Do folks notice or not?

[Milfmog]

Self-confidence is the key to "bringing off" any sort of counter-cultural dress or behavior, whether it's tattoos, piercings, hairstyle, clothing (as here), or something else. Assert yourself and if somebody else doesn't like it, it's their problem, not yours.

...and there, in a nutshell, is everything you need to know about wearing a skirt out and about.

Look the world in the eye and dare it to disagree with you; the world will leave you in peace.

Have fun; it's your life, enjoy it,


Ian.

[skirtedMarine]

Recently,
I ventured out down the road to a friends house with my beloved canine and a six pack of my favored (Sierra Nevada) Pale ale wearing a denim skirt that I had made to order ( I don't know anything about sewing) The skirt was made to look like mens cargo shorts, It's 20 inches long, has mens jeans style front zipper and button closure, Mens sized belt loops, and a single inverted pleat in the front and the rear. The denim is soft (I am probably more rough around the edges) It has
Mens style pockets that make sense to me, I carry the same man crap that most of you carry, and I don't get the man purse thing because I can't see the need to carry pads or lipstick. Suddenly, I was in the company of several People I didn't know,and I was relieved to find that if anyone noticed, No one seemed to care. Personally, I feel that if we wear more "feminine" styles, We subject ourselves to rejection, Our Society is not accustomed to seeing men in skirts,and until They are, We might be better off off blending in and bieng a bit gentile on the poor suckers until they are more accustomed to seeing men in skirts of any kind. This was a "break out" experience for me, as I fear losing my job and "embarracing" my Wife, making the neighbors think I turned Gay.
Regards to My friends Kirbstone, Carl, and TM Bob,
Scott

[Kirbstone]

Good on you, Scott. Haven't heard from you for a while.

Great minds &c., but I have recently odered almost the exact same thing from a tailor, which I hope to get delivery of next month. It too will be 20" long, just right for nice weather (which we seldom get here), and will have man-sized pockets, belt loops & fly front &c.

Doing any boating?

Tom.

[skirtyscot]

Recently,I ventured out down the road to a friends house with my beloved canine and a six pack of my favored (Sierra Nevada) Pale ale wearing a denim skirt that I had made to order ( I don't know anything about sewing) The skirt was made to look like mens cargo shorts, It's 20 inches long, has mens jeans style front zipper and button closure, Mens sized belt loops, and a single inverted pleat in the front and the rear. The denim is soft (I am probably more rough around the edges) It has Mens style pockets that make sense to me, I carry the same man crap that most of you carry, and I don't get the man purse thing because I can't see the need to carry pads or lipstick. Suddenly, I was in the company of several People I didn't know,and I was relieved to find that if anyone noticed, No one seemed to care.

Judging by your description of your skirt, it's quite possible that few people did notice. The inverted pleat in particular must help to make it look like shorts.

Personally, I feel that if we wear more "feminine" styles, We subject ourselves to rejection, Our Society is not accustomed to seeing men in skirts,and until They are, We might be better off off blending in and bieng a bit gentile on the poor suckers until they are more accustomed to seeing men in skirts of any kind.

You a right, SM, but life's too short to wait that long! When it's cold outside I go for full length or knee-length with tights, neither mistakeable for trousers, and the poor suckers can like it or lump it!

And if your skirt is so well designed that peope don't notice what it is, then you are failing to get them used to seeing men in skirts, aren't you?

This was a "break out" experience for me, as I fear losing my job and "embarracing" my Wife, making the neighbors think I turned Gay.

Either let them think what they will, or talk to them and explain, or have loud sex with your wife with the window open!

[skirtedMarine]

Hey Tom,
good to hear from You and Thanks for the understanding , at least I Know that when I left that evening with My K9, (Sadie, a Pure bread Golden Retriever,) I Knew that My friends Knew that I was wearing a Skirt, Their friends and My K9 didn't care. And after the six pack of Siera Nevada, I didn't care if it bothered anyone.
I Took Nalu (My Boat) Out a couple of weeks ago with a buddy (I Knew from a Tea Party) and His Kids, Bought a Kyack to drag behind for the kids to do what Kids do,
Honestly never got the sails up (For lack of wind, and too many Kids) But at least a good time was had for all.

