Out and About -- In the World at Large

[dillon]

We saw the film "Spotlight" tonight (finally); a very fine film. Glad it won the Oscar. I wore a long black ruched skirt by XCVI, sheer black thigh high stay-up stockings, and black oxfords. A decent evening out.

[Charlie]

Mrs C and I went to a contradance in Exeter last night. Its a 90 minute drive, so we stopped at a pub for a meal on the way, just to make it more of an occasion.
Again I wore the ankle-length dark grey A-line denim skirt, a purple long-sleeve pullover and a bright red fleece coat. This was the first time I'd worn this particular skirt into a pub - reaction: zero, apart from a few looks, but I wasn't taking any notice of the other customers.
The denim skirt isn't good for dancing in, so at the venue I changed into a floaty green skirt that flares out nicely when twirled. The only time it was mentioned was when I danced with a women who's spent the last three dances being a man (slight gender imbalance so that women had to dance together). She said I could dance as a woman with my skirt; I replied that I like to dance the woman's part because it is different - and the women get to do more running around that the men.
Charlie
An afterthought. There was a girl there wearing trousers, a waistcoat (vest?) and a tie, and no-one made a comment. So, in our so-called equal society, why shouldn't I wear a skirt? (I've been reading http://www.theskirtedman.eu/)

[Jim2]

Mrs C and I went to a contradance in Exeter last night. Its a 90 minute drive, so we stopped at a pub for a meal on the way, just to make it more of an occasion.
Again I wore the ankle-length dark grey A-line denim skirt, a purple long-sleeve pullover and a bright red fleece coat. This was the first time I'd worn this particular skirt into a pub - reaction: zero, apart from a few looks, but I wasn't taking any notice of the other customers.
The denim skirt isn't good for dancing in, so at the venue I changed into a floaty green skirt that flares out nicely when twirled. The only time it was mentioned was when I danced with a women who's spent the last three dances being a man (slight gender imbalance so that women had to dance together). She said I could dance as a woman with my skirt; I replied that I like to dance the woman's part because it is different - and the women get to do more running around that the men.
Charlie
An afterthought. There was a girl there wearing trousers, a waistcoat (vest?) and a tie, and no-one made a comment. So, in our so-called equal society, why shouldn't I wear a skirt? (I've been reading http://www.theskirtedman.eu/)

Unless I misunderstand, it sounds like it is unusual there for a man to wear a skirt at a contradance. Is that so? In the states it is not, and many men wear skirts at a contradance I attend regularly (or did until a recent medical problem) in Concord, Massachusetts.

[Couya]

Not quite "the world at large" perhaps, but I am right now with some fifty skirted men in Jerez, the sherry town in southern Spain. Kilted men, to be precise, and many skirted ladies, taking part Ina Scottish dance weekend.
Lots of raised eyebrows with the spanish fiestas guests in the hotel.
Martin

[Charlie]

Unless I misunderstand, it sounds like it is unusual there for a man to wear a skirt at a contradance. Is that so? In the states it is not, and many men wear skirts at a contradance I attend regularly (or did until a recent medical problem) in Concord, Massachusetts.

For run of the mill evening dances it is unusual, but if I've anything to do with it, it will become more usual You are more likely to see men wearing kilts than skirts. The one exception I know of is the Bath Ceilidh where you'll often see Pelmut dancing in a skirt, with a few men in kilts. Having said that, they reckon the UK is about 5 years behind the US, so there's hope for us yet
We're hoping to get over the the States next year and get in a few all-American contradances, so I must remember to pack a couple of skirts
Charlie

[JeffB1959]

What I wore on an outing yesterday. As usual, no one paid me any attention, despite being in a crowded center city park on a nice, sunny afternoon. However, while sitting on a bench in said park, a twentysomething lady said to me in passing with a smile that she liked my shoes, they being black patent pumps, not a word about the short black skirt I wore. I smiled back and thanked her. How amusing.

[skirtyscot]

... taking part Ina Scottish dance weekend.

Martin, your spell checker must be running in Spanish. You mention Jerez and it recognises a brand of sherry!
( Very nice one too. )

[Jim2]

We're hoping to get over the the States next year and get in a few all-American contradances, so I must remember to pack a couple of skirts

If you come near the end of April, there's the annual NEFFA folk dance festival of three days of dancing, about half of which is contradancing. People come from all over the United States. Lots of men in skirts there. I'd say that of the men in skirts, about a third to half them are in kilts.

[JeffB1959]

Strolled through a crowded mall in the outfit below for well over an hour yesterday. Nary an eyebrow was raised the whole time. If you dress appropriately for your surroundings and act calm and cool like you belong, just about anything is possible when wearing a skirt in public.

[Kilted_John]

Wore this outfit when I took my parents up to Mount Vernon, WA to take a look at the tulip fields. Alas, a couple weeks early, but got a few shots - see flickr link below. On the way back, stopped in at a greek restaurant for dinner, then made our way home.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/245gt-tur ... 3818580814

-J

[pelmut]

A few weeks ago I helped an old school friend with clearing her mother's house and garage; the garage was filhy, so I wore trousers. Last weekend I went to help again, but this time I wore a skirt. A neighbour stopped for a chat and mentioned that a man who had once lived down the road had been helping them a few weeks ago. I said: "That was me, but I'm wearing a skirt today". The neighbour hardly reacted at all and we continued with our conversation about other matters.

