Hello from Tokyo
Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:44 am
Hello Everyone,
My name is Kelly. I am a 54 yr old American living long term in Tokyo. Thanks for this site it has been a great source of information.
I just recently started to explore skirts and kilts as part of my fashion. I have always had an eccentric approach to fashion. My main style for work is based upon indie Japanese designers who recreated men's working fashion inspired by the 1890s to the 1930s. Rough old looking fabrics, vests, vintage style ties, suspenders and cuts that are far more creative than the boring salaryman suits that fill Tokyo streets Mon-Fri.
My casual style has always been alternative with sleek black lines, lean black jeans, Dr. Martins and lots of black. But skirts were always outside my comfort zone. Even when I was into goth fashion in my 20's I just couldn't find comfort in a skirt. But at heart I have always liked pushing boundaries and I really dislike fitting into the Orwellian march of black, blue and dull grey suits that define the train commute to work, the halls of corporate Japan and the daily street fare of men my age. Perhaps above all, I am too old, and too long a person who loves fashion to confirm now and give up being who I want to be to surrender and conform.
Thankfully Tokyo is a great place to see men, even older men, in interesting fashion. Now and again I meet other men who embrace the Japanese indie working man fashion, alternative fashion or even just their own way forward. We run a small cafe on the side here and host a lot of small music acts. Some of the guys who come in have amazing fashion sense that is most often uniquely their's. But of all the people who come through, only one guy wears a skirt. One.
On the streets here younger men wear a fashion called "Mode Kei" (Japanese for Mode Fashion). Their style includes skirts, mostly long straight, draping A line skirts or complex skirts from designers like Yohji Yamamoto, COMME des Garsons and others. Their fashion tends to be mostly black or black and white and are very gender neutral. Ive seen both young and older men in these styles.
Mode Kei is expensive to follow if you try to keep up with the latest releases by these designers. I cannot afford to do that. But the lines are a big inspiration for me. Especially mixing my working man vests and jackets in with skirts, as you can see on Pinterest, was a huge inspiration and goal for me.
So I decided to find options that would work with my existing shirts, jackets, vests and would allow me to keep that old world working man texture and line with a skirt. And that is when I found an O'neil of Dublin black kilt in a 2nd hand shop. It is just knee length, very nice dress wool, large 3 buckles, flat in front and knife pleats in back. So I bought it (with a rather shocked young Japanese girl clerk uncomfortably confirming that I really wanted this item) and took it home to show my wife. Who loved it!!
So that very next Saturday I wore it to the cafe with an Engineered Garments black vest, a vintage band collar white shirt, very skinny jeans and some black vintage working boots. It was our cafe's 5th yr anniversary so there were people from all sorts of communities. I was very terrified. Then all of that disappeared.
Everyone was very positive. Except one older Japanese guy who thought I was doing Cosplay for the party. Everyone else was very positive and complimented the kilt.
I then found a great Kaki Grey O'neil of Dublin online 2nd hand and added that. Since then I've added a couple others in different colors. So it seems the kilt is in my wardrobe to stay.
I have only ventured out into the city about three times so far in my kilts. Only once with heavy cotton tights and tall Dr. Martins. I am still gaining my confidence. I sometimes feel it must be strange to see a guy my age dressed so differently, but at the same time that has always been true for me in one way or another. So I have decided to just have fun.
So that is my story.
I have some advice for men who want to try wearing a skirt.
1. Do it!!!
2. Don't spend massive amounts of money for skirts specifically made for men. You can find very suitable options that look the same for a lot less money if you shop 2nd hand, auction sites, Etsy and find women's large kilts and simple skirts which look just as suitable on a guy as a gal.
3. Mix your skirts and kilts with manly fashion items like vests, jackets, working boots etc... Check out Pinterest for many good examples.
4. Try longer pleated and straight skirts like Yohji Yamamoto and COMME des Garsons have pioneered. You can get really great options from less famous designers that look just as good.
5. Be who you are and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Thanks for this site. Nice to connect to this community.
