The Feel of a Skirt!

[skirtyscot]

I'm wearing a skirt I bought on Ebay and which only arrived yesterday. I like it for many of the reasons mentioned above:
No material tight round the crotch ;
the feeling of the legs being free;
the lining feels lovely and smooth against the skin
it's light - much lighter than my other full length skirts - but quite warm
I like the way it moves, floating arond my legs, when I walk (especially down stairs)
It doesn't make much noise, even going up stairs (I don't much like the noise most long skirts make)

It is more unlike a pair of trousers than any other long skirt I own.

Last but certainly not least, it is purple, a rich shade. I like purple, and I usually have a purple shirt in my wardrobe, but they are never in very strong shades. You would struggle to find a pair of trousers in this shade of purple*, but it's not a girly pastelly mauve sort of purple. If I had been born a toff in ancient Roman times, I could have had a toga with this shade of purple, but for some reason our society (or our clothes designers) don't think men should wear this luscious colour.

In short, it's great, I love it. Now looking for an opportunity and the cojones to wear it outdoors!

* I once saw Laurence Llewellyn Bowen in his preposterous home makeover programme wearing a suit, shirt and tie all in exactly matching purple, and it was pretty much the shade of purple I am now wearing. No doubt it was made to order. I say my taste is better than his: one can have too much of a good thing.

[BBB]

I was kilted at a social event this weekend and the sense of freedom is amazing, who would wear trousrs after that? Even on a cold evening you cannot beat it
I also spent much of my holiday in a lungi and felt robbed and confined when I conformed to western norm.

[DALederle]

BBB said:
"I also spent much of my holiday in a lungi and felt robbed and confined when I conformed to western norm."

The funny thing is most our problems with our culture's total love affair with pants is that is does stem from "western" norm. Actually, western movies!
The same thing goes for the total domination of blue jeans.
In the early days of movies, when all the B-movies were being cranked out, the prop departments needed costums on the cheap for their many, many cowboy extras. So grab a pair of jeans and a hat and call them a cowboy. Actually cowboy's never wore blue jeans. Blue jeans (which weren't blue at first) were worn mostly by hardrock miners. By the teens and twenties they were being sold to farmers thanks to the Sears et.al. catalogs. But prop departments needed quick, cheap costumes. So they grabbed blue jeans and it became, mistakenly, a symbol of the all American hero, the Cowboy!
Now people of both genders and all ages wear "jeans" as their one and only garment, all the time.
Of course I have a personal agenda against "jeans" of all types, unless they are skirts. I almost want to cry when I see an elderly lady out in public in her jeans. In her youth she would never have even thought of putting on a pair of jeans AND going out in public. So I gues she (they) are getting even for what they missed when they were younger. Which is how I feel about wearing skirts.
I never knew, growing up, that I could wear a skirt and still be a man. I always though I'd have to become a woman in order to wear a skirted garment in public, freely. I wish I could go back now, be my younger self, but know what I know now. I would have worn a skirt out in public as a man. Damn the torpedos, full steam ahead!

Dennis A. Lederle

Yippie, Yi, Ki, Yay!

[Since1982]

(sturdy, comfortable, reliable).

Sturdy clothing...? Sounds like something that's made of wood. Or leather still ON the COW. {{{COW thinking}}} [Ok you, you, HUMAN, STOP looking at MY skin like it's something to wear or EAT!!

[ramoninaskirt]

I have over 40 skirts in different styles and lengths and the feel and freedom I feel wearing them is where its at for me. My wife loves me in my skirts and thats a plus. I'm not going to burn my jeans just yet but thats always an option.

[Dale]

I absolutely love the feeling of a skirt. No restrictions in the crotch (I hate getting my balls crushed). Freedom of movement around the legs, no confinement or friction. At times my skin is very sensitive, and trousers are sometimes outright painful to move around in. I am a recent skirt wearer (as of Halloween 2011), but I have not worn a pair of pants but twice since then. Like I said I absolutely love the feeling of a skirt. I am not throwing away my pants, but I can't picture myself wearing them at this point.

[BobM]

I am partial to very full (circle or double circle) lightweight denim skirts of about knee length. I always wear at least one, and usually two slips with any of my skirts ( one a-line and the other tiered ). Not only do they help to keep the skirts clean, they really enhance the sensuous feeling and add much to the swirl and swing.

[JohnH]

I like dresses too as does Jack Williams. I even like them to be long so I can go "commando" and not wear any underwear (assuming the garment is sufficiently opaque).

The reason pants are so prevalent of course is that people used to ride horses. Now the only time it is awkward to wear a skirted garment is when I get in and out of a car, where I have to sit down in the seat of the car and then swing my legs into the car, and then do the reverse when getting out of the car. When I sit down I instinctively keep my legs together modestly.

John

[Big and Bashful]

Out in the big wide world I normally opt for either calf length or ankle length cargo denim skirts I had built for me by Midas. However I do prefer the feel of a couple of long skirts I have bought on line. One is a full circle floaty thing which just feels excellent, the other is my latest purchase, a cotton, floor length skirt with loads of room for movement, feels great. I got it from a website that makes historical clothing,
Here it is:
http://www.ladiesemporium.com/store/003 ... k=60650285

Both are very comfortable, a bit of a pain on stairs, both hands needed because of the amount of fabric and still they can get under my feet, however I bought them because I wanted to see how easy a large skirt was to live in, and I do enjoy wearing them. The jury is still out on the 4 hoop underskirt however! an interesting challenge to manouvre in, especially in my house with narrow corridors and steep stairs!

