Skirting at NEFFA (USA)

[AMM]

If you wanted to see a lot of men (and some boys) in
skirts, NEFFA was the place to be this past weekend.
(Apr. 21-23.)

NEFFA, for those of you so out of touch as to not already
know , is the New England Folk Festival Association,
which runs an annual festival of dancing and music-making,
mostly in the traditional styles of New England and the
British Isles, which takes over nearly every available
square inch of the high school in Natick, Massachussetts
(near Boston, MA, USA) See http://www.neffa.org for
details.

One of the main activities is contra-dancing, which is an
ancestor of square dancing (but simpler, so you don't have
to take a 12-week course to be allowed to dance.)
(See http://www.sbcds.org/contradance/whatis/) Now,
when 400+ people are filling up a high-school gym swinging,
twirling, reeling, circling, etc., for 12 hours straight
to lively reels and jigs, the hall gets hot and so do they.

And men have discovered (like a lot of ladies have) that
a loose skirt is cooler (in many senses) to dance in than
long pants or even shorts. And a long, full skirt adds
something to the experience of those extra twirls you put
into a dos-a-dos ("dosie doe" for the square dancers.)

There must have been at least a thousand or so people
there, and I'd guess maybe 100 men (and boys) were wearing
skirts. If you're looking for a place where men in skirts
are accepted, this is a good one.

There were all kinds of skirts: one fellow took a bunch of
neckties and sewed them together. A lot had tie-died or
india-print gauze skirts. Tiered skirts were popular, too.
I saw 3 or 4 utilikilts, a few tartan kilts, and at least
one pleated tartan skirt, basically a kilt with a lot less
wool than a "real" kilt. One friend of mine (older than
me) was saying how she came in to find her husband dancing
in a skirt -- it was hot, he'd failed to bring his shorts,
so he went to one of the vendors and bought a skirt!


Anyway, I spent the whole weekend in my "contra" skirts.
Friday night, I arrived about 1/2 hour before it ended
for the day, but got in a dance or two. I wore my long
(35") yellow skirt, which really sticks out when I spin.
It was a bit warm, even though it was late and chilly out.
Even spinning (to open up the skirt and to create a breeze)
didn't help.

We had to park 2 miles away and take shuttle busses
(yellow school busses), and when climbing up the steps
I was reminded of the down-side of long skirts -- I kept
stepping on the hem. The skirt has some lace connecting
some of the tiers, and I was afraid it would rip one off,
but it held. Conclusion: 35" is not really practical.

The next day I wore a shorter (30") blue skirt. It has an
elastic waistband, and I have decided that this doesn't
work: when the skirt flares out and drags on the next
dancer, it tends to pull the skirt down. I think I need to
break down and put in a drawstring. I did some dancing,
and when I got tired, I got out my guitar and joined
in with some musicians who were "jamming" around a piano
someone had left in the hall. Fortunately, my wrong chords
weren't too loud (well, the odd *right* chord wasn't too
audible, either), so they didn't tell me to go away.


On Sunday, I wore a 33" denim tiered skirt from
Wal-Mart, the only skirt I didn't make myself (but I
did add a pocket, which I regard as an absolute must.)
I don't like it as much as the others, because it's too
close-fitting around my hips and butt for a flared skirt
-- I think the combination of fitted down to your crotch
and then sticking out below that tends to emphasize
my overly-ample middle.

I tried wearing this with a "body-suit"
([url]http://www.bodysuit.com)[/url], but the crotch strap gets soaked
from the sweat. I switched to a T-shirt later in the day.

That day, one woman asked me why she sees so many men in
skirts. I trotted out my usual reasons -- less confining,
cooler, and "I just feel like it." She wondered if we
would be in any danger if we walked around town like that.
I stuck to my opinion that the world is already not all
*that* safe, so wearing a skirt isn't likely to make it
all that much less so, but she seemed genuinely concerned
that if, say, her son were to walk around in a skirt, he
would get beaten up.

I decided to be daring and wear the outfit for my drive
home. I ended up standing outside my car for about
15 minutes at the gas pump holding the nozzle (world's
slowest gas pump!), and the only reaction I got was one
teen-age boy who walked past and then came back to look
again (a sort of "is that what I thought it was"? look)
and then went off to pay for his gas. And when I got home,
even though I'm not ready to deal with everyone in my
town knowing I wear skirts, I tried unloading the car
in my skirt. Again, one person saw me, but

Observations:

For dancing, at least, I wear a (home-made) petticoat
plus a slip, and the skirts I make also have linings.
This helps give the wonderful feeling of you going one
way and your clothes going another when you twirl and
then stop. Oddly enough, the extra layers don't seem to
make things any hotter (perhaps because I use light-weight
nylon and sheer polyester.) Shorter would help, though
-- I'm about 2/3 of the way through making a 25" skirt.
(Very full, of course, like all my contra-dancing skirts.)

I have to say, most of the guys wearing skirts didn't seem
to have much sense of what they looked like. For example,
I think a too-small T-shirt with a beer slogan on it just
doesn't go with a flowered India-print skirt.

Actually, even the guys wearing pants or shorts at most
contra dances don't seem to dress to look nice.
Some men (like me) like to dress up a little, at least
to the level of "business casual". A dance is, after all,
a social event, not an hour of pumping iron at the gym.
But some guys wear shorts, running shoes, and sleeveless
T-shirts, which for those of us over 30 (or 40!) tends
to emphasize our waistlines, armpits, hairy arms, etc.



-- AMM

[crfriend]

NEFFA, for those of you so out of touch as to not already
know , is the New England Folk Festival Association,
which runs an annual festival of dancing and music-making,
mostly in the traditional styles of New England and the
British Isles, which takes over nearly every available
square inch of the high school in Natick, Massachussetts
(near Boston, MA, USA) See http://www.neffa.org for
details.

Wow! That's a mere stone's throw from where I work. I was probably just going home when you showed up.

We had to park 2 miles away and take shuttle busses
(yellow school busses), and when climbing up the steps
I was reminded of the down-side of long skirts -- I kept
stepping on the hem. The skirt has some lace connecting
some of the tiers, and I was afraid it would rip one off,
but it held. Conclusion: 35" is not really practical.

That's not necessarily true -- it's all a "management" thing. My tiered peasant skirt is a 36-incher, and I've had to learn how to handle it on things like stairs. It's not ankle-length because of my height (I'm 6'4"/193cm), but it was a challenge negotiating stairs before I learned how. Now, the manoeuvers required to manage it come quite naturally; I gently lift the front of it as I go up stairs (just enough to keep the hem from getting stepped on) and sweep it behind me as I descend (to keep the hem from "sweeping the floor"). The remarkable thing is how natural the "management" has become (unlike the first time I wore a longer skirt in the car -- I immediately closed the hem in the door!) In fact, done well, the "management tactics" are almost invisible to onlookers unless they're really paying attention -- and the odds are that they aren't. The only requirement is that your hands have to be free to manipulate the skirt over and around obstacles.

Before somebody goes off and remarks about how "girly" such tactics are, I'll submit that such things are "skirt things" not "girl things" -- they go with the territory of wearing a skirt well in public.

I tried wearing [the 33-incher] with a "body-suit"
(http://www.bodysuit.com), but the crotch strap gets soaked
from the sweat. I switched to a T-shirt later in the day.

Other than the sweating problem, how was the comfort level? I've often wondered whether that was an apparel avenue I'd be interested in.

That day, one woman asked me why she sees so many men in
skirts. I trotted out my usual reasons -- less confining,
cooler, and "I just feel like it." She wondered if we
would be in any danger if we walked around town like that.
I stuck to my opinion that the world is already not all
*that* safe, so wearing a skirt isn't likely to make it
all that much less so, but she seemed genuinely concerned
that if, say, her son were to walk around in a skirt, he
would get beaten up.

Natick is pretty harmless about things like that. The town is very affluent and rather forward-looking. I sincerely doubt that there's be any sort of trouble whatsoever other than the usual schoolyard crud that happens everywhere.

I'II have to say, most of the guys wearing skirts didn't seem
to have much sense of what they looked like. For example,
I think a too-small T-shirt with a beer slogan on it just
doesn't go with a flowered India-print skirt.

Now that's a problem. If we're going to wear skirts, and defy "convention" in the process, we really should make an effort to look good in them. Looking slovenly just isn't the way to move the notion that skirts are OK for guys forward.

A dance is, after all, a social event, not an hour of pumping iron at the gym.

Hear hear!

[nitrox]

3rd, poster on this thread.. man people must be sleeping!


ok, here's my rant... if u don't want to read it, then close ur eyes or close the page...

I know that now in the midwest this place is conserv. beyond anything I had ever imagined. I coloured my hair red, and people are hating me (mostly the older ones) and so there's a real reason why I'm not wearing a skirt or kilt around here; as it's hazardous to my health.

I've also noticed that most people on here are wearing kilts, that said, man; wear a skirt once in a while. Kilts are nice, but they're very common, experiment sometime. All of you too who have digital cams, take fotos of yourselves outside with others in a skirt or yeh, a kilt (if u must)

If you don't have a digi cam then save around $200 and buy yourselves a decent one and then read above paragraph again. I've seen far too many people go and bragg about how easy it is in a skirt, but never seem to be able to get a foto of what they were doing up online, yet when some of them get one up, it's in the bloody living room or something. I can imagine that there's heaps of people on this board that are too scared to do it, but don't go around telling people that you're doing more than you are. It's not cool to other legit people, (the ones who are doing this know who you are)....



