LAVISH Men's Costumes of the Past

[crfriend]

[...] I [...] don't necessarily agree with being expected to do those things and appear more androgynous or even womanly in order to wear more than one item from the womens department. Facial hair is often a part of a man's identity, and if you are going to wear a dress as a man, then I don't really see why you would be expected to change that.

That's the position I'm in. I have a mustache and a full beard and am very happy with those. The fact that I'm rather bushy in the facial department, however, does not keep me from wearing skirts, some of which have ruffles and lace on them, perfectly happily and still be easily recogniseable on the street as a man. I also completely and categorically reject the notion that in order to simply put on a skirt then one must go "all out" into full-on "femme mode".

I guess some people just feel it's too juxtaposed against the femininity of the clothing, but personally I think if we are going to move past that in society and achieve the same amount of style options as women have, then we need to embrace the clothes while retaining our identities (androgynous, masculine, