skirtcafe.org

Why did men stop wearing skirts, and when did this change occur? Why must clothing choices be dictated by appearance? Why?

I have a daughter who was in middle school and came to me with a question.

“I don’t want to wear a skirt.”

There’s a tradition in schools where it’s considered “normal” for girls to wear skirts. For us, it’s become so standard that we’ve lost the emotional connection to the question of why skirts are mandatory or why someone might not want to wear one.

At her school, there were also trousers available for girls, and she found other classmates who felt the same way. Now, it’s “normal” for her to attend school in trousers. This got me thinking.

What about the opposite? Why is there a culture that says boys can’t wear skirts? It just became that way. Of course, some men embrace skirts as a personal choice as adults, but it still feels different.

My own questioning of “why?” led to this release. Why can’t men, even if they are rugged or traditional, wear skirts? If adult men can wear skirts casually, perhaps younger generations will eventually shed these fixed notions.

Barleymower wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2024 2:17 pm It's a really nice idea ro promote men's skirts. Why do they need to look like sacks? Obviously men wouldn't want anything nice.

Grok wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2024 4:04 pm When the Japanese began to import Western clothing styles in the late 19th century, the men adopted clothes based on what Western men wore, and women adopted clothes based on what Western women wore. So the imported styles had a clear gender divide.

Japanese men could wear traditional Japanese unbifurcated garb such as kimono. [ And also I believe andon bakama ("lantern hakama")]. But skirts/dresses based on Western styles were not intended for them.

Except now some Japanese men seem to be trying to expand their sartorial repitoire.