Are We Winning?

[couyalair]

I got around the difficulty of sewing a fly (not that one really needs one in a skirt) by converting a pair of trousers, keeping waistband, belt loops, fly and pockets as they were and opening up the crotch. Saves a lot of bother, even if it's not all that easy to produce a smooth flat finish.

Just at present, I'm wearing what was once a pair of trousers, cut off at the knees, opened up on the righthand side, leaving a front apron with a fly in the centre, and extended the back round and across the front as an under-apron, by sewing spare cloth from a leg onto the free edge.

That's surely as clear as mud; I'd better take photo. Be patient!

Martin

[Grok]

While there may be tiny groups in many countries, that are keen on skirts but may or may not wear them in public, it seems to me that certain parts of north America are the only places where skirts are worn, thanks to the wily advertizing by Utilikilts of Seattle.


Martin

Links seem to indicate that - despite the lack of a kilting tradition - there is some interest in the continental European countries. Concievably, a new design could appear in one of those countries, and achieve some acceptance.

[couyalair]

I got around the difficulty of sewing a fly by converting a pair of trousers, keeping waistband, belt loops, fly and pockets as they were and opening up the crotch. ...
I'd better take photo. Be patient!

Well, here you are :
Wrap skirt :

The belt seems to have slipped as I had not tightened it properly. Should be higher.
The front edge is not straight, as I had to re-sew the front seam to get the front panel to lay flat, and I was too lazy to redo the hem.
As it is symmetrical, I don't mind.



The fly is still there, but sewn up.



Lifting the front apron to show the under apron made from cloth of the trouser leg.

This skirt is wide enough not to need pleats in the rear. Another one that I made some years ago has a box pleat at the rear made from the second trouser leg.

Martin

[Colin]

Well I wear a kilt most of the time at home and a denim Unionkilt for dress down Fridays at work. I think people are happy to accept my freedom of clothing, but I can't yet say that any men have asked for contact details with a view to buying a kilt/skirt for themselves.

[Daryl]

Yes we are winning in the sense that social acceptance is high. In fact that is practically won. We aren't winning in the sense of availability being there, and that's probably because men uniformly report that they wouldn't wear a skirt and shareholders are a cautious lot, preventing retailers from sticking their necks out, especially in this economic climate. I also think it doesn't help that fashion leaders always come out with quite unmanly designs, as if merely looking like art on a man's frame was enough.

It's a chicken-egg catch 22. The same thing has happened with the electric car. Consumers said they wouldn't buy them, but consumer polls are not reliable when it comes to novel things. I think the experience of Utilikilts in the American northwest is the proper guage. It's not unusual to see men in Utilikilts there, even contractors. The existence of a store and booths at county fairs made them a supply-side success. Now Utilikilts is opening another store, this time in San Francisco. It won't suprise me if a wave of demand follows a few years from now, causing more retailers to make products for men available.

[GerdG]

I have been away from this forum for a very long time. One of the reasons were that I see no progress for men wearing skirts, and one of the major problems to face, as I see it, is not the society per se, but is due to the fact that many men in skirts go far too far and far too fast. They want it all here and now, and (therefore, to my opinion) they get nothing.

If men in skirts shall ever be a reality, apart from members of this and other forums, skirt wearing men must become generally accepted, by other men, from where the potential must come, and by women, including their own wives or girlfriends. Men in general have no interest in appearing feminine, or they dare not. Women do not want a sissy, or they dare not tell their friends, family or colleagues, should they do so.
Whether the truth is the one or other alternative doesn’t matter. Men must be men, appear manly in the eyes of their surroundings. Manly means coming so close as possible to established “norms”, not their own beliefs.

I see no problems if a denim skirt simply replaces trousers or shorts, like Stu said it. I have been there myself. And I’m pretty convinced that most people could find it acceptable. But I do see a lot of troubles if the skirt is to be combined with high heels, pantyhose, coloured nails, long hair etc. A bandwagon effect is close to being non existing.

When women started wearing trousers, they never wanted to look or appear like men. They got their own trouser design, in different, thinner fabric and with the zipper at the side. It took years before their trousers would have a front zipper.
They continued wearing their own shoes etc. The only really visible difference was that they had replaced their skirt with a pair of slacks.

To men longing for more fellow skirters, my advice is less is more.
I’ll stick to my kilts, worn not as garb but in a casual way, with the kilt combined with only a few “highland” items. Another less is more solution, by the way.

