"The Boy in The Dress" raises a question.

[johnb]

Absolutely brilliant, that film brought a tear to my eyes and certainly well worth watching.

Yes I finally watched it yesterday evening, and agree with Richard that it was brilliant.

John

[Milfmog]

I'm not sure I'd go as far as "brilliant" but it was watchable entertainment that would not have strained anyone's brain too badly. My main problem with it was the ludicrous over the top camp clichés of David Walliams; I detest the way he always reverts to stereotypes such as I'm a drama teacher so must be camp and know nothing about football. I may be the last person the UK to feel this way, but every time I see him on TV I feel an almost overpowering need for a Barf Bag.

Have fun,


Ian.

[Stu]

I agree with Ian. This was really a programme about crossdressing, something which seems to interest Mr Walliams, and not so much about fashion freedom for males.

On a side note, there was an article by in the Daily Telegraph about unisex dressing for children a couple of weeks ago. I noticed that she mentioned a couple of childrenswear retailers, i.e. the Swedish chain Polarn o. Pyret, and the UK manufacturer, Tootsa Maginty, claimed that all their clothes were intended to be wearable by both boys and girls. When asked about this subsequently, the author said that she had spoken to designers at both firms and, yes, they included their dresses. Really? Check this out:

http://polarnopyret.co.uk/polarnopyret- ... nce-outlet

Then click on "BY GENDER" - and suddenly we see they are dividing up most of their clothing as BOYS or GIRLS. If you look at the “Skirts and Dresses” section, all these are specified as “Girl’s…” That is especially strange when you consider THIS ad which appears in their shop fronts:

https://bytheoaktree.files.wordpress.co ... o1_500.jpg

So how about Tootsa Maginty? They boast that everything they produce is suitable for both sexes and they are modelled by both a boy and a girl in their online catalogue. This is mostly true – their clothes are modelled by both a boy and a girl. However, they only have two dresses at the moment and, for some strange reason, the boy model no longer features:

http://tootsamacginty.com/product/plate ... ight-blue/

http://tootsamacginty.com/product/chamb ... lue-denim/

In other words, in spite of their supposedly “enlightened” views on this issue, neither of these suppliers have the integrity or guts to stick to their own supposed ethos.

Any thoughts?

[crfriend]

In other words, in spite of their supposedly “enlightened” views on this issue, neither of these suppliers have the integrity or guts to stick to their own supposed ethos.

Any thoughts?

I think much of that is down to plain old inertia more than anything else. Parents -- unless they're very forward-thinking -- still class their kids as "boy" and "girl" and shop for them accordingly. So, having that clue missing could confuse those who don't necessarily have their brain engaged full-time. And a confused customer is likely to take business elsewhere.

[skirtyscot]

I doubt any customers would click off in a huff just because a couple of dresses are modelled by both sexes. Given how long-haired one of the male models is on Tootsa McGinty, some folk might not even notice he is a boy. The second link goes to a tunic dress which would be as good a starting place as any for a boys' dress. I'm sure some of the middle class mummies who are undoubtedly the target customer would be quite happy to dress their young Sebastian or Rupert like that. Maybe not once he started going to school, but fine while he is still at nursery. That business is missing a trick.

Could be the thin end of the wedge, too. Let's face it, we're mostly middle-aged. The way to build long-term is to get youngsters in.

[skirtyscot]

Another thought: from the front, the girl modelling the blue dress could just about be a boy. And the blurb for each dress refers to "any child / kid". A pity they chickened out!

[STEVIE]

I doubt there will be nothing to be gained by going for the parents. The kid, as a rule, has no say until he or she reaches a certain age. I have a facebook friend who is currently railing about the clothes that were chosen for her in the eighties. I commented to the effect that no kid rightly approves of those choices.
George Windsor, who is currently being upheld as a fashion icon for toddlers will surely have his parents incarcerated in the Tower of London in the future for those awful pictures.
The real change is more likely to come from the teenage market. If we ever see 16-19 year old boys wearing skirts as a matter of course ,the rest is more likely to fall into place.
The leaders may just be the ones who had Tootsa Maginty put on them, or just the few who borrowed their sisters' stuff.
Steve.

[Tor]

Well, this I think is one place we will see gradual evolution - until some magic point is reached and many will be left blinking and wondering what happened to make everything change in the blink of an eye. Looking at the Tootsa Macginty pages, I notice they run up into sizes where I think you'll find that the children themselves have a good deal of say in what they will wear. Not exclusive say, to be sure, but probably enough that targeting both parents and children is very worthwhile.

BTW, did anyone else notice that someone used a prime instead of the proper degree symbol in the washing instructions at Tootsa Macginty, as in "Machine washable, inside out at 30′."? I know I did a double take, asking myself why washing them at thirty feet would be of import. Would that mean one would have to own a pressurized washing machine to properly launder them?

[dillon]

Check this out:

http://polarnopyret.co.uk/polarnopyret- ... nce-outlet

Then click on "BY GENDER" - and suddenly we see they are dividing up most of their clothing as BOYS or GIRLS. If you look at the “Skirts and Dresses” section, all these are specified as “Girl’s…”

Agreed. Not a single unbifurcated garment under BOYS. If they were doing anything other than patronizing a limited number of parents of gender-impartial kids, they wouldn't segregate their garment line in that way. But retailers are notorious cowards, and won't yet risk alienating gender-prejudiced parents by saying with absolute clarity that their clothing is made for both boys and girls, and letting the parents sort out their choices. It is nice to think that there are parents out there that are reducing the social signals they send to children that teach them "Girls can wear pants, skirts, or dresses, but boys can wear only pants." Would that there were enough to make a revolution in socialization of gender stereotypes. But I suppose the retailers have just shown us that there are not enough.

[Jim2]

The latest post on raisingmyrainbow is very interesting. C.J., a boy who likes to wear dresses, now makes clear that he is not transgender. He is a male who likes to wear dresses, among other things girls like. He wears them not, apparently, because he wants to be taken as a girl but simply because he likes them. This is a very popular blog with literally millions of people in over a hundred countries paying attention. It gives me hope that the culture can change.

[denimini]

The film has not yet aired on Australian TV to my knowledge but I did watch it on youtube and quite enjoyed it. It didn't seem to be a transgender issue but a boy who wanted to wear a dress, and a pretty colourful dress too, which made a nice and relevant story.

I did a search for "boys skirt" on ebay and to my excitement I got one result ............ until I studied it more detail. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ONE-TEASPOON ... 4ae30b6d30
Oh, I am confused; is this a case of skirts for boys being accepted and women hijacking the new male clothing.

I tried searching "mens skirt" and got the "did you mean mens shirt?" - Nooooooooooooo!
Not one true result. Amongst other irrelevant things an army camouflage tutu came up, which made me smile thinking of commandos creeping around the jungle in them with a lot of paint needed on their legs.

"womens - pants" catagory listed 893,450 items. We have yet a long way to go.

[Sinned]

dnmn, the message "Did you mean men's shirt?" is fairly common. Using www.google.co.uk fot the search "boys skirt" I got 63,100,00 results, "mens skirt" 5,530,000 results. Whereas many of the results will be repeats and some obscure the difference of over 10:1 did surprise me.