Where did you first get the idea to wear a skirt?

[Kilty]

As the username suggests, I was intrigued by kilts, especially as a legitimate way for a guy to wear a skirt(before then, very rarely it was the odd controversy of Vivienne Westwood dressing a guy in a skirt for the catwalk on fashion shows), but the first kilt I bought was from a Tartan Tat shop, itchy, and badly made. As the Internet progressed, rudimentary Yahoo searches for "man skirt" brought me to a site called IMFF, where a guy Veletron (Nigel Webber / Nigel W. on Lookbook) showed you could wear a simple denim pencil skirt and still do guy stuff (teaming the skirt with a regular mens shirt) and go about his day, even wearing it to work...

1484340_wellytime2.jpg

(Nigel W)

I realized a lot of the negative comments were in my mind, and that skirts were way cheaper than kilts, and aside from the denim skirts which were great for going to parties (lots found it odd but after a while lost interest), the formal straight skirts felt nice as there was no obvious seam down the front at the middle, the zip was at the back, and a generous slit at the back offset the tightness of a restricted stride, but the same time felt snug. Airy enough in summer, though I never really felt confident as a guy of colour to wear one until JeffB1959 came along, and his variety of styles (along with Mark as in Mark who came along with his collection of business skirts and nice tights and heels) helped me with confidence.

I still have my kilts (which are more socially acceptible, if you don't mind the cliches like kilt checks and being asked where your bagpipes are ) but do wish more men would embrace the skirt as an alternative from shorts. MrKirt.eu is an encouraging start, though pricey, but has a good following on social media. So my collection is more kilts than skirts, but its nice to have variety

[skirts4me]

My first experience is easy to name. As a teenager, I migrated form the UK to Aus, having to dig the car out of snow to start the journey and landing in the middle of a hot summer. My school uniform included mid-thigh shorts which were excessively hot and by the time I got home not only were my shorts soaking from sweat but I left a quite obvious mark on the bus seat. We were in temporary digs with one of my cousins and I was always first 'home' so I borrowed one of my sister's skirts and, as they say, "the rest is history!"

[eightofnine]

Skirts have been an obsession of mine for a long time i just like watching them they are a lot more interesting than pants .My step sister was staying over for the weekend ,she left her skirt outside draped over the banister .I kept walking passed it touching it ,I got an impulse and i picked up went into my room and tried it on .It felt comfortable soft .It was a short black skirt ,I had to take it off quick i was scared of getting caught .I got a job working at a small supermarket on break on would try on the uniform skirts the women had to wear . One day on my lunch break i was walking around ,there was a lot of charity shops ( thrift stores ) around the area ,a denim skirt caught my eye i was still to embarrassed to buy it ,so i walked up and down the street .Eventually i worked up the courage to buy it ,it was a short button up black denim skirt .After that i would buy more from charity shops and others stores when i got more money .I thought it was something to be kept hidden until i did a search on the net .

[Sinned]

I don't know why at the time but I did the usual trying on of my mum's clothes up to early teens then nothing until I married. MOH and I were very similar sizes and when she was out I would try on some of her clothes just to see how they looked but it didn't occur to me that it was permissible to wear them out as a man. Fast forward and I dressed like Freddy Mercury in "I Want to Break Free" on one New Year's Eve party and I realised that the skirt felt amazing, so comfortable. I thought at that time, and so did MOH, that to wear a skirt you had to do the whole lot only to find that that wasn't really me. Couldn't be bothered with all the make up and so on. MOH was fine with me just wearing skirts for her viewing around the house as part of sort of foreplay. Then I found this site and I bought a lot more skirts so that I had plenty of variety. The rest is documented.

[6ft3Aussie]

I don't recall a specific time that I decided that I wanted to wear a skirt, sarong/lavalava or kilt etc, until I was about 25 when I was in the Solomon Islands.
Going back maybe 10-11 years or s before that, I can remember becoming interested in what the girls around the place were wearing, and consciously noting if they were wearing jeans or a skirt, especially noting if I saw a girl out of school hours still wearing her school uniform.
I also remember the thoughts of "you pervert, you shouldn't be watching the girls like that" that went around in my head.
Now I look back and think well that's the time when most boys start to take note of girls anyway.

