Out and About -- In the World at Large

[dillon]

I wore the Carhartt skirt out Monday night with the wife. We saw the documentary "Finding Vivian Maier", very interesting. She had quite the eye for an interesting photo, and really highlighted the fine line between genius and insanity.

[Darryl]

Wore my black knee-length pleated skirt out with black knee socks and black shoes.

Paid a bill, walked around the mall, got a Cobb Salad, walked some more, bought some vitamins and PGX super fiber and some groceries.

The high point was in the mall and three young twenty-something ladies gave me the old up and down 'hungry look" with the tall red-head saying "he looks good."

At the grocery a guy asked if I was Scottish, so I said Scots-Irish truthfully enough

[Caultron]

Wore my black knee-length pleated skirt out...

Good for you, Darryl. It's really a much smaller deal than most people think.

[Darryl]

Just for giggles I put on my "running skirt" and cut the grass. Pleasantly cool everywhere except for the sweat beading on my forehead. I few cars drove by but didn't seem to notice. A few pedestrians gave a look and went on, at least half just nodded back at my nod and went on.

[skirtingtheissue]

Most of the time I don't get any comments but today I did. Went into a convenience store wearing a LL Bean plain olive green above-the-knee skirt; young female behind the counter said "Do you call that a kilt?" I smiled and said "No, it's just a skirt." She asked "It's not a kilt?" I said "Well, a kilt usually has pleats, and the traditional kilt is a tartan fabric often worn by a Scot, and I'm not a Scot". She said "Just comfortable, eh." And I said "Yeah, super, super comfortable." So that's one more person who has gotten the message that guys can wear skirts!

[orthohawk]

One person asked, "when did you start wearing dresses?" I wasn't sure how to answer that, especially she made me uncomfortable and I never could figure out how she was going to react to anything -- several times, she got upset about things that I thought were no big deal.

Being the snarky, reactionary bastard that I am I would have looked her right in the eye and said, "When did you start thinking that my clothing choices were any of your business?"

[johnb]

Last Sunday night I was camping down in Dorset. On the drive down there I wore a utility type kilt, but found it was rather warm. Monday was equally hot so I decided to wear one of my wrap around skirts, that I'd taken with down me for the journey home.

Whilst I regularly wear these skirts around the house and garden, and for walking in the countryside, I hadn't previously worn one for general "out and about" wear. During my journey I stopped at a busy garage for fuel, and visited a beach and ice cream kiosk, but the main place it was on view was the village of Cerne Abbas near to where I was camping. I went into a cafe there, and had a walk around the village. I wasn't aware of any strange looks, and those people I spoke to both there and on the rest of the journey treated me normally. Not surprisingly most of the women seen in the streets of Cerne Abbas were wearing trousers.

I've attached a picture showing me in the skirt concerned. It has a good overlap of material at front so there were no concerns regarding modesty.

John

[john62]

Looks good and quite natural.

John

[Charlie]

I was at the local Household Waste Recycling Centre (aka "the tip") dumping some hedge clippings. I was wearing a corduroy Union kilt and a guy asked if they made kneepads for kilts. Unfortunately no. Sounded like he'd be happy to wear a kilt while crawling around on the floor
Charlie

[Caultron]

How would a kilt knee pad be different from any other?

[Eborian]

Out today taking photographs at various locations on the West Somerset Railway. I was wearing a knee length denim skirt , a couple of other photographers about but no comments made.

[pelmut]

This afternoon I was walking past our row of small local shops, wearing my below-the-knee denim skirt, when one of three lads in a parked car yelled out "Oi mate! I like your skirt". I smiled and shouted back "I could make you one if you like"; which seemed to catch him off balance long enough for me to be nearly out of earshot before he recovered and tried to string together some sort of confused remark about what happens when the wind blows. Before he could assemble a coherent sentence I had gone into one of the shops and, by the time I came out, the car had gone.

[ChrisM]

We have moved our yacht to a new city (Point Roberts, Washington) while we prepare for our emigration to Canada. We have been living on the boat as we finalize paperwork to cross the border. I was strolling the dock in my khaki skirt when I met our new neighbors and their children. Well, one thing led to another and we have spent the best part of two days chatting with this lovely family, including dinner aboard their yacht last night. As the wine flowed, at one point I complimented the children (teen aged girls) on not having burst out with "What's with the skirt?"

Naturally of course we did at this point talk about "what's with the skirt", but what makes it noteworthy here is the mother's comment: I had strolled up and initiated conversation. The mother said that at first she didn't notice the skirt (note again the invisibility of some skirts), and then when she did notice she said to herself "huh, he's wearing a skirt. Oh well, he's a charming fellow, so what" or words to that effect. My point being to again reiterate Carl's oft-repeated point that it's all in how you carry yourself. Who you are trumps what you look like.

OK, gotta go ashore and start the day's duties. Talk to y'all later!

Chris.

[Caultron]

...Who you are trumps what you look...

Very true. If you smile at people and wish them a nice day, the skirt doesn't bother them at all.

But if you act like you're a freak or a weirdo, they're going to treat you like, uh, a freak or a weirdo.

[Jock]

If you smile at people and wish them a nice day, the skirt doesn't bother them at all.

Quite so. I went down town yesterday in hot Summer sun. I wore my black utility kilt, sandals and a shirt. Plenty of looks from all and sundry, but a smile and a good morning did the biz. I got lots of beaming smiles and greetings in return. Some couldn't wait to say hello. I'm sure there were envious looks too from some of the blokes!