skirtcafe.org

In public I cannot wear a skirt. My wive dont like that. And I respect her meaning.
So, what do I wear in the summertime, when the sun shines , and its pretty hot ?
Shorts. Very short shorts. Cut-offs jeans as called by the Americans. And then the trouserleg fold above. Or my short lederhose. I have a originel Hermann Spährle from de years 50/60.

Short shorts are great. Don't know about where you live but here in Johannesburg you cannot get short shorts so when I buy, usually Denim type, I have to take them and have them shortened to 30cm. My wife also likes my short shorts, but not too keen on the skirt route yet.

Last Summer I had been having terrible trouble finding shorter shorts, so I bought some ladies ones that fit well. Shortly after that, I was browsing the local thrift store, and found 3 pairs of men's that were exactly what I was after. Bought them all t the princely sum of $2 each!

Not as short as yours Wim, about 6 inches or 150mm below the top of leg. That puts it about the same above my knee.

You have my sympathy also, Wim. My spouse won't let me wear skirts in public while she's around, which is almost always. Fortunately I still possess several pairs of short shorts from the time when they sold them like that. One pair had an inside leg measurement of about 2 inches and I now suspect the wife has disposed of them. Inside leg of 4-6 inches don't seem to offend her, so these have survived since the 60's/70s. I use them as pyjamas and the pair I have on right now are 4" inside leg. In the Summertime I wear shorts (longer now) to work and change there into OP. Theatre gear. After the last victim has been dispatched its on with the shorts again. I'm a rower, so my pins are permanently tanned year-round.

Tom K.

melsav wrote:Short shorts are great. Don't know about where you live but here in Johannesburg you cannot get short shorts so when I buy, usually Denim type, I have to take them and have them shortened to 30cm. My wife also likes my short shorts, but not too keen on the skirt route yet.

Hi melsav - welcome to the forum!

I too love short shorts - and I still wear them when I can. My own ones date from the 70's and 80's - and I can still fit into them! For wquite a while, it was a struggle to get short ones but they do seem to be coming back into fashion (Think Nadal in the tennis has much shorter shorts than the others)

Recently I did have to throw some out the clothes recycling bank as my (now 35" waist) struggled to fit into a size 30 pair of shorts! I have some size 32 that still fit and others are cut off denims which arae 33" and 34" waist. The inseam length is around 2-4" so they are quite short. Hence why I would like to have miniskirts as an alternative to those (or rather be allowed to wear them ) as I personally have no problems with the length.

I like short shorts too, if your going to wear shorts why have them down to your knees.
Photo of my shorts as you can see they are quite short

Unfortunately shorts have for several years not been short. I still remember the shorts I was wearing back in the 80ties.


Dark blue velvet shorts, 1980. Very short and tight fitting


At that time I would very often wear shorts with knee socks

Last summer I found some of my old shorts and wore them once. I guess they attracted about the same attention as a skirt. That they did not in mid 80ties.


Very short and with very wide legs. When sitting down you really must take care not to expose yourself.


Strauss blue denim shorts; 34 cm/13.5 inch long. Inseam 2.5 cm/1 inch





Fortunately shorter shorts were to buy last summer, like these Tommy Hilfiger:


Olive Tommy Hilfiger; Short but pretty decent and definitely more practical than the old ones. 41 cm/16 inch long

Love the short shorts. Like the blue denim ones. But if you are wearing short shorts loose fitting legs are not good,if you are not careful you could expose yourself as you say. I prefer the new skinny shorts that fit tight around your legs, but still need to have them taken up. When I took my first shorts to be taken up the tailor looked at me funny but now she has got used to me.Funny

I have some "shorts" that I'm going to have shortened to shorts too, before start of the season. Due to comfort I do like them not being TOO tight fitting.


However, when last summer I sat in the car dressed in the sand wide shorts and looked down myself I realized that they should have been just a little bit longer and definitely not that wide.

Here in Johannesburg every season is shorts season for me, if it starts to get chilly, say below 5 at night then I put on a jacket and maybe long socks

...than try to wear a dress. I am wearing dresses almost every day and I enjoy it very much have a nice weekend

Can imagine how warm it is in Botswana right now and the dress/skirts looks cool to wear, but am not bold as yet.

I just have one pair of "short shorts", a pair of lycra workout shorts made for women. I use them on the beach. Yesterday in line at an ATM, I saw a guy wearing the most ridiculous shorts ever. They were long baggy denim shorts, and the guy was short and stocky with pretty short legs. The shorts hung down mid-calf, almost to his ankles. But I suppose he wouldn't like my fashion choices either.

melsav,

it takes time and I recommend you to wear your skirts as often you can and try to make understand your wife that skirts are neutral garments and can be worn by everyone. I wish you good luck in the progress.

I still don't understand why they call those things shorts when they are over the knee. Especially shorter, stocky built people look ridiculous in it. Two years ago I was shopping at Sears and checked all shorts with a tape ruler to find the shortest ones. I bought a few but was not really satisfied. Years ago in another life, my ex did not liked short shorts so I made cut-offs from an old pair of jeans, rather long. They were approved. But they started to fray so I had to cut off the threads and the short became shorter and shorter. At some point I had to cut off the pockets. When I wore my shorts on the bike, I had to be careful not to stick the tip of the saddle into the leg opening when mounting the bike.