Will young men ever wear skirts?

[Raakone]

Hey. I guess the question would be, how to market it to them. Perhaps if some celebrity who's big with boys and young men made it look cool enough....ok, enough of them....and the right ones (in a strange way, if Justin Bieber were to take up the skirt, kilt, or sarong, it might be a wrench in our hopes)

One thing, in certain places where men traditionally wear skirts/sarongs, they are falling out of fashion, and having the idea that wearing pants is "modern"....like they develop the attitude of their former colonizers. And of course, to them, ideally, the "casual" wear must be influenced by California, and the more "formal" must resemble that worn in the power centers of Europe, or the Northeast and Quebec-Windsor Corridors! I read a warning that male tourists to Sri Lanka may be laughed at if they wear sarong anywhere other than temples, the beach, and at night time (it's been "demoted" to sleepwear by some) Similarly, younger men in Somalia don't like the Macawes (probably misspelled it...it's their skirted garment)

How can the skirt be made "cool"?

[Since1982]

The sooner men start wearing skirts AS men, and not as pretend women, the sooner it will become normal and something unnoticed by the silent majority. It wouldn't be the first time men dressed that way. There are far more centuries of life where all men wore skirted garments than the same wearing pants have been. Horses have only been used widely as transportation since the ninth or tenth century, not the hundreds of thousands of years with skirted men before them.

[Hemitom]

I totally agree with Since1982, I think if more and more people start to publicly wear a skirt type of clothing it will be more of a normal thing to see. just like earrings,tattoos,and nail polish.

[Hemitom]

Here are 2 pics of the skirt that i wore the night mentioned above.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemitom/62 ... hotostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemitom/62 ... hotostream

[skirtingtoday]

I put a bit of a premium on graceful and literate use of the language, and that includes things that are seemingly becoming obsolete like capitailisation and punctuation; I find it more work than it's worth to slog through a mass of lower (or, worse, upper) case gibberish that lacks any cues as to where thoughts and ideas begin and end....

On literature, the number of e-mails we get from high level personnel who run the complete gamut of their question/query/comment into a single sentence of lower case lettering. No capitalisation, no commas, semi-colons or full stops. It usually takes several reads through to mentally add them and make sense of the diatribe.

I believe the cause was in changes to the education system. When I was at primary school, we were all taught grammar – the basic rules. Now the system seems to be that the children should not be “bogged down” with it and that they will learn in time. It is obvious that this hasn’t happened. The basic flaw is that there are no ground rules to base anything on. Same with spelling. The number of times we get a “definately” reply to a query – aaarrrrggghhh! Recently I got an e-mail that spelled “to” wrongly – they had obviously meant to write “too” – and not just once but three times in the same e-mail!

Back to the original topic, I have actually seen one student-age lad wearing a dark green knee-length pleated skirt coming out of my local supermarket (and I understand that he has been spotted elsewhere). He was with a couple of his mates; one had cargo shorts and the other denims. Nobody bothered but I thought if looked great on him. That was around 6 months ago.

My own son has worn dangerously short mini-skirts (12-13”) for fancy dress parties – one was black PVC and the other was covered in pink, white and black sequins. (he is a University student) Both with tights – one with black and the other pink glittery ones – and with full facial makeup applied by one of the girl flatmates!

Let's hope more take up skirt-wearing!

[Kieran]

I'm nearly 17 and very interested in wearing skirts in the future. Would be wearing them now but i just lack the confidence.

[skirtyscot]

Have a good read through this site and you will find that there is little to worry about! Hopefully it will boost your confidence. Then find a broad-minded female friend who is your size and open to new ideas, tell her, and borrow a skirt from her. You'll be hooked and running off to buy your own in no time!

[STEVIE]

Kieran,
I will agree with SS on one point, read the site, take what you will and confidence there from, I hope.
However, borrowing is risky ground unless you are absolutely sure of the lender. If funds are an issue, and they are for most of us, do the charity shops. Check the size comparison chart on the main E-retailers, they give a rule of thumb idea of male to female sizings, that's a start. If you can summon the nerve, try the thing on in the shop, fancy dress party, is a ruse.
In my area, North East Scotland, I can get such a skirt for less than £5, if it doesn't fit or work, return it, and it's a donation to a good cause of your choice. See the Stirling pictures, that denim skirt cost £4.00 and it saw me through a few good times.
Good Luck.

[crfriend]

I'm nearly 17 and very interested in wearing skirts in the future. Would be wearing them now but i just lack the confidence.