[couyalair]

Quite agree, Gerd.
The simpler the better.
Skirting for comfort, not for attracting attention.

Martin

[SkirtRevolution]

GerdG I also agree, When looking at the success of Utilikilt I can see that it has become popular by the way they sold the product. The key point being - Men can look masculine in a skirt garment made and designed for men. Personally I think this is the main reason why they are so successful and have apart from the traditional kilts become the most popular MUGs on the market today. Men will buy it if they don't look feminine. If we can start promoting that men in skirts can look masculine and showing manly examples then men will start to follow the trend. We need to brake down this idea that skirts are feminine.

[GerdG]

Men can look masculine in a skirt garment made and designed for men. If we can start promoting that men in skirts can look masculine and showing manly examples then men will start to follow the trend. We need to brake down this idea that skirts are feminine.

Exactly. And UKs are by design definite masculine skirted garments. Proof: Nobody should ever think of wearing high heels with a Utilikilt. Would look ridiculous.

[SkirtRevolution]

I have recently been seeing that more and more designers in their 2011-2012 collection are introducing men's skirts. Some are awesome, some are not nice, but regardless we are seeing a definate change in men's clothing. Some in the fashion industry say in about 10 years we maybe seeing it in wall-mart and target. All I can say is that the men's skirt seems to be here to stay and on the rise in popularity and even though it may not be mainstream just yet, the "Shock Factor" has reduced dramatically and people are starting to accept this trend just like all the other trends we see today. I am also noticing on fashion blogs where people show their own designs (these are everyday people with an interest in fashion) that there are many guys wearing skirts. It seems that there are others who are pushing the mens skirt not so much for comfort but more for aesthetics and fashion which is making the man skirt even more popular. Like everything in society, people are no longer surprised by the skirt for men so it seems that designers are now not afraid to show case them.

The more I look the more I see that we are on the precipice of a revolution in mens fashion and its the skirt that is leading the way.

[couyalair]

Precipice?
Sounds dangerous !!!

Martin

[azhiker]

would rather not wait 10 years. lol. not getting any younger.

[crfriend]

would rather not wait 10 years. lol. not getting any younger.

The solution to this conundrum, of course, is to not wait; the solution is to accept being avant garde and leading the way. Waiting passively for somebody else is an excellent way to consign one's self to the sidelines, sometimes permanently.

The current body of evidence that we have on hand here is that folks mostly do not care what you are wearing, just so long as certain standards of modesty are retained. Times right now are pretty bad, and most folks are vastly more worried about their own situations than what the bloke next to them on the tram is wearing. It'll be interesting when (if!) this current malaise burns off to see if folks all of a sudden do take notice that there is the occasional bloke who wears skirts, and what their reaction will be. If they recoil, we can always come back with, "Where have you been? I've been dressing like this for years!"

It's been especially noted that denim skirts are almost universally tolerated, likely by being confused for shorts. It is highly probable that other styles might be tolerated, or even welcomed, as well; I can attest that I've never come in for undue heat for my skirt wearing -- and I do not "do" denim -- but this is the voice of a lone individual.

So, if you don't want to wait, don't! But if you do wait, it may be a long one.

[Daryl]

would rather not wait 10 years. lol. not getting any younger.

The solution to this conundrum, of course, is to not wait; the solution is to accept being avant garde and leading the way. Waiting passively for somebody else is an excellent way to consign one's self to the sidelines, sometimes permanently.

The current body of evidence that we have on hand here is that folks mostly do not care what you are wearing, just so long as certain standards of modesty are retained. Times right now are pretty bad, and most folks are vastly more worried about their own situations than what the bloke next to them on the tram is wearing. It'll be interesting when (if!) this current malaise burns off to see if folks all of a sudden do take notice that there is the occasional bloke who wears skirts, and what their reaction will be. If they recoil, we can always come back with, "Where have you been? I've been dressing like this for years!"

It's been especially noted that denim skirts are almost universally tolerated, likely by being confused for shorts. It is highly probable that other styles might be tolerated, or even welcomed, as well; I can attest that I've never come in for undue heat for my skirt wearing -- and I do not "do" denim -- but this is the voice of a lone individual.

So, if you don't want to wait, don't! But if you do wait, it may be a long one.

Re-reading this old thread was illuminating. I definitely did not wait but I see my own predictions being shown for the optimism they were.

[Darryl]

Skirtmen - Lead The Way! OooohRAH!