Kelly
My name is Kelly. I am a 54 yr old American living long term in Tokyo. Thanks for this site it has been a great source of information.
I just recently started to explore skirts and kilts as part of my fashion. I have always had an eccentric approach to fashion. My main style for work is based upon indie Japanese designers who recreated men's working fashion inspired by the 1890s to the 1930s. Rough old looking fabrics, vests, vintage style ties, suspenders and cuts that are far more creative than the boring salaryman suits that fill Tokyo streets Mon-Fri.
My casual style has always been alternative with sleek black lines, lean black jeans, Dr. Martins and lots of black. But skirts were always outside my comfort zone. Even when I was into goth fashion in my 20's I just couldn't find comfort in a skirt. But at heart I have always liked pushing boundaries and I really dislike fitting into the Orwellian march of black, blue and dull grey suits that define the train commute to work, the halls of corporate Japan and the daily street fare of men my age. Perhaps above all, I am too old, and too long a person who loves fashion to confirm now and give up being who I want to be to surrender and conform.
Thankfully Tokyo is a great place to see men, even older men, in interesting fashion. Now and again I meet other men who embrace the Japanese indie working man fashion, alternative fashion or even just their own way forward. We run a small cafe on the side here and host a lot of small music acts. Some of the guys who come in have amazing fashion sense that is most often uniquely their's. But of all the people who come through, only one guy wears a skirt. One.
On the streets here younger men wear a fashion called "Mode Kei" (Japanese for Mode Fashion). Their style includes skirts, mostly long straight, draping A line skirts or complex skirts from designers like Yohji Yamamoto, COMME des Garsons and others. Their fashion tends to be mostly black or black and white and are very gender neutral. Ive seen both young and older men in these styles.
Mode Kei is expensive to follow if you try to keep up with the latest releases by these designers. I cannot afford to do that. But the lines are a big inspiration for me. Especially mixing my working man vests and jackets in with skirts, as you can see on Pinterest, was a huge inspiration and goal for me.
So I decided to find options that would work with my existing shirts, jackets, vests and would allow me to keep that old world working man texture and line with a skirt. And that is when I found an O'neil of Dublin black kilt in a 2nd hand shop. It is just knee length, very nice dress wool, large 3 buckles, flat in front and knife pleats in back. So I bought it (with a rather shocked young Japanese girl clerk uncomfortably confirming that I really wanted this item) and took it home to show my wife. Who loved it!!
So that very next Saturday I wore it to the cafe with an Engineered Garments black vest, a vintage band collar white shirt, very skinny jeans and some black vintage working boots. It was our cafe's 5th yr anniversary so there were people from all sorts of communities. I was very terrified. Then all of that disappeared.
Everyone was very positive. Except one older Japanese guy who thought I was doing Cosplay for the party. Everyone else was very positive and complimented the kilt.
I then found a great Kaki Grey O'neil of Dublin online 2nd hand and added that. Since then I've added a couple others in different colors. So it seems the kilt is in my wardrobe to stay.
I have only ventured out into the city about three times so far in my kilts. Only once with heavy cotton tights and tall Dr. Martins. I am still gaining my confidence. I sometimes feel it must be strange to see a guy my age dressed so differently, but at the same time that has always been true for me in one way or another. So I have decided to just have fun.
So that is my story.
I have some advice for men who want to try wearing a skirt.
1. Do it!!!
2. Don't spend massive amounts of money for skirts specifically made for men. You can find very suitable options that look the same for a lot less money if you shop 2nd hand, auction sites, Etsy and find women's large kilts and simple skirts which look just as suitable on a guy as a gal.
3. Mix your skirts and kilts with manly fashion items like vests, jackets, working boots etc... Check out Pinterest for many good examples.
4. Try longer pleated and straight skirts like Yohji Yamamoto and COMME des Garsons have pioneered. You can get really great options from less famous designers that look just as good.
5. Be who you are and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Thanks for this site. Nice to connect to this community.
Kelly