory, to be worn suggestively -- or prudishly -- over pants.

"The language of the 1960s is back with the mini, the colours, the simpler pared-down silhouette that emerged during those carefree and prosperous times," said Pamela Golbin, a curator at the Louvre's Fashion and Textile museum in Paris.

"Images from those years allow today's designers to escape from the current economic and political reality," she added.

At the offices of style and fashion forecasters Carlin International, Thomas Zylberman said: "It's like thumbing your nose at the world. The mini is a way of saying that things will get better. This is what people want to believe, they don't want disaster."

"The mini is a fantasy," he added.

The deputy editor of the "L'Officiel" fashion monthly Cecile Sepulchre said the comeback of the mini in times of crisis was a first in fashion history.

"Short skirts in the past have been popular in times of prosperity such as the 1960s and 1980s, while hems have come down in times of crisis, such as the early 1990s."

"But this is the first time I've seen a dichotomy like this between the catwalks and reality," she added.

"Maybe the designers have a different sense of the future and the situation will get better, or they've got it all wrong and the minis won't sell."

The mini was first designed by Britain's Mary Quant in the trend-setting early 1960s, and then adopted in Paris by the likes of such top designers as Andre Courreges, Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne.

But whether or not the mini is adopted this time around as streetwear, wearing one today will not have the same significance as wearing one in the past.

The 1960s mini, said Golbin, quickly became part and parcel of the identity of the baby-boomers born after World War II. "It was an anti-bourgeois statement of rebellion and a way of projecting the body, of women being in tune with their bodies."

But women since have changed, as has the significance of the mini, said Zylberman.

"The mini is no longer about the conflict between generations," he said. "It is simply the symbol of belonging to a group, of being trendy."

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