There were a couple of times as kids that we played with things and found an old dress or skirt in the cupboard and tried it on, but it didn't have any real attraction to me.

Then when I was in the Solomon Islands, I found that especially in the regional areas both the men and the women wore lavalavas/sarongs all the time, not so much in Honiara which is more westernised than the regional areas, where a largely subsistence lifestyle exists with no electricity, TV, phones and very few shops/family stores of any sort.
It was there that I first wore a lavalava, and in the heat (32°C and high humidity) was much cooler and less sweaty.
A couple of the others there were happy to wear it there but did not believe that it was acceptable back in Auckland, New Zealand where I lived at the time.
I continued to wear it when I got back, when I was around the house etc, as you only ever saw big usually Samoans wearing a lavalava.

Fast forward another 15 or so years, I met my now wife and she's happy for me to wear a sarong, utility kilt etc, but I know she found it strange at first. (She's from the Philippines).
She did say that when she worked in Singapore that you often saw Malay or Indian men in their sarongs, but that was all.

One time I was in the Philippines with here family, after taking a shower one evening I wore a sarong without thinking about it, and one of her brother's wife looked at me and asked me why I was wearing a skirt, with a very surprised inflection on her voice, as if she perceived me to be cross dressing, or somehow not right or something. Nothing else was said.
Heading back over there in a couple of months again.

[Happy-N-Skirts]

I had never thought about trying on a skirt, especially my mother's or my sister's clothes (eww). Then I had serious groin surgery followed by a long and painful recovery. I bought a couple of tennis skirts to wear around the house because pants were painful. I enjoyed wearing them because they are so comfortable. I still have some degree of discomfort from the surgery and scar tissue when wearing pants or shorts. I began wearing skirts in the back yard and out to the mail box. I thought skirts were very practical and allowed for unlimited stride and ventilation, freedom and comfort. I am an outdoorsman and wildlife photographer, so I decided to wear skirts which I refer to as "hiking kilts." I shop for them in stores and try them on, looking for the right fit. I have bought skorts and removed the inner shorts as they defeat the purpose. I like skirts to be the same height (or length) as my shorts. I sort of blend in while in public and hardly anyone has ever noticed. I am in public places often, such as gas stations, stores, ranger stations, trails, state and national parks, etc. My wife is supportive and we sometimes hike together in skirts. Women like the idea and I think some men are envious. I am in the mountains or desert once a week, depending on the time of year.

Happy-N-Skirts

[Grok]

I still don't understand what the point is with those built in shorts. Is there a practical reason for this combination of skirt/shorts?

[crfriend]

I still don't understand what the point is with those built in shorts. Is there a practical reason for this combination of skirt/shorts?

There is a practical concern with the design, and it's down to basic modesty. In a skort it really doesn't matter if the wind gets at it, or if one bends over too far, as nothing will get shown. However, like virtually all hybrids, they tend to combine most of the bad features of both with few of the delights of the different components.

I view them in the same light as I view amphibious automobiles. They make positively lousy boats and less-than-useful cars -- but they can swim and drive on dry land which is something that neither of the original articles can both do.

[Jim]

I still don't understand what the point is with those built in shorts. Is there a practical reason for this combination of skirt/shorts?

"Modesty*." Fear of what's underneath being seen but liking the look of a skirt.

*I could go on a long rant on what is falsely called modesty, but I won't at the moment.

[Grok]

I think I'm beginning to see one pattern:

1. A boy is curious about the skirts that he sees females wearing. But he keeps his mouth shut because of the Taboo.

2. During adult hood, one or more catalysts prompts him to take action.

In my case, the catalyst was the sight of a man in a Utilikilt.