The Big News for Today is that Sadie Caught a wild Chicken, She pranced around for a.bout 45 Min. Like the proudest dog You ever saw! I plucked, cleaned, cooked and de-boned that stringgy Bird for her and mixed it with her Kible for dinner, You've never seen a happier dog in Your life!
They say that if You put Your Dog and Your wife in the trunk of the car for an Hour, Your Best friend will be happy to see you You!
Regards,
Scott

[Sarongman]

Hey SM. Great to see you back. If I were to put wife and dog(s) in the trunk (boot) of her car, the dogs would lick me to death on release, however the wife would pulverise me. My car is a twin cab 4wd ute with a bullbar and I sometimes get some quizzical looks when I get out in an ankle length skirt.
As an aside, I had three close friends through high school years, we were all of us "gun mad", and decided to try Facebook to rediscover them. Two are on Facebook and the great pleasure was finding one who became a Marine (he had dual nationality) with at least one tour of duty in Vietnam. Fact is, however, we lost contact at that time and I feared the worst. The other, true to form, is posed in a Wyatt Earp outfit with Winchester. Also pictured are toddler grandchildren posed in big hats and bandanas.
Some of the more "politically correct" here will now say that I've been a redneck from way back from the evidence now given--and I probably have to own up!

[skirtedMarine]

Hey Skirtyscot,
Thanks for Your reply and encouragment, and the thought of making Tarzan noises with the window open! You cracked me up,
Scott

[skirtedMarine]

Hey Sarongman,
I was glad to read You found your classmate who became a Marine and served in Vietnam, Goodness Knows We didn't get enough of those guys back. I've never heard the term "Gun Mad" before, possibly like I still am, I have two of those lever action Winchesters, and a few others that might even be considered "over the top" Enough of that subject as I don't want to ofend any of my "liberal" friends on this forum.
No doubt about the dogs licking us to death upon the release from the trunk (Boot)
Mans best friend who's Love seems to be unconditional, the wife? Not so much!
Scott

[skirtyscot]

All part of the service, Scott!

Any chance of a photo of the skirt? It really does sound like an excellent design, while being definitely a skirt rather than a kilt. I have a couple of denim skirts which are quite similar, but one is straight and would be better if it allowed me a rather longer stride, while the other is flared to give free movement. (See my pics thread, last one on page 2 and on page 4, respectively.) The flared one shouts "skirt" and I don't wear it often, as I would prefer a skirt that leaves a straighter outline.

[skirtedMarine]

I would be proud to post a pic of the skirt, I am still kind of a dumbass about how to do it, and will have to wait till wife is out bowling or at church to take a pic. My S.O. Is steadfast against skirts for men
It's a good design, and is definitely a "Manskirt" as I would define one.

All of my replies are from my phone, because S.O.Hogs the house computer every night. I hope all will Please forgive My Typo's I'll try to be carefull, but I have fat fingers, and these buttons are small.

[skirtedMarine]

I've taken some pics with my phone, still trying to figure out how to post them, Open for suggestions?
Scott

[ChrisM]

Sure, they notice.

Yesterday I cycled down to the Super Bowl festivities to hear a favorite band. I stopped at our church's costume-making event and chatted with friends for a while, then continued on to downtown. I wore a green mid-calf skirt with a fairly long slit in front. When cycling the skirt tends to blow open at the slit - I had forgotten that aspect when I chose it. Nothing is revealed, it's not that sort of issue, it just gives me some flapping fabric that probably looks odd from afar.

Of course, no bikes allowed in the festival, so I walked to the concert venue. There were many double-takes at the guy in the skirt. The Super Bowl is bringing a million visitors to our city, and many are coming from cities where men in skirts are really rare. (Locals here rarely double take at seeing a man in a skirt...or a lady dressed as a pirate wench...or a guy on half-meter stilts dressed as an alien...)

Of course, now that I think about it maybe those double takes were "look at that outstandingly handsome man in a Fedora." (<smile>)

The performance by The Tin Men was great though - as usual!

[allen476]

Recently,
The skirt was made to look like mens cargo shorts, It's 20 inches long, has mens jeans style front zipper and button closure, Mens sized belt loops, and a single inverted pleat in the front and the rear. The denim is soft (I am probably more rough around the edges) It has
Mens style pockets that make sense to me, I carry the same man crap that most of you carry, and I don't get the man purse thing because I can't see the need to carry pads or lipstick. Suddenly, I was in the company of several People I didn't know,and I was relieved to find that if anyone noticed, No one seemed to care. Personally, I feel that if we wear more "feminine" styles, We subject ourselves to rejection, Our Society is not accustomed to seeing men in skirts,and until They are, We might be better off off blending in and bieng a bit gentile on the poor suckers until they are more accustomed to seeing men in skirts of any kind. This was a "break out" experience for me, as I fear losing my job and "embarracing" my Wife, making the neighbors think I turned Gay.
Regards to My friends Kirbstone, Carl, and TM Bob,
Scott

I whole heartily agree with you on this. I think most people couldn't care less as long as the skirt is male in presentation. It is when we deviate into things that are considered more feminine (read: Floral prints, lace, pastel colors, taffeta, etc.) that we open ourselves up to the ridicule.

I do have to say, I have been going out skirted for the last few months and some observations I have made.......

Most people don't notice a skirt if it looks like shorts. I had to go to all my pre-surgical testing and then I went shopping for some clothes 2 weeks ago in preparation for some surgery and every person I encountered thought that my knee length cargo skirt was shorts. I only had one person that figured out that it wasn't and that was the manager of the furniture store I went to to deal on getting a new bed. He thought it was a kilt.

I just bought my first kilt from UTKilts. While it is a little smaller than I thought it would be, It is still by far a favorite right now. It fits snugly at the waist so I don't need a belt and it doesn't feel like it is going to ride down either. the length is perfect and the dark navy color I like a lot. I wore it to the hospital Tuesday and received nothing but compliments on it. I never heard a negative comment at all (well except from my mom but that is her). Three nurses gave me huge compliments on it (all of course in front of my mom) so that was a real confidence builder.

But for me right now.....There won't be any skirt/kilt wearing for a few weeks as I heal. The only thing I am planning on wearing this week is my nightgown/robe.

[crfriend]

[...] I think most people couldn't care less as long as the skirt is male in presentation. It is when we deviate into things that are considered more feminine (read: Floral prints, lace, pastel colors, taffeta, etc.) that we open ourselves up to the ridicule.

Personally, I think it's more of a matter of degree rather than an outright prohibition.

From my experiece, foral prints can work on skirts so long as they're subdued, and work perfectly well on ridiculously "loud" Hawaiian shirts. I don't have anything with lace on it that I wear on a day-to-day basis, but I do have a shot of me costumed in "pirate" garb that has great frothy bits of lace at the (high) neckline and wrists that looks quite good. Pastel colours, too, can work in context; I'd avoid a pastel skirt, but a pastel (which is merely a desaturated colour) shirt with other contrasting pieces works quite well. Finally taffeta -- one of my very long skirts is made out of the stuff and I find it works quite well indeed; a picture of it is in the "Pics and Looks" section under my thread and I've worn it to work a number of times, however it's a "special purpose" piece because it's dry-clean only.

I wore [my UTkilts kilt] to the hospital Tuesday and received nothing but compliments on it. I never heard a negative comment at all (well except from my mom but that is her). Three nurses gave me huge compliments on it (all of course in front of my mom) so that was a real confidence builder.

That the compliments were issued in front of your mother should tell her something!

A number of years ago when I had to get an MRI (they always skip the politically-incorrect "N" nowadays, the wimps) none of the staff batted an eyelid about my calf-length bright red cotton skirt. They just made sure I had no metal on me and fed me down the tube.

Good luck with your recovery!

[skirtyscot]

A while ago I concluded that the answer to the question in the title is "yes they do". But then a weird thing happened.

Last weekend was a drinking weekend with some friends. They had not seen me skirted before, so there was much surpirse when I turned up in my long brown cord skirt. Two of the guys seemed to get their heads round the idea pretty quickly, but Charlie spent most of the first hour swearing in disbelief, and he wanted to go into the hotel at a different time from me, so as not to be associated with me. But he calmed down as well after a while.

Anyhow, on the way home Robert and I got the bus to Glasgow before going our separate ways. We each had a couple of errands to run before finishing the journey home. Half an hour later, who should I see walking pretty much towards me along a pedestrian street but Robert. Instead of giving him a friendly wave I decided to see how he would react to me. He appeared not to notice me at all (just like most other people in the street). He had got used to the idea of me in a skirt, so I doubt he was too embarrassed to acknowledge me, and he's not the type of person to ignore you. So maybe I was wrong, and people really don't notice.