Work skirts

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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moonshadow
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Work skirts

Post by moonshadow »

One of the major skirt lines to be "purged" from my closet a while back was much of the more dainty stuff. Not for a fear of being seen as too "feminine" but the reality is, for the last several years the "novelty" of wearing skirts has simply worn off on me.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I still like to wear skirts, and they are still a major part of my routine, but it seems gone are the days when I had "something to prove". Back then I'd go out of my way to purchase overly dainty and frilly, flamboyant stuff just to show off. But there's one problem... that stuff really isn't very practical for any other reason other than showing off.

I kept a few skirts that are more fragile and dainty, I went to wear one last weekend, but upon considering what I was planning to get into that day (yard work and unstopping the bathtub drain) I found myself changing into a knee length brown skirt. The brown skirt isn't really "hardy" but it's not a prim little flower either.. it's kinda in the middle. For the more hardcore stuff I have a rugged cotton knee length skirt that's already stained with automotive grease and of course my denim midi skirt that appears to be indestructible.

Even when I'm not working, during my leisure time, I spend time walking, biking, hiking in the woods, often confronting obstacles like rocks, narrow paths, brambles etc, and some of those thinner dainty skirts just won't hold up. Then there are the restrictive inner liners. I need skirts that offer full stride, because I often have to stretch my legs out fully for various reasons. I don't think I kept a single skirt with a liner.

I guess I've just come to the point where skirts have become so second nature that I found I need to start defining my skirts, not allowing my skirts to define me.

Anyone else get this?
-Andrea
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crfriend
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Re: Work skirts

Post by crfriend »

moonshadow wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:08 pmI guess I've just come to the point where skirts have become so second nature that I found I need to start defining my skirts, not allowing my skirts to define me.
I believe what you're experiencing is a convergence onto your own personal style -- after having gone about it completely experimentally. There's nowt wrong with that tactic -- and it does give one greater latitude than cold hard analysis -- but it takes time. I think the time for you has come, and you're settling into something.

I used a mix of the approaches, but primarily focused on analysis based on my personal tastes. I deviated from that path a little bit now and then, but feel like I'm still "on target" which is nice. I've got a range of styles from very long to quite short, some plain some "frilly", but most are suitable for a range of occasions including work -- although I did get sent home one day to change because one of the women felt upstaged.
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Sinned
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Re: Work skirts

Post by Sinned »

Yes, Moon, I feel that I no longer have anything to prove by wearing a skirt. Except to my wife, of course. It's no longer a big deal and I need to thin out my collection, not because I dislike any of them, but because I have some skirts that I either cannot imagine any of my shirts or tops going with them or because my wife has a partucular dislike for a skirt because of colour or style. Putting on a skirt is just, well, normal.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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moonshadow
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Re: Work skirts

Post by moonshadow »

crfriend wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:18 pm but most are suitable for a range of occasions including work -- although I did get sent home one day to change because one of the women felt upstaged.
Well that won't happen to me as we have a uniform to prevent that from happening. I don't have to worry about being seen in a skirt among company people though, having work a brown knee length skirt and tee shirt in the Louisville KY branch office earlier this summer.

From our conversations I'm left to conclude that our versions of "work" are likely different. Mine especially so over the last few years, which could also be another reason for my change in style. Ever since I've purchased this house, I've set about doing little DYI projects, working on piddly stuff in my barn, running power tools, sanding, nailing, gardening, maintenance, yard work, etc. I don't mind this. I come from a long line of worker bees and we don't idle well, and we're not afraid to get our hands dirty. [0]

So I imagine we have different "work", but even our leisure seems different in most regards. Though I have to admit, I'm always impressed when you manage a sailboat in one of your long flowy "rigs". But I'm not a sailor (I'm a mountain man) so perhaps it just don't understand the process.

[0] The other day, while I was working on a tray conveyor at work, I got down into the nitty gritty on one of the safety switches. Screw drivers and pliers in hand, I set about disassembling the switch to test it, muck, slime, and smelly crud oozing between my fingers and getting everywhere. The maintenance man working with me remarked "boy you sure don't mind getting your hands dirty!" with a smile on his face.

I replied "nope.. not one bit. I've seen much, much worse." I've scraped dead vermin carcasses off terminal blocks, I've had roaches crawling up my arms (I just casually flicked them off and go right back to what I was doing), I've spent plenty of evenings picking coagulated fryer grease out of my arm hairs. I've laid in rancid fish juice (and other substances) in broken down coolers while I worked on the evaporators. One time I had a customer accidentally spill melted butter in my hair (it was only luke warm so it didn't burn). That's another reason I keep my hair short these days...

Hey... as long as I know I've got a hot shower waiting for me at the end of the day, I'm fine.
-Andrea
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Re: Work skirts

Post by crfriend »

moonshadow wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:39 pmSo I imagine we have different "work", but even our leisure seems different in most regards. Though I have to admit, I'm always impressed when you manage a sailboat in one of your long flowy "rigs". But I'm not a sailor (I'm a mountain man) so perhaps it just don't understand the process.
"Work" and "leisure" for me can look remarkably similar, although the latter, properly done in computing, involves oscilloscopes, logic probes, schematics, and brainpower. Both involve working with my hands, because that's how I physically interact with the world around me. In the former, it's devolved into executing dictated "solutions" (frequently obsolete and requiring "fixing" before they have any chance to even executing) from a nano-manager, programming in computer languages I do not particularly like (PHP -- ever seen the CVE list on that mess), and simply trying to keep everything running on the barest of margins in adverse conditions (e.g. nano-management and now all-too-frequent 3rd shift work without compensation).