Skirty Scot makes some good points, as does Stevie -- but those are mostly from a very practical standpoint. Practicality is all well and good, for if something is not practical it's likely that no sane guy will take it up (unless there's other baggage involved), but there's also the notion that what you put together that doesn't include trousers must also suit some notion of your own personal style.

Some points I've come to recognise over the years include, "What is my personal aesthetic?"; "What 'message' do I want to send by defying convention?"; "What is my comfort level in what I'm wearing?"; and last, but certainly not least, "How do I integrate all those other questions into what I'll be putting on today and venturing forth into the world?"

Realistically, it doesn't need to be as tough as what the above applies; if you just want the freedom that comes with "both legs down one tube" a simple denim skirt will likely do quite well. However, if you have a more complex vision of what you view your own style to be, then you need to take that into account.

From a personal perspective, I have a decidedly Victorian/Edwardian sense of style, and I exploit that whether I'm wearing trousers or skirts. Trousers are easy as there hasn't been much change in trouser style in the past hundred or so years, but when it comes to skirts it does matter and means that I tend to focus on longer looks, possibly with quite a bit of flare at the hemline (No, I don't do bustles.).

Think about the "big picture". Not a lot of people consciously do, but can recognise it when they see a cogent "message" from somebody who has.

[JohnH]

I'm nearly 17 and very interested in wearing skirts in the future. Would be wearing them now but i just lack the confidence.

When the weather is warm or hot I almost never wear shorts. I wear denim skirts instead the vast majority of time with otherwise masculine attire.

John

[Don]

if I am still reading this forum, it is because the contributors are literate and easy to understand.

Kinda smart, too, which always helps...

[Don]

I'm nearly 17 and very interested in wearing skirts in the future. Would be wearing them now but i just lack the confidence.

Your first public skirted adventure will do WONDERS for you confidence!!!

[r.m.anderson]

Old proverb "Journey of thousand miles begins with a single step" (not verbatim).
Regarding skirt/dress or kilt wearing use the same application.
Hint - start with the kilt it is a mans garmet and gradually adapt/modify the color/tartan; hem length increasing or reducing
the number of pleats.
Add pockets (cargo) different belts and other accessories.
Play around with co-ordinating sox and footwear.
Experiment with what 'T' shirt; sweater or other top compliments your skirted wear.
So go at this gradually introducing yourself to friends and family at your own comfortable speed.
Depending on a lot of factors this could take a great deal of time or even be done in a 'one night stand'.

Actually the first step has been taken here at the SkirtCafe forum - now get skirted and get up to walking speed.
Help and ideas suggestions are alway available here.

"Kilt-On"
rma

[skirtingtoday]

I'm nearly 17 and very interested in wearing skirts in the future. Would be wearing them now but i just lack the confidence.

Hi Kieran,

Lots of good advice there but I would say that some of it is more useful once you get a bit of confidence. I would suggest a couple of extra tips to help get you started.

1 Buy a skirt on e-bay – its quite anonymous and there is a large variety of styles and sizes. Cost will be around £1-£2 plus postage – making it up to around £4 (you may need a credit/debit card but there are still quite a few that accept cheques)
2 What size to get? I find that if you take your waist size and subtract 22 from it, you get the ladies skirt size (eg I am 34” waist so I get a size 12). I know that a “boutique 12” is different from an “M&S 12” which is more roomy.
3 Go somewhere fairly quiet that you do not normally go to, to try it out.
4 Look confident! Even though your heart is fluttering and knees knocking. You will find that most people simply ignore it.

I note you are in the NE Scotland. I have visited central Aberdeen and Portlethan (stayed overnight in a Travelodge on these occasions) and had breakfast there the following morning. I also walked around a half mile to the car park from the Aberdeen one and I only saw one woman give a double-take but no adverse reaction at all. Both times I wore a 14" denim miniskirt with my normal clothes.

Go for it – and let us know how you get on! You have already taken the first step by registering interest here. We are all your friends here.

[Kieran]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, i'm hoping to be quite active on here
I'm just taking things slowly at the moment. Great tips by the way skirtingtoday, Looks like i'm a size 12 too. I do have a debit card and a eBay account so i'll have a look on there and
buy a skirt once i'm ready. I think a simple denim one would be best?

I have had some brief experiences of skirt wearing. For example i wore a kilt to a party once. I found it really nice to wear, was a bit thin though as it was from the pound shop.