sl893 wrote:It's great to hear that by and large everyone on here is of the frame of mind that if you like it and it feels right then go with it. It's your choice to do what makes you happy/comfortable, irrespective of what society may deem one way or the other.
In play here is that adopting what are considered "feminine" styles can be fraught with peril and one needs to be entirely comfortable -- in all meanings of the word -- when doing so. Comfort engenders confidence, and confidence is what shows well to the world. Dogs, it is said, can smell fear -- well humans can, too, albeit not as finely; if I guy is unconventionally dressed for his surroundings he'd better be confident in what he's doing else people
will think poorly of him.
I was more looking at it from the standpoint that if we want to make a massive change in the way skirts can be worn mainstream, and viewed by everyone in society, it may potentially be easier to start with getting as many men wearing as masculine skirts as possible, as this would be easier for society to accept initially, then as society comes around to the idea and is more used to seeing this in their everyday lives, and it then comes across as 'normal', then start to push the boundaries with the more feminine styles etc.
I remain unconvinced that's necessary or even desired. In the US, certainly, and likely elsewhere, masculinity has fallen into strong disfavour and men in the modern world are little more than sperm-donors, wallets, and should-be prisoners. The only time the notion really enters is when women want to purloin styles that have been historically masculine in the past couple of hundred years. Recall that it was barbarians on horseback that first introduced trousers and that pretty much did for the toga and the tunic. The decay continued over the centuries and the last nail was really driven into the coffin of single-tube and overtly fancy garments for men by the French Revolution. Smocks and the like were the last vestiges of the earlier time.
So, with overt masculinity being reviled by (what passes for) modern society, adhering to the notion makes little sense; you're going to catch stick for it anyway, so why not come up with a particular style
you're happy with and cultivate that. There are a few here who do that and could be regarded as grand-masters of it. JeffB and ChrisM come to mind for producing some very good looks. Some folks produce edgy looks and some produce very conservative staid looks -- and I believe this should be regarded as healthy expression.
Was thinking at it from the way women first started to wear pants, with distinctively feminine characteristics, always with a side zip instead of a front fly, always frilly and with flower patterns on them, then eventually once society was comfortable with it they adapted all the masculine features such that now a pair of jeans today would be almost identical regardless of gender.
Side-zip frilly trousers for women only stated to show up in the 1970s after trousers had already been firmly entrenched as an option -- and women did it for the same reason that us lot are rebelling: trousers only, with boring cuts and patterns, and stiff scratchy fabrics got to be an intolerable drag. Out of curiosity, when was the last time anybody here saw a woman in a pair of fancy trousers with a column of blossoms running up one leg? My guess is decades ago.
It seems to me that there is also a massive acceptance of Kilts already, in that there are loads of men more than happy to wear a kilt out and about, but if they get heckled for wearing a skirt they argue adamantly, i'm not wearing a skirt, its a kilt. Adding to the perception of masculinity associated with this particular style of MUG, even though it is very similar to many other styles of skirt
Kilts get a pass in this regard as they're universally recognised as menswear thanks to the (hard-headed, thankfully) Scots contingent. But kilted skirts abound, and sometimes it takes a watchful eye to properly know the differences. (Even Richard Branson managed to commit a faux-pas by donning one with the pleats in front (until someone told him better).) But the kilt, as a piece of formal regalia suffers from the same problems as "traditional" western monkey-suits -- too many rules, regulations, and restrictions. Should we not look to liberate ourselves from such silliness?