I'm sop burnt out at the moment that I cannot enjoy anything, days all blur together, and I cannot concentrate on anything. In short, I've become a burnt-out cinder. I can deal with one serious stressor at a time; right now I have multiples.
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Kirbstone
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Re: Work skirts

Post by Kirbstone »

Carl,

Savannah beckons. A little while doing nothing taxing and just enjoying different surroundings will send green shoots up through your mood in no time. Looking at what I can see of S. from photos it seems a perfect vacation destination.....warm too.

Tom
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Re: Work skirts

Post by crfriend »

Kirbstone wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:50 pmSavannah beckons. A little while doing nothing taxing and just enjoying different surroundings will send green shoots up through your mood in no time. Looking at what I can see of S. from photos it seems a perfect vacation destination.....warm too.
I'm still trying to ascertain whether my hostess is still alive and well. That's another massive stressor at the moment. The train tickets are purchased and all I need to to is to arrange transport into Boston on Christmas morning -- and that's pretty well in hand although not firmed up (the worst thing that can happen is I take the commuter rail from Worcester to Boston the day before Christmas and hole up in a hotel on Christmas Eve and catch the southbound train the next morning).

However, I am reluctant to go to an unfamiliar place with no familiar faces and stay a week -- especially in these idiot COVID times.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Work skirts

Post by Fred in Skirts »

crfriend wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:55 pm However, I am reluctant to go to an unfamiliar place with no familiar faces and stay a week -- especially in these idiot COVID times.
My daughter and son in law just left today for Savannah Ga. for the week end. This is the second time since they came to stay with me for several months (and I do enjoy them being here I will miss their company when they leave fr their new home) they are visiting their oldest and are staying in fancy hotel right on River Street. (0) They have not reported any problems in the past trip and my grandson who lives there has not either.
So Carl just pack up your old kit bag and go for with a big smile on your face.

(0) The place to be for restaurants, bars and other great fun.
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Re: Work skirts

Post by Faldaguy »

Back to the original thread:
moonshadow wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:08 am
I guess I've just come to the point where skirts have become so second nature that I found I need to start defining my skirts, not allowing my skirts to define me.
I expect some of us could wear the 'dainty, frilly, colorful and flamboyant' stuff to our work sites and fare just fine; but perhaps not so much so for welding; wrenching under diesels; draining swamps or pouring concrete -- so pragmatic choices must be made as well as aesthetic ones.

Like Moon, I find I have drifted away some from the colorful 'fun' or fabric pleasing items merely because of the tasks that are on the agenda or setting that may confront me before returning to the wardrobe; yet there is still a hankering there to put on items that could be described as "showy" though I often think of them as pleasing and fun as well as carrying a message.

Most of the time I'm in places where most everyone has already seen me in all manner of attire and one more skirt is not gonna create any real notice -- unless it was truly extreme. However, I do feel there is still much need for explicitly pushing the message of men's fashion freedom, so sometimes I opt for a skirt that is more noticeable than not if I have the freedom of choice given the tasks and day's activities. When I don't don a skirt that may please my mood in favor of an all-purpose skirt or 'work skirt' I sometimes feel I'm resorting to men's blah -- even though I'm wearing a skirt.

The fashion drift I do find to be true, is that I continue to be more aware of my image and try a bit more to make my shirts, skirts and shoes at least seem to have been chosen as a thoughtful selection rather than just a top and bottom grabbed at random as pants and shirts were wont to do!
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Re: Work skirts

Post by denimini »

Probably the novelty has worn off and the adrenaline rush certainly has but the enjoyment hasn't. I still like looking at that single opening in the mornings.
I am always looking for different sorts of skirts so perhaps that is a way of perpetuating the novelty factor.
I have a few modes of work; building renovation wearing denim minis, design work on the computer wearing some of my more farout and funky skirts and gardening in light and flowy minis.
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
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Re: Work skirts

Post by photoguy207 »

I recently started giving away some of my skirts to a lady who works with me. She is about my size and she is either keeping them or giving them to a women’s shelter. They are all of the skirts I bought over the past few years to try out. Like colorful with pleats, more feminine looking skirts. I have always been drawn toward a simpler skirt like a dark pencil skirt, jean skirts, khaki skirts, cargo skirts. I wanted to experience others and I did but don’t see myself wearing them, so I thought I would give them to somebody who will get use out of them.

For the past few months, I have been wearing purple rain and lighthearted gear skirts that have a snap. It hides the fact that I’m wearing a skirt. Been awesome wearing a skirt for an entire work day with clients. Nobody can tell. I have told a few people and they are surprised they aren’t shorts. Now I have to figure out what to do as the cold weather approaches. At this point I’m so comfortable wearing a skirt, I think I might just wear a nice pencil skirt, with tights and boots and just go for it!
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Re: Work skirts

Post by STEVIE »

I wore this in the office last week;
It confused quite a few and garnered several compliments along the way.
It is also a rarity in that I don't have on glasses, a first in nearly 60 years.
Steve.
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Re: Work skirts

Post by moonshadow »

Man, that's razor sharp Stevie!

Outstanding!

Though I wouldn't advise tending a garden or disassembling a bathtub drain I a crawl space in such an outfit! :wink:
-Andrea
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Re: Work skirts

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STEVIE wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 4:15 amI wore this in the office last week;
Brilliant! Positively outstanding.
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Re: Work skirts

Post by Kirbstone »

Stevie,
If you drop by I'll hand you a pitchfork and you can help me muck out our large donkey shed. That'll earn you a wee dram, of course. Would Dalwhinnie do?

I happen to like Black Stewart tartan myself.

Tom
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