skirtcafe.org

I stumbled upon this set of pictures yesterday while looking for other freestylers. It was just too interesting to me not to post.

http://sincerelyhana.com/projects/switcheroo/

I find it fascinating that the women in all of the pictures seem to look natural no matter which outfit they are wearing, yet a lot of the men look ... out of place in the switched outfits. I'm not sure if that's a product of bad fashion, or a lifetime of conditioning to see it as aberrant. It makes me wonder if I actually see my own styles clearly.

I think the "legs" are a give away

Looks like some folks were having a lot of fun. Some of those switches looked good both ways.

I think the size difference might go some way to make the men feel uncomforable. Not only are they trying skirts or dresses which feel rather different, but in many cases the skirt or dress is sized for somebody considerably smaller, I would feel weird in those circumstances.

Just a thought!

I find it interesting how most women look acceptably normal even after changing into the guys clothes.

I'm just too old/old-fashioned/set-in-my-ways to be able to appreciate this kind of clothing, shapeless and ill-fitting. So dull and uninteresting that I could not say any of it looked good whether on a male or on a female.
I suppose it is partly the fact that the modern market is for cheap, throw-away clothing; it's poorly made, poorly finished, and, apparently not intended to look smart in any way (smart is for old fuddies like me).

The set would have been more interesting if they had found couples of the same size. Obviously if a tall man wears the skirt of a short woman, he'll look odd, showing more thigh than she did, and, to make things worse, showing untanned thighs usually hidden under long "shorts".

Martin

I have to agree. A lot of stuff on the street has no style. I get the impression that people are just covering their nudity. Not sure what it's all about, but the only thing I guess is to try and create one's own style.

Jack Williams wrote:[... T]the only thing I guess is to try and create one's own style.

Indeed. However, that takes active thought and work -- and I suspect that many folks, especially guys, no longer have the luxury of the time to take action on the matter. So it's drab uniform and, as you put forward, merely covering one's nudity.

I know for a fact that when I'm feeling especially stressed or down I do not even contemplate skirted rigs and go for the old standby of trousers and a shirt, which is precisely what I'd been doing for the 40+ years before I discovered skirts.

crfriend wrote:I know for a fact that when I'm feeling especially stressed or down I do not even contemplate skirted rigs and go for the old standby of trousers and a shirt, which is precisely what I'd been doing for the 40+ years before I discovered skirts.

I tend to be the exact reverse of this. When I'm down I find stopping and thinking about how I'm dressed and making a little more effort is a great way to take my mind off the down sides of life. It allows me a clean reboot and generally lifts my spirits faster than almost anything else can. Funny how we al have different takes on the same things.

Have fun,


Ian.

Interesting that they found so many people to do it and be photographed. Horrid, all of it, if you ask me. As B&B says, the disparate sizes of the blokes Vs the girls makes a nonesense of the whole exercise, also the ghastly choice of clothes !

Ugh!! Tom K.

I certainly agree about most of the clothing choices being ghastly. Regardless, I thought the exercise was interesting. My wife and I are about the same height and we can share some clothes. I'm thinking about possibly doing a photo like these with her, although I think I'd have to start in a skirt and her in pants & t-shirt, as that's usually the way we roll lol.

MSpookshow wrote:I certainly agree about most of the clothing choices being ghastly. Regardless, I thought the exercise was interesting.

As a conceptual exercise it was interesting, but the participants could have done vastly better. Who knows, was there "an agenda" for the concept shoot?

What virtually everybody in that shoot abjectly failed to do was to pick articles of compelling clothing and style, and then mix/match it in interesting and creative ways. Creativity is important here -- it's not just the swapping of one partner's clothes for the other because that will cause visual problems, as amply evidenced by most of the subjects in the linked photo-series.

My wife and I are of similar-enough sizes that elements can go either way, but unless there is very careful interpretation, the notable differences in our heights mean that if she's borrowing from me she needs to re-balance it, and if I'm borrowing from her the same thing rings true, if not moreso. An outright swap of entire outfits would look comedic at best and tragic at worst. (A miniskirt on her is a belt on me.)

Milfmog wrote:When I'm down I find stopping and thinking about how I'm dressed and making a little more effort is a great way to take my mind off the down sides of life. It allows me a clean reboot and generally lifts my spirits faster than almost anything else can.

You, sir, are fortunate!

When I'm "down", I tend to pretty much go completely non-functional save for the R-brain which enables me to function just enough so I can fake it at work. Other than that, I'm entirely off-line. Creative thought becomes absolutely impossible and even retaining a simple thought long enough to bring it to a conclusion is virtually impossible. So, reverting to the R-brain autopilot is the only thing I can do, and it ain't pretty (Yes, Miss Burchard, I know that "ain't" isn't a word and after all these years you can bloody well sod off!).

MSpookshow wrote:My wife and I are about the same height and we can share some clothes. I'm thinking about possibly doing a photo like these with her, although I think I'd have to start in a skirt and her in pants & t-shirt, as that's usually the way we roll lol.

Then you might stand a better shot at things than the other poor victims in the linked shoot. If nothing else, hopefully you'll have fun at it!

Western governments if not all controlling bodies do not want creativity, if people create that means they think and intelligence is highly dangerous to any authority, we are being forced into numbered nobodies, or I am being paranoid?

John

Found the switcheroo link to be extremely amusing, & also agree with the above posts regarding fashion being cheap & not intended for looking smart, especially for men who seem to have a common uniform here in Europe & USA etc. This was compounded by a bit of Radio I heard this morning, that ties (which I like to wear with a suit, or shirt in the summer) are on their way out.

I couldn't find the exact link, but found this instead.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12418046

Personally, I like dressing up in all sorts of ways when I have a great opportunity & with appropriate clothing for the right event whether formal or otherwise. Not to mention wearing skirts when I have the opportunity, too.

A few months ago I had a dream in which my wife and I were at a comedy club and after everybody had "had a few" the host picked a bunch of people from the audience, brought them on stage, paired them off (1 man and 1 woman, but nobody with their spouse or date), and then had some sort of contest whereby they had to switch clothes. Of course, he had carefully chosen only women wearing very short dresses or skirts. It was a gas as most of the guys were not willing to wear the skirts or dresses. But I remember thinking it was great fun and even won an extra prize for changing right in front of everyone, rather than behind a curtain that had been set up. Don't remember my wife's reaction, though.