No one is disparaging previous generations,”
Well yeah, they kinda did. And however we view tznius today, the previous generation may have done certain things differently, but IMO it is wrong to say they were not tzniusdig. They were not tzniusdig by the accepted standards of TODAY. Previous generations interpreted tznius by a different yardstick and considered themselves to be frum, modest people. I really do not understand why this is such a hard concept to understand. People also did not eat glatt kosher several decades ago. Meat was either kosher or not kosher. Glatt came in with the influx of various groups. Is it better to eat glatt, from the standpoint of kashrus? Of course. But does that mean our relatives fifty years ago ate treif? Not by the standards that were acceptable to most fru, Yidden then.
Anyway, it is clear we cannot reach a meeting of minds on this issue. As we live in this day and age, and most of us seem to follow what is presently the accepted standard for tzniusdig clothing, I think it matters little what people did before this. And oh yes, I would wear a jeans skirt. It’s only a type of material, and holds up much better than my other clothing when I am running around doing errands, cleaning house, or just getting on the floor with my grandchildren,etc.