P.S. don't correct or say anything about my grammer, nor try to make yourselves feel superiour by insulting me in some way. If you do that, you have too much time on your hands, and this isn't a college paper and doesn't need to be corrected. End 'O Story.

[hiker]

I've also noticed that most people on here are wearing kilts, that said, man; wear a skirt once in a while. Kilts are nice, but they're very common, experiment sometime. All of you too who have digital cams, take fotos of yourselves outside with others in a skirt or yeh, a kilt (if u must)

Wow - okay you're having a bad night.

I don't know how often you need to wear a skirt vs a kilt to be often. However I've worn a kilt 1-2 times a week and a skirt 1-2 times a week for the past 4 months. Some weeks I have MUGs all week but usually I work pants into the routine. I wear them all day - at the store, at church, etc. I generally don't wear them to work, but have - both skirts and kilts. I don't want to challenge my clients. I agree that kilts are more psychologically comfortable than skirts but it doesn't stop me from wearing skirts.

[Boatman398]

Don't recall ever posting a photo of me in the house. Like my avatar usually on or near the beach. Some of me at work . I wear skirts most of the time off work as they are not suitable for climing around large diesel engines on yachts. I have worn them when assembling parts in the shop or while doing lathe or mill work in the shop

[jlhansen]

All of you too who have digital cams, take fotos of yourselves outside with others in a skirt or yeh, a kilt (if u must)

If you don't have a digi cam then save around $200 and buy yourselves a decent one and then read above paragraph again. I've seen far too many people go and bragg about how easy it is in a skirt, but never seem to be able to get a foto of what they were doing up online, yet when some of them get one up, it's in the bloody living room or something. I can imagine that there's heaps of people on this board that are too scared to do it, but don't go around telling people that you're doing more than you are. It's not cool to other legit people, (the ones who are doing this know who you are)....

... exactly are the photos of you, in the living room or otherwise? The photo gallery is loaded with pictures of people out and about.

Be mindful of glass houses.

John

[nitrox]

everyone who I mentioned who usually is in a foto with a skirt is answering the comment like they think they're guilty.

oh well,.... good chatting with u all while it lasted.

[AMM]

...when climbing up the steps [of the bus]
I was reminded of the down-side of long skirts -- I kept
stepping on the hem. .... Conclusion: 35" is not really practical.

That's not necessarily true -- it's all a "management" thing. My tiered peasant skirt is a 36-incher, and ... it was a challenge negotiating stairs before I learned how. Now, ...; I gently lift the front of it as I go up stairs (just enough to keep the hem from getting stepped on) and sweep it behind me as I descend (to keep the hem from "sweeping the floor"). ... The only requirement is that your hands have to be free to manipulate the skirt over and around obstacles.

That was the problem: I needed one hand for the guitar and the other
for the hand-rail (the steps in a school bus are quite steep.)

I tried wearing [the 33-incher] with a "body-suit" ...

Other than the sweating problem, how was the comfort level? I've often wondered whether that [bodysuit] was an apparel avenue I'd be interested in.

It was reasonably comfortable. Because it is nylon, it can be cool or even chilly if it's wet and there's a wind. One nice thing is that it's very stretchy, so you don't feel constrained in your movements. It's nice to feel free to move both below and above.

The crotch part is mostly a problem when you use the toilet, as you have to unsnap and snap it up again. And you have to choose underwear that is comfortable under it.

-- AMM

[crfriend]

That was the problem: I needed one hand for the guitar and the other for the hand-rail (the steps in a school bus are quite steep.)

Well, that pretty well precludes using your hands for skirt-control. The only other method available to you, then, would be to gently kick the hem out of the way each time you take a step. (Don't dismiss that notion out-of-hand; a very good female friend of mine from many years back constructed her own wedding gown (pity she wasn't marrying me!) and had to teach herself how to move about in it gracefully. She'd been a pants-wearer roughly since birth, and really didn't know how to handle a gown; she wound up teaching herself how to do it (I suspect she had some coaching somewhere along the line). After I gave her a bit of good-natured grief about not being able to "carry her costume" she came right back at me and said, "Sooner or later I'll get you in a rig like this and see how you do!". If only she knew what I wear now....)

But I digress....

[The bodysuit] was reasonably comfortable. Because it is nylon, it can be cool or even chilly if it's wet and there's a wind. One nice thing is that it's very stretchy, so you don't feel constrained in your movements. It's nice to feel free to move both below and above.

Interesting. I may well give one a go. Thanks.