Somehow I don't see me wearing either of these with an audience!

[crfriend]

However I do prefer the feel of a couple of long skirts I have bought on line. One is a full circle floaty thing which just feels excellent, the other is my latest purchase, a cotton, floor length skirt with loads of room for movement, feels great. I got it from a website that makes historical clothing,
Here it is:
http://www.ladiesemporium.com/store/003 ... k=60650285

That's the same place as I got my long purple "walking skirt" from and my long blue taffeta one from! Both of mine get active use "out and about" as well as at work. It's getting to be a bit warm for them now, so they may wind up in the closet until we get a chill in the air again.

Both are very comfortable, a bit of a pain on stairs, both hands needed because of the amount of fabric and still they can get under my feet, however I bought them because I wanted to see how easy a large skirt was to live in, and I do enjoy wearing them. The jury is still out on the 4 hoop underskirt however! an interesting challenge to manouvre in, especially in my house with narrow corridors and steep stairs!

Photos of the 4-hooper would be appreciated. I've worn my long ones with a single hoop installed and found that I didn't like the way they behaved; I've found that a simple petticoat is usually enough to tame the unruliness of the long ones.

Somehow I don't see me wearing either of these with an audience!

Practise more. I get out and about in mine frequently.

[Since1982]

B&B said, Both are very comfortable, a bit of a pain on stairs, both hands needed because of the amount of fabric and still they can get under my feet, however I bought them because I wanted to see how easy a large skirt was to live in

From the Emporic times they lived in Women of higher class seldom used their hands for anything but managing their skirts to do "walking, climbing stairs, entering/exiting buggies or wagons, stepping over things, or turning to change directions". Lesser class women's skirts were mid calf because of all the menial work they did in their positions as house servants or in the South of the US as slaves.

Normal house things were always done by subservients, never by the "Woman of the House". Higher class women of the day climbed stairs with a sideways gait while holding wads of skirt or dress folds up off their shoes, making sure no one could SEE anything but their high button shoes and NEVER EVER SEE any part of the woman except her face and hands, the face would be outlined by her bonnet and her hands would never be seen above the wrists.

Also, High Class women of that time wore hoops under their skirts to make walking and bending and stepping over things less troublesome.

[pleated]

The reason pants are so prevalent of course is that people used to ride horses.
John

I've seen the theory several times about trouser-wearing having developed for the purpose of horse riding. I wonder though what proportion of people throughout history would have been able to afford a horse, or would have had access to a horse. I would imagine most of the people with an opportunity to ride horses would have been reasonably wealthy or would have been in the elite parts of the military.
I think the industrial revolution may have had a greater influence on the increase in trouser wearing over the past two centuries.

[Man in a skirt]

I've seen the theory several times about trouser-wearing having developed for the purpose of horse riding. I wonder though what proportion of people throughout history would have been able to afford a horse, or would have had access to a horse. I would imagine most of the people with an opportunity to ride horses would have been reasonably wealthy or would have been in the elite parts of the military.
I think the industrial revolution may have had a greater influence on the increase in trouser wearing over the past two centuries.

I agree, as a helicopter technician, I can see MANY, MANY difficulties from wearing a skirt. but if I was simple farmer... I'd skirt all the time..

[crfriend]

I agree, as a helicopter technician, I can see MANY, MANY difficulties from wearing a skirt. but if I was simple farmer... I'd skirt all the time..

Rotor-wash, I take it being one of the lesser worries.

That's a neat-sounding job -- probably more rewarding than being a computer admin.

[henri]

It has taken me a while to find my way around Skirt Cafe, but I am glad to have found so many kindred people. Since deciding to wear in public I find a few take a second look, but relatively few comment.
I have found that when wearing a skirt I only feel 'dressed' when also in stockings. I wear classic stockings with a suspender (garter) belt, never 'hold-ups' - they don't - and the latex or elastic is very uncomfotable. Unfortunately these are now more common in shops, I know not why, as none of my lady friends have worn them either. Tights are a no-no, sweaty, and how do you pee in a communal urinal area ....... I leave you to ponder on that one ...
My suspender belts are womens' underwear, an occasional line at Evans, but they fit perfectly, absolutely plain silky albeit nylon, but wonderfully comfortable. I do have to keep them up with little straps over my shouklders, sort of suspender braces.
Reading this thread, it appears many find their skirts sensual. There is no doubt a tight straight pencil skirt, feels very different to a loose skirt, my current favourites surprisingly came from ASDA's George range, but they are cut like a man's garment with pleats and front pockets. I have sewn on buttons for my braces, another essential item as neither trousers not skirts stay up without them!
It is a very pleasant to walk around in a skirt, with the freedom, and the sensuality of the garment as it touches ones skin, or the tighter garments constrain movement. Try it!
NB For our US readers, Evans is a store chain selling larger women's sizes.