Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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Caultron
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Caultron »

Tight skirts can provide excellent freedom of movement if they have enoug Lycra.

Tight skirts are much easier to sit down in, but then require more care against exposure.

Control top tights generally prevent bumpiness up front.

When standing at a urinal, lifting the hem of a tight skirt may lift the rear beyond your limit of exposure, especially if you need to pull down the top of some tights or other underwear. So you may need to wait for a stall.

But in any event I enjoy switching among various kinds of skirts. Each has its own advantages, disadvantages, feel, and etiquette.
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Re: Length of Skirts

Post by Grok »

I have been wearing a (larger) man's shirt as an improvised mini-dress. The bottom of the shirt is about an inch above the top of my knees.

This length is as short as I would consider wearing out and about. Any shorter, and I think a skirt would give little sense of wearing clothes below the waist, while making exposure probable; and, actually, serving little purpose.
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Re: Length of Skirts

Post by crfriend »

Grok wrote:I have been wearing a (larger) man's shirt as an improvised mini-dress. The bottom of the shirt is about an inch above the top of my knees. [...] Any shorter, and I think a skirt would give little sense of wearing clothes below the waist, while making exposure probable; and, actually, serving little purpose.
Another issue here is that what's involved here as a garment isn't intended to be worn by itself, so it won't have the proper fitting to make it look graceful in such a use-case.

I've long suspected that the initial foray into men's dresses would be the shirt-dress avenue -- and I've seen several over the years that I suspect would have looked great on me, but sizing has always been an issue. The very best of these have had defined waists, decent collars (preferably a wee bit oversized as that's the way I like 'em), pockets both top and bottom, and either a belt or a sash at the waist.

I continue the search.
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Re: crfriend post

Post by Grok »

I looked at an older "dresses" thread. In one post you suggested several possibilities:

1. Shirt-dress type garments.

2. Coat-dress type garments.

3. Possibly jumper type garments.

Other possibilities that come to mind:

4. Caftans.

5. Robe-like garments.
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Re: crfriend post

Post by crfriend »

Grok wrote:I looked at an older "dresses" thread. In one post you suggested several possibilities:

1. Shirt-dress type garments.
2. Coat-dress type garments.
3. Possibly jumper type garments.

Other possibilities that come to mind:

4. Caftans.
5. Robe-like garments.
I still stand by 1, 2, and 3 -- in order -- with 1 being the most likely candidate for a variety of climates. Moonshadow has done some interesting work with jumpers as well, so that's a very possible path. The "coat-dress" is really a variant of the shirt-dress idea in heavier fabrics for cooler climates (or places that air-condition excessively).

4 and 5 are already considered appropriate in very casual settings, usually confined to within the home.

I recall being intrigued with Burgundian robes from the middle-ages a number of years ago during one very cold winter, but that would likely be a problematic garment in the artificially heated and air-conditioned world we now live in. One would swelter in summer and indoors in the winter. So, not really practical in the modern world.

Caftans for guys are readily available on-line, and bath- and leisure- robes can be had in any department store.
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Re: Dresses

Post by Grok »

I figure that somebody with a knack for design-and willing to design something someone could actually wear-might come up with something interesting
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Happy-N-Skirts »

Check out Athenagarments.com. She is designing one for me. She makes biking skirts, hiking skirts, etc.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Grok »

Happy-N-Skirts wrote:Check out Athenagarments.com. She is designing one for me. She makes biking skirts, hiking skirts, etc.
Took a peek at the Athena web site. The reflective material reminds of a skort (actually, a "scooter") design I recently looked at online.

I have imagined that one of the first designs to succeed financially would be athletic in intent and design-which would give men both a reason for being interested, and excuse for wearing such a skirt.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Sinned »

If you recall Ron is very heavily into kaftans and robes at the moment. They look good on the male physique and are a definite possibility. I am considering a shirt dress but haven't yet found one that I could consider but the search goes on.
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Re: Disadvantages of Skirts marketed

Post by Grok »

There appears to be a high attrition rate for companies that try to sell skirts to men. Though their designs may be credible, I think they are making a mistake when they try to market what I would call general purpose skirts. Because this amounts to a frontal assault...against the taboo forbidding men in skirts.

This has been compared to trying to climb a very steep slope. I would compare it to trying to drive a car through a brick wall.

I was thinking about women trying to go the other way during the 19th century. Mid-century their was a period of experimentation, which fizzled out. But during the 1890s a Bloomer variant came into vogue as athletic wear-particularly for the new fangled bicycles.

When I was a small child during the early '60s, females were still mostly wearing skirts/dresses. Yet much earlier it was acceptable for females to wear trousers as a form of athletic wear.

Consider this-society may grant quite a bit more latitude for athletic wear than other clothes.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

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There's certainly some merit to the idea that plain skirts aren't likely to start a new trend for men.

In fact, plain anything seldom starts a new trend.

So what kind of gimmick or association would draw a man to wear a skirt the first time? That's a tough call. Gladiator skirts, togas, and Polynesian wraparound come to mind but on reflection don't seem to have much of a chance. Utility kilts are trying but it's been slow. Wedding kilts, yes, but those tend to be one day and out.

The demand for gender-neutral school dress codes offers promise. But would the tiny percentage of boys who prefer to wear skirts ever really grow? And how long would that take?

If one had hundreds of millions to spend, paying celebrity men to appear in and endorse skirts might have some effect but who's going to find that?

There's just an awful lot of inertia to overcome.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Grok »

Caultron wrote:

There's just an awful lot of inertia to overcome.
That there is :!: That's one of the reasons why I think that change will be a multi-generational process.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by Sinned »

The trouble with gender neutral school uniforms is that instead of giving boys the freedom to wear skirts some schools are banning skirts and making trousers the consistent lower body garment. A fudge maybe but one that they probably see as solving more than one problem.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

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Sinned wrote:A fudge maybe but one that they probably see as solving more than one problem.
Pre-empting any issues regarding garments for the lower body, so they don't have to deal with it. Very efficient.
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Re: Disadvantages of Different Kinds of Skirts

Post by crfriend »

Grok wrote:Very efficient.
"Efficient", yes, but very shallow-minded.

Unless one is going for military-level uniform, it'd be better to lay down guidelines and then expect some level of maturity in the interpretation and execution of said interpretation. Recall that the way the youngsters will dress will likely reflect their level of maturity and the mores they were brought up with. School is supposed to be a growth experience, not an exercise in detention.
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