[Milfmog]

I spent most of last week on a training course for work at a town about 100 miles north of home (Nottingham, for those who know the UK). Although this was technically “in-house” training, I was the only person on the course from this part of the company, with the other 18 students and all seven teaching staff being drawn from other parts of the group. The group was drawn from 6 countries (UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden) and included 5 females.

For the course I dressed as usual for work. However, on the final evening (Thursday) we had a “celebration dinner” planned at a fairly upmarket restaurant for which we were encouraged to dress up a little more than the usual business casual that was the uniform most evenings. To date, I have elected not to wear a skirt at work although a number of my colleagues have seen me skirted when off the clock. (This is due to a number of moving machines that could be an issue and a job that regularly requires me to interface with customers so presenting an “appropriate company image” is seen as important by the guy who signs the paychecks.) For the dinner, I elected to rock the boat gently by wearing a long black skirt, a bottle green Jacobite skirt and a black and gold cravat.

The response from my colleagues varied from zero reaction to “why are you dressed like that?” No bad reactions but, over the course of the evening I had around a dozen conversations about my chosen attire. Some were quick comments in passing and a couple of others were more in depth and allowed me to gently challenge habits and learned conditioning without any sense of getting pushy or over-assertive. All good fun.

The restaurant was about 15 minutes walk through the city; we walked up as a group passing many people out and about and as expected I gained a few second looks, that was all. (To be fair, it was St Patrick’s Day so there were a fair number of people wearing costumes for that which may have lessened the impact).

Now I shall wait to see if my clothing choice finds its’ way back to my immediate colleagues and how they react. I suspect that nothing will come back and even if it does no one will say anything; just as there has been no reaction from all but one of the colleagues who have seen me skirted previously. (The odd one out simply resulted in some gentle mickey taking that was accepted with good humour.)

There is a second week on the training course (late May, in Hamburg), I am already trying to decide what to take as the final evening’s outfit but will need to consider how much luggage I can take on the flight so may be a little restricted, unlike this time when I drove. To add to the interest, one of the teaching staff on the second week is drawn from my business unit, however, I do not expect that to be any kind of issue.

Have fun,


Ian.

[renesm1]

I spent most of last week on a training course for work at a town about 100 miles north of home (Nottingham, for those who know the UK). Although this was technically “in-house” training, I was the only person on the course from this part of the company, with the other 18 students and all seven teaching staff being drawn from other parts of the group. The group was drawn from 6 countries (UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden) and included 5 females.

For the course I dressed as usual for work. However, on the final evening (Thursday) we had a “celebration dinner” planned at a fairly upmarket restaurant for which we were encouraged to dress up a little more than the usual business casual that was the uniform most evenings. To date, I have elected not to wear a skirt at work although a number of my colleagues have seen me skirted when off the clock. (This is due to a number of moving machines that could be an issue and a job that regularly requires me to interface with customers so presenting an “appropriate company image” is seen as important by the guy who signs the paychecks.) For the dinner, I elected to rock the boat gently by wearing a long black skirt, a bottle green Jacobite skirt and a black and gold cravat.

The response from my colleagues varied from zero reaction to “why are you dressed like that?” No bad reactions but, over the course of the evening I had around a dozen conversations about my chosen attire. Some were quick comments in passing and a couple of others were more in depth and allowed me to gently challenge habits and learned conditioning without any sense of getting pushy or over-assertive. All good fun.

The restaurant was about 15 minutes walk through the city; we walked up as a group passing many people out and about and as expected I gained a few second looks, that was all. (To be fair, it was St Patrick’s Day so there were a fair number of people wearing costumes for that which may have lessened the impact).

Now I shall wait to see if my clothing choice finds its’ way back to my immediate colleagues and how they react. I suspect that nothing will come back and even if it does no one will say anything; just as there has been no reaction from all but one of the colleagues who have seen me skirted previously. (The odd one out simply resulted in some gentle mickey taking that was accepted with good humour.)

There is a second week on the training course (late May, in Hamburg), I am already trying to decide what to take as the final evening’s outfit but will need to consider how much luggage I can take on the flight so may be a little restricted, unlike this time when I drove. To add to the interest, one of the teaching staff on the second week is drawn from my business unit, however, I do not expect that to be any kind of issue.

Have fun,


Ian.

Getting everything in a little suitcase can be tricky for men (it's the size of the clothes rather than the quantity I've found!).

[Milfmog]

Getting everything in a little suitcase can be tricky for men (it's the size of the clothes rather than the quantity I've found!).

You're not wrong; and I am not one of the smaller people around...

Have fun,


Ian.

[Fred in Skirts]

Ian, sounds like you had a very nice evening with the group. I would not worry too much if any of it got back to you work group, from the sounds of it they are a live and let live bunch except maybe for the guy that signs the payroll.

Fred