[crfriend]

1. A boy is curious about the skirts that he sees females wearing. But he keeps his mouth shut because of the Taboo.

This is what I term the "Forbidden Fruit" stage. Since it's forbidden by shallow cultural norms, of course it's going to be interesting. Nothing will pique curiosity more than somebody else telling one that he cannot do it.

2. During adult hood, one or more catalysts prompts him to take action.

Here's where it gets more interesting because the catalyst can be external, internal, or a combination -- and any combination does not need to be temporally close.

An external catalyst, e.g. "the sight of a man in a Utiliklilt" is the easiest to explain because it's external and therefore easily demonstrable.

What's more difficult to ascertain are the drivers that can invoke individual thoughts on the matter and can then allow those thoughts to puncture the walls of the boxes that we all live in. Recall that free thought is a very, very precious thing simply because it's so rare. Most are fine to follow the herd their entire lives; breaking that mould brings real risk and threat -- but it also brings enlightenment and sometimes joy to the individual who chooses that path. This is important, because if it weren't for free thought and the ability to conceive new and novel ideas we'd still be fighting with the chimpanzees (and likely would have lost by now).

An external stimulus from a time in the past may also serve as an amplifier for a new thought that one has just had. For instance, I did not recall the guy I saw wearing a skirt in the 1980s -- when it was really avant-garde -- until I started my own course down that path. It came as a bit of a slap to my "originality", but that sort of thing happens from time to time. In the neo-con dominated 1980s I wouldn't have dreamt of putting on a skirt i public; the mantra then was "toe the line, or else."

[Caultron]

I was about 12 years old and a member of the Boy Scouts, and in Boy's Life (the scouting magazine) they occasionally showed pictures of Scottish Scout wearing kilts, and I decided it'd be cool to wear one.

Or course you couldn't buy Scouting kilts in the US, and so I never got a chance to try one, but some 50 years later I did buy my first utilit kilt and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Kilted Musician]

For me, it was when I bought my first Utilikilt back in September of 2001. I went to the Highland Games here in California and stopped at the Utilikilt booth. Tried a couple on, and ended up buying one. About 3 months later, I thought about wearing skirts. I saw women in skirts of all styles and colors and it got me thinking about guys wearing them also. Why not? I went to my local Goodwill and started buying skirts. Some mini skirts and some ankle length. Then I found the International Men's Fashion Freedom network [IMFF] and realized I'm not the only guy who likes wearing skirts and kilts. I currently have about 10 skirts and 2 kilts. Now I wear wherever and whenever I like...

--Rick

[Miket]

What memories flood back from over 50 years ago!

Aged 15, a stout 15 stone boy in an all-boys school, I was cast as "Glumdalca" in the Story of Tom Thumb by Henry Fielding. Glumdalca was a rather belligerent giantess. I had the size, and I remember vividly our youngish German mistress measuring me up for my first skirt! It was khaki, to match my battledress top, wellington boots and a wartime tin helmet. Sorry no pictures from so long ago.

It was probably not a pretty sight, but I always remember the sense of freedom from wearing the skirt.

It was long time before the next opportunity to wear a skirt, but now - who cares...... I find a utilikilt the best thing for all my work outdoors in the garden.

[Grok]

1) The fact that often times men of antiquity are depicted donning some mighty cool robes, tunics, etc. Some of the images I've seen of the great wizards of the Middle Ages, along with the mighty Roman warriors, coupled with the elegance of the priestly ritual robes and caftans of religious people. The swish of the Klingon's robes as they had their grand meetings in TNG. Bad ass, and yet, very elegant all the same. Trousers on the other hand seemed so bland and boring, utilitarian and such. Trousers are what you wear when you're plugging away on an assembly line somewhere, or digging ditches. The robes are what you wore when you were in the presence of something great, like God, or high class society.

In science fiction/fantasy, almost the only exceptions to Trousers Tyranny are robes, and very occasionally kilts. I think that there is a latent acceptance of robes, because of clergy.