skirtcafe.org

Hi! I'm Lucien, while I was raised a girl, I've identified as Nonbinary And Transgender (more specifically agender or genderless) for more than half of my life. I prefer presenting/being perceived as more masculine in my day to day life, and take testosterone. Generally, I'm fine being seen as a guy, or a whatever, but generally not a woman, which unfortunately, if you wear skirts, and were assigned female at birth, people really love to see you as! I'll take any pronouns but she/her. They, He, It, "oh god what is that thing", it all works.

I am on a journey to find comfort in my body, and while pants are great, skirts really are an amazing garment, and I yearn for a day when they return to being a more gender neutral garment. I know that many on this forum value the sort of femininity/flowy and graceful nature of a skirt, and while I also do, I lament the fact that because skirts are cut for the feminine figure, they accentuate areas of my body i'd rather ignore at times. Which is why I am looking for resources on skirts generally tailored for men, and, I'm trying to make them myself. In part because I want to make sure my clothes will last, and also i'm tired of every fast fashion site trying to send out a sheet of polyester and saying its a high quality garment.

I joke with many that my ideal gender is "Dark Wizard" and I've participated in things like the society for creative anachronism, and consider myself somewhere on the nerd to punk spectrum as a descendant of a musical theater working goth and a dungeons and dragons playing punk. I'm hoping I can get to know people, and show off the things I make on the way!

Hi Luce, yours is an interesting story. I'm looking forward to hearing about your experiences and seeing your designs.

Welcome, Lucien, from a guy who grew up in Maryland (the DC suburbs).

Welcome Lucien

We are a varied friendly bunch from across the globe, all connected with skirts in some way.

Mouse

Welcome Lucien,

I have started making most of my skirts although I find it easier to post on Instagram.
Everything I have made so far is plaid based. I like colours and the way pleats flow.
Hope you enjoy the site as others have said we are all inclusive.

Lucecannon21 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:19 pm I know that many on this forum value the sort of femininity/flowy and graceful nature of a skirt, and while I also do, I lament the fact that because skirts are cut for the feminine figure, they accentuate areas of my body i'd rather ignore at times. Which is why I am looking for resources on skirts generally tailored for men, and, I'm trying to make them myself.

I guess many here might - though I don't see "feminine" banded about too much as a goal (many times it's in frustration how skirts may be perceived).

Two product suggestions...
You might want to look at this skirt: https://www.wildfang.com/products/the-e ... ap-skirt-4
There's also https://www.skirtcraft.com skirts, though they do have a bit of an a-line shape to them.

Some thoughts...

I generally wear slightly above knee a/b line shape skirts - often in darker colors or heavy textures. These I find to be somewhat masculine - though that's not criteria I'm going for (mainly just wearing what I like/want to wear). The bigger the flare the less comfortable I feel, which probably goes to trying not to appear too feminine. I'll say that's an unconscious decision - and it's a gut feeling rather than a logical one. Occasionally I'll wear brighter colors and fun patterns - a break from the monotony of boring.

I've lately purchased a few straight skirts from Lee and Talbots (like this one: https://www.talbots.com/denim-midi-skir ... 18601.html but on sale) - though not pencil (of course) - and while more of a midi length - I find the straight silhouette and longer length actually feel more "normal"? Perhaps hiding my legs feels better, perhaps it's just switching things up. That might be a silhouette you can experiment with (tying on / sewing).

Lastly, https://dangerfield.com.au/en-us often models men in kilt-like skirts. While a kilt is "more masculine" there might be styling cues that differ from how they style women in the same "kilt". Perhaps something to look into.

Lucecannon21 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:19 pm if you wear skirts, and were assigned female at birth, people really love to see you as!

As an AFAB person and people love see you as (feminine?). How do you feel people view a man in a skirt? Are we seeing problems where are not any problems?

Lucecannon21 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:19 pm I yearn for a day when they (skirts) return to being a more gender neutral garment.

Do you have any opinion on how this is achieved?

Lucecannon21 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:19 pm I know that many on this forum value the sort of femininity/flowy and graceful nature of a skirt, and while I also do, I lament the fact that because skirts are cut for the feminine figure, they accentuate areas of my body i'd rather ignore at times. Which is why I am looking for resources on skirts generally tailored for men, and, I'm trying to make them myself. In part because I want to make sure my clothes will last, and also i'm tired of every fast fashion site trying to send out a sheet of polyester and saying its a high quality garment.

I dont think this is an easy one for you to solve. Some men want to achieve a more feminine form. This can be done with padding in one shape or other.
Most of us here are reasonably happy with our shape but being on the older side, quite often we are carrying some extra weight which can put a lot of skirts off limits. For example I can forget anything smaller than UK14. When I wear a skirt they tend to hang lower than they should. If i pull them up to my navel they soon fall down. Looking masculine is not a problem. A bald head and stubble see to that.
You haven't posted any pictures (yet) so we cant comment on what might work to achieve a more masculine look. But any skirt worn lower on your hips with a shirt might work?

Hi. Nice to hear from you. I have spent some time in central Maryland, and visited every county. That was before I had skirts, but I wore a kilt a good deal. I had to research my ancestry to deal with the flood of enquiries about Scottish and Irish roots (which was odd to me, as few people in the UK associate kilts with Ireland, especially since men in Irish dancing largely abandoned them).

I share your difficulty about the feminine cut of many skirts, and more so dresses, as I do not wish to emphasise attributes which, in my case, I have not got. In skirts, I avoid ornamentation, especially anything frilly, or light, airy materials, and go mainly for "masculine"-coded colours or geometric patterns. The choice in dresses is even more restricted, as so many women wear them specifically to flatter the bust: I look for a shirt dress or a plain straight cut, avoiding shaped bodices, darts, crossovers, and the like.

Welcome Lucien.
We are a friendly bunch with a common goal of normalising skirts for men.
Your story sounds an interesting one and I hope you will want to join in on any of the conversations and even start a few yourself.

I see you are looking for skirts specifically tailored for men so here are a couple more sites which I have come across although I have yet to purchase from either of them:
ORTTU clothing (interestingly stands for "Open Road To The Universe") advertises itself "For open minded people only"
https://orttu.com/collections/skirts although the site also contains a lot of other alternative menswear.

Another one is Daves Brand from Spain https://davesbrand.com/en

The root cause of our problems is that femininity is considered inferior and we are a patriarchal society. I believe that femininity and masculinity are equal, however I don't believe that I will ever see this attitude at a societal level in America. We are still living in a the old west or the 1950's regarding attitudes especially since we have Dictator Donny attempting to realign our social structure. I pride myself on being a feminine male and will not ever change that to fit into our warped society.

Jamie