skirtcafe.org

A really good article.

I gotta ask, did Mark hire a P.R. manager or something? This guy turns up everywhere.

I ask in all seriousness.

He's all over the internet these days, but maybe he's just flavour of the month. Enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Profiting from it as well, judging by the article. How he rose to such prominence is a good question. It could just be luck: other SC members have accounts on Flickr or Lookbook without going viral. I'm certainly no expert on how to win at social media, but my guess is that it's partly due to his style. It's very striking, which is a good start. Men's suit and tie but with a pencil skirt instead of trousers, and matching tie and heels in a bold colour. In a way it's a more ostentatious challenge to the norm than most of our personal styles, and that might make it more likely to get shared. I don't know how long his Instagram has been able to fund his outfits, but quite clearly for as long as he has been posting here, he has been able to afford the shoes and bespoke skirts. That must help too. And when the fashionistas started paying attention to him, he had the time and inclination to do the interviews and photo-shoots.

The long, multi-coloured skirt looks OK, but I have no interest in the high heels business. I want to keep a masculine look and "heels" are designed for female deportment and an expression of femininity.

I have to agree with skirtyscot, his style is very striking.

While the text of the article was good, the outfits he was wearing trended towards high fashion to me. Nothing he wore I would wear. Sorry, Mark, not to my taste. I've seen you in more normal wear.

skirtyscot wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:54 pm He's all over the internet these days, but maybe he's just flavour of the month. Enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Profiting from it as well, judging by the article. How he rose to such prominence is a good question. It could just be luck: other SC members have accounts on Flickr or Lookbook without going viral. I'm certainly no expert on how to win at social media, but my guess is that it's partly due to his style. It's very striking, which is a good start. Men's suit and tie but with a pencil skirt instead of trousers, and matching tie and heels in a bold colour. In a way it's a more ostentatious challenge to the norm than most of our personal styles, and that might make it more likely to get shared. I don't know how long his Instagram has been able to fund his outfits, but quite clearly for as long as he has been posting here, he has been able to afford the shoes and bespoke skirts. That must help too. And when the fashionistas started paying attention to him, he had the time and inclination to do the interviews and photo-shoots.

Thanks for the input. I was just wondering, a passing curiosity. I'm not envious or anything, I just found it odd that there have to be millions of male skirt wearers the world over, and just found it odd that 80% of the male skirt wearing articles appearing over the last couple of years seem to be basically recycling the same Mark story over and over.

I know Vox was getting some P.R. off the ground right before he got into hot water at that dressing room. Which was too bad, I always thought he was somewhat relatable... that is, until the dressing room incident.

I wouldn't mind doing some kind of national "special interest" interview for a trendy magazine or something like that, but I don't think I'd want to be the subject of local news. I imagine such publicity would likely not end well for me. But I realize I don't exactly have a style that knocks peoples socks off either.

BTW Stu, I understand heels were men's wear before they were for the women. In fact, I still see men wearing heeled shoes and boots from time to time.

Moon wrote

I understand heels were men's wear before they were for the women. In fact, I still see men wearing heeled shoes and boots from time to time.

Ironically, heeled footwear is useful if one is sat astride a member of the equine family - the growing fashion for which rendered skirted garments less practical.

trainspotter48 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:11 am Ironically, heeled footwear is useful if one is sat astride a member of the equine family - the growing fashion for which rendered skirted garments less practical.

That is true, riding boots have quite a heel although the spurs are hard on hosiery when crossing the legs.

moonshadow wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:35 am BTW Stu, I understand heels were men's wear before they were for the women. In fact, I still see men wearing heeled shoes and boots from time to time.

I know - in fact, I was a young man in the 1970s and had a pair of platforms with a big heel. I was thinking of the women's style shoes that the model is wearing. They were designed for the female gait, to emphasise the slenderness of the calves, the swing of the hips and the fragility of the feminine form and female glamour. To me, they are a step towards crossdressing and that's the last thing I would want.

skirtyscot wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:54 pm He's all over the internet these days, but maybe he's just flavour of the month. Enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Profiting from it as well, judging by the article. How he rose to such prominence is a good question. It could just be luck: other SC members have accounts on Flickr or Lookbook without going viral. I'm certainly no expert on how to win at social media, but my guess is that it's partly due to his style. It's very striking, which is a good start. Men's suit and tie but with a pencil skirt instead of trousers, and matching tie and heels in a bold colour. In a way it's a more ostentatious challenge to the norm than most of our personal styles, and that might make it more likely to get shared. I don't know how long his Instagram has been able to fund his outfits, but quite clearly for as long as he has been posting here, he has been able to afford the shoes and bespoke skirts. That must help too. And when the fashionistas started paying attention to him, he had the time and inclination to do the interviews and photo-shoots.

I think being a well-paid manager helped initially Mark doesn't do cheap, his looks are professional skirts for the workplace such as Zara and high end brands, and designer shoes. I'm sure he loved posting here in an enclosed forum, but to go public, then Instagram was his springboard. I hear he did hire someone for his PR, having the likes of Rihanna follow him along with countless men as well as women is showing the world how his effortless style is in everyone's grasp. He inspired me for his look.

I guess there's only so many times one can post here of achievements but it will reach less than 20 who really care, so exploiting Instagram, which in turn gets access to Facebook, and have countless designers throwing their wares at him, he must feel like a kid in a candy store! There's countless others, GenderBlender (Vlasta) and his wife enjoy high end trips to exotic places and quite a social media following. I guess it's how much of ones life that one chooses to put on public display.

Looks very tiring to me though, but it's the life of an influencer

new2skirts wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 3:00 pm Mark doesn't do cheap, his looks are professional skirts for the workplace such as Zara and high end brands, and designer shoes.

Hi
Agreed about not cheap, that is for sure.
However, I am obviously working for the wrong employer or just not networking enough.
I just haven't met anyone who makes high end brands and designer shoes part of their regular business attire.
Oddly though, I don't actually consider Zara "high end" either.
Still not convinced that this heralds a new age of genderless fashion.
Steve.

STEVIE wrote: ↑Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:56 pm

new2skirts wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 3:00 pm Mark doesn't do cheap, his looks are professional skirts for the workplace such as Zara and high end brands, and designer shoes.

Hi
Agreed about not cheap, that is for sure.
However, I am obviously working for the wrong employer or just not networking enough.
I just haven't met anyone who makes high end brands and designer shoes part of their regular business attire.
Oddly though, I don't actually consider Zara "high end" either.
Still not convinced that this heralds a new age of genderless fashion.
Steve.

Okay perhaps Zara was pushing it a little but I have always loved the construction and fit of their pencil skirts, like how Warehouse is. I say Mark never looks like he is in stuff from the local market some of the styles with high slits at the side aren't really me, and he wore some odd skirt / pants combo which threw me the other day (obviously modelling stuff), but his 15 mins of fame seem to be doing him well

new2skirts wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:14 pm I say Mark never looks like he is in stuff from the local market some of the styles with high slits at the side aren't really me, and he wore some odd skirt / pants combo which threw me the other day (obviously modelling stuff), but his 15 mins of fame seem to be doing him well

I do agree regarding the benefits to Marc but not the "Genderless Clothing" angle.
There is nothing here to cause chains such as Zara, Warehouse, Hobbs or Joe Browns to consider removing the gender tags from their garments.
On the other hand I cannot see that it would cause Moss Bros or similar to introduce skirts for men to their offerings either.
Sorry man but Marc has gone high fashion and that alone will never bring "genderless" to the mass market.
Perhaps if he set his sights on Next or Marks and Spencer even Primark, who knows?
Steve.