Out and About -- In the World at Large

[skirted_in_SF]

Carl,
I have just finished reading all nine pages of this thread and not one time do you mention where you purchase all of your attractive sounding skirts and accessories. Would you enlighten us please?

[crfriend]

Carl,
I have just finished reading all nine pages of this thread and not one time do you mention where you purchase all of your attractive sounding skirts and accessories. Would you enlighten us please?

They came from a mix of places. Some, including the silk skirts and the simple cotton knit calf-length ones are Sapphire's. Two of the velvet ones, plus the tiered skirts, are from Wal-Mart; the blue velvet one from QVC; the pair of plaid ones from Dress Barn (which deserve more mileage out and about); and the most recent ones, plus the new waistcoats, are from Historical Emporium.

[Kilted Musician]

Well... I'm currently on a business trip with my boss. We're currently in our hotel room getting caught up on emails. He's doing emails on his computer. I'm sitting here typing this, wearing a khaki, lightweight, slightly 'below the knee' skirt,' with a dark blue turtleneck pullover and Teva sandals! He knows I wear kilts but has never seen me wearing a skirt. No comments. He'd probably freak if I wore this outside! Heh heh...

--Rick

[Milfmog]

I flew from London Gatwick to Malta yesterday as I need to be in the factory all this week. To fly I decided that my Utilikilt Survival was the most suitable choice of attire for the flight. It has a good selection of pockets and the two large side pockets, being detatchable, are particularly effective at the baggage scanners.

As always the vast majority of people totally ignored how I was dressed, although the staff in one of the clothes shops were apparently fascinated, one of them recognised the kilt as a UK and commented that it was the first time she had seen one being worn. I hope the person inside the kilt was not too much of a shock to her

Before leaving Gatwick I had one Canadian woman in her fifties asking about it "shouldn't that be a tartan? Hell who cares? I love it." On the flight the lad I sat next to (around 25 years old and travelling with his father) looked at it and ten commented that the pockets looked practical as I pulled more and more stuff out of them. I was given a warning as I disembarked at Malta that I had better "hold on to the skirt, it's pretty windy out there" by one of the flight attendants. The driver who collected me, the hotel staff, and all the folks I met when I went out to find a wifi hot spot and a meal last night just glanced at, then ignored, the kilt.

I did note that there were only three skirted people on the flight; the other two were cabin crew. Did I care? No, I was comfortable.

Have fun,


Ian.

[BBB]

A kilt is very practical for travelling. I travelled in a kilt earlier this year and got a few smiles and no one really noticed. I had one comment about it must be cold at the car hire but after travelling from Norway it was quite warm. Going through security was easy as everything was in my sporran or jacket and not randomly distributed in pockets.
I am going to be kilted at a re union dinner this month.

[crfriend]

As has been commented on before, I started wearing skirts to work in the middle of a heat-wave last summer and have continued a couple of times per week since, even in the dead of winter. I vary the looks depending on mood and the local "need to impress", and today, for a high-level meeting regarding a project I am leading, I pulled out all the stops mainly to make a statement. The basic thrust was a presentation of a technical systems-monitoring project that mostly focusses on mind-numbing details that are pretty opaque to non-technical staff; using a real-world use-case and cogent descriptions of the design criteria, the technical and project-management teams managed to knock the proverbial baseball from the park.

Since I wanted something to provide additional "punch" -- and still wanted to wear a skirt -- I opted for one of Sapphire's old silk skirts in burgundy, a white dress-shirt, burgundy necktie to match the skirt, my new black waistcoat with my grandfather's pocket-watch, sheer legwear, and black dress shoes. And nobody said anything.

Tomorrow I start training my fellow sysadmins worldwide in the tools and systems I've been developing, and I'll wear a skirt for that too -- likely my below-ankle-length shimmery blue taffeta skirt with petticoat under, my blue silk brocade waistcoat and another pocket-watch, and a contrasting dress-shirt. However, nobody is going to notice; everybody else will be connected via computers and won't see the presenter.

[skirted_in_SF]

Your outfits sound stunning Carl. I wish I worked at your firm and could see them in person.

I'm currently leading a project to do a four version update in our accounting software. But I think my management would freak if I showed up in one of my silk skirts to discuss the project. Oh well, I push the envelope in other ways.

[Milfmog]

I'm very tempted to wear the kilt to work this week, it's warm here in Malta and it would be far more comfortable than trousers. However, since I have to submit to a pat down every time I enter of leave the production floor (about 30 times yesterday), I suspect it might cause more embarrassment to the security team than I wish to inflict on them.

I fully intend to wear it tonight when the project team (11 of us here today) go out for a meal together. For most of them (maybe all?) it will be the first time they've seen me in anything other than twin tubes. I expect a certain amount of barracking and good natured mickey taking, but it will all help to keep the atmosphere light and informal.

Have fun,


Ian.

[Edited to fix more typos than I care to admit to - Ian]

[AMM]

... I started wearing skirts to work in the middle of a heat-wave last summer and have continued a couple of times per week since, even in the dead of winter....

The idea of heading off to work in a skirt &c. is awfully attractive to me: putting on a dress shirt, maybe with tie and even a waist-length jacket or vest, wool or twill knee-length skirt in a coordinated color (longer in cold weather), and tights or knee socks, and heading down the hill, waiting on the platform, riding the train, walking to the subway, etc. In my mind's eye, it just seems so cool.

But have not the slightest desire to actually show up at my current workplace in anything but the drabbest of (male) business casual clothing. A pink dress shirt with a tie is about as transgressive as I've ever felt like being. There's something about working for a large, multinational company, with a corporate culture that's a lot like Dilbert (only not anywhere near as amusing) that leeches away any desire to show more than the minimum of "personality" or to invest much of one's self in the job. The past year or so, since the last mega-merger, have been a series of lessons in keeping my head down, doing no more than what I'm told and, as they say in the Army, never volunteering for anything, and counting the days until your kids are out of college. To connect this to men-in-skirts: it's also been a lesson in why men dress the way they do.

FWIW, I am told that someone (male) asked if he could wear a kilt to work, and was told: no. (Although I did see someone in a kilt at the London (UK) office's Christmas party -- maybe the UK people are less tight-assed about these things.)

I have sometimes considered bringing a skirt along and changing in the bathroom on the train on the way home. (The new Metro-North MU trains have really nice bathrooms with coathooks and enough room to change.) It might be a nice way to mark the transition from wage-slavery to freedom.

[crfriend]

The idea of heading off to work in a skirt &c. is awfully attractive to me: putting on a dress shirt, maybe with tie and even a waist-length jacket or vest, wool or twill knee-length skirt in a coordinated color (longer in cold weather), and tights or knee socks, and heading down the hill, waiting on the platform, riding the train, walking to the subway, etc. In my mind's eye, it just seems so cool.

It is cool, and I count myself fortunate that I work in a place that values me for what's inside my head and what I can do with it. I find it very liberating to be able to put on a skirt in the morning and go about my business.

But have not the slightest desire to actually show up at my current workplace in anything but the drabbest of (male) business casual clothing. A pink dress shirt with a tie is about as transgressive as I've ever felt like being. There's something about working for a large, multinational company, with a corporate culture that's a lot like Dilbert (only not anywhere near as amusing) that leeches away any desire to show more than the minimum of "personality" or to invest much of one's self in the job.

I felt precisely the same way this time last year when I was subject to active hostility by my immediate superios; I kept my head down, hit all the technical marks they demanded of me, and cherished the very bright line that I could cross fashion-wise once I transitioned from work-hours to off-hours.

FWIW, I am told that someone (male) asked if he could wear a kilt to work, and was told: no. (Although I did see someone in a kilt at the London (UK) office's Christmas party -- maybe the UK people are less tight-assed about these things.)

This is standard dull-headed thinking that can still pervade massive companies: the "Corporate Mentality" if you will. It's needless and pointless, but it does tend to solidify the hierarchy and points up who is allowed to abuse whom.

I have sometimes considered bringing a skirt along and changing in the bathroom on the train on the way home. (The new Metro-North MU trains have really nice bathrooms with coathooks and enough room to change.) It might be a nice way to mark the transition from wage-slavery to freedom.

That's certainly an option, and summer is coming. Why not give it a go?

[Raakone]

.
I have sometimes considered bringing a skirt along and changing in the bathroom on the train on the way home. (The new Metro-North MU trains have really nice bathrooms with coathooks and enough room to change.) It might be a nice way to mark the transition from wage-slavery to freedom.

I agree, go for it. And I just read of something similar in the book "The Great Railway Bazaar"...the author was on a train from Delhi to southern India, and aboard it where many Tamil men, who, as soon as they were aboard, used sheets to "toga" themselves, so they could easily change from "Delhi" corporate into their traditional sarongs. Seems like they're all on the same wavelength as you.

And sometime, I have to change on a train. Can't do it on a commuter train here though, Montreal's don't have bathrooms (although the newer ones will)

[Milfmog]

I did not wear the UK to dinner the other day as I had intended to since, by the time I left the factory there was no time to change; just dump the laptop and head for the meeting point.

However, I did choose the UK for the sightseeing tour of the island (as reported above) and was seen by the factory general manager from his appartment window as I walked the first couple of miles to the pick up point. Actually one of the other guys had commented on Monday that he thought he had seen me heading towards Slima, but when I merely acknowledged that I had walked he changed the focus of the conversation to discuss the sights on the island. I did not know the GM had seen me until we sat down for a beer after work on Tuesday evening. There were three others there when he raised the subject of "What were you wearing?" and an entertaining conversation ensued. All the others expressed the view that they would not consider wearing a kilt themselves. The GM tried to get a rise out of me by referring to it as a skirt, but it was all very good humoured and when he asked about underwear (why is there this fascination?) I replied with the "No looking, you have to check with your hands" response and they all laughed and decided that, should they see me in a kilt in future, it was unlikly they'd ask again

Sadly, we have now been joined by a representative of our customer, who is scheduled to fly home on the same plane as me, so it looks as though I will go home trousered rather than risk raising any eyebrows in areas the company treats with kid gloves. The silly part is that it would be my colleagues who were concerned about some imaginary dire consequence, but the customer would probably just crack a joke or two and accept my choice. Oh well, t'was ever thus.

Have fun,


Ian.

[crfriend]

... Well, at least if you consider Boston (MA/US) a big city...

Once every so often, I travel into the metropolis to my east to have a few cold ones with ex- co- workers and to generally wander around and look at things, and yesterday was one of those times. Except that yesterday was the first time that any of the group had seen me in anything but long trousers; yesterday I swapped the trousers for my long black tiered skirt.

I've always travelled in what could be known as "rough crowds" -- mostly due to the amount of good-natured abuse we heap atop one another -- and yesterday was no exception. It started with the bartender who got in a good jab or two until I pilfered a line from the Blues Brothers and informed him that at least I had a change of clothes and that he had on the same {bleep} he had on three years ago. There was further good-natured banter on the matter until everybody tired of it and we went to chatting about other matters; after the initial exchange, it just didn't matter that I was wearing a skirt.

Aside from friends and acquaintances, guys mostly either don't notice or otherwise do a double-take and that's that; gals on the other hand seem much more outgoing and likely to offer overtly positive commentary. I got two comments of, "Nice skirt!" from random strangers and not one whiff of negative commentary. I walked for about 2 miles or so initially before popping underground to catch the subway home. This included a walk through the Boston Common and the Public Gardens as well as following Boylston Street up to Massachusetts Avenue.

In the Public Gardens there was a young couple having a photo-shoot done of themselves, and the young lady was quite taken by my rig -- and said so. "Nice skirt! It even matches mine!". What a lovely young couple. I smiled, thanked her, offered a "thumbs up" and headed west again. It's nice to be noticed in a positive manner!

[JRMILLER]

Well done Carl! The trick is always to continue to be "out there" and demonstrate to the people that while we an interesting concept in dressing, we are otherwise good and kind people.

I almost always get the double-takes too, however, the kilts are generally conversation starters, the sarongs just get odd looks. When asked about being of Irish or Scottish decent, the answer is "yes, but I just like wearing these things anyway". Sometimes I answer, yes, the "Ohio" clan from the highlands of Mt. Vernon (a nearby "hill" in Ohio).

[crfriend]

Well done [..]! The trick is always to continue to be "out there" and demonstrate to the people that while we [have] an interesting concept in dressing, we are otherwise good and kind people.

I count myself fortunate in that if I'm in a good enough frame of mind to wear a skirt out and about I'm in a good enough frame of mind to be friendly -- perhaps not outgoing, but at least friendly. I'm also more likely to have a bit of a smile on my face.

Walking around Boston usually brings back fond memories for me as I spent more than a few years of my life actually doing just that in the pursuit of my (then) profession. Driving in and around the city has always been a hassle, so what I'd do is ditch the car in a parking garage somewhere (and get reimbursed for it) and walk or take the subway to get from site to site. 'Twas a demanding job, but one I had one hell of a lot of fun in, and made out quite well financially while the good times lasted. So, while I'll not say I had a s**t-eating grin on the whole time, I was enjoying my little jaunt and that surely came across in my overall bearing and demeanour.

Being in the city is such a change from the suburbs where a "skyscraper" might be eight stories high. I love good architecture -- of which Boston has plenty -- and it's a chance to reconnect with who I was twenty-plus years ago. It puts a bit of a spring back in my step, and the fact that I now wear skirts somehow makes it seem all the more special.

I almost always get the double-takes too, however, the kilts are generally conversation starters, the sarongs just get odd looks.

I'm not a "kilt type"; the assorted "rules and regulations" seem too strict for me, and I'm after a look that is too dressy for the uber-casual "modern" kilt style. So I settled on skirts that suit my personal aesthetic. My very long ones would have been too hot for yesterday: I would have par-boilled myself. So I settled one of my lightweight tiered skirts, a white shirt, and my red waistcoat. I fear that my very elegant long looks are going to have to wait until autumn until I can wear them again!

[...] the "Ohio" clan from the highlands of Mt. Vernon (a nearby "hill" in Ohio).

Given how tabular Ohio is, I can definitely appreciate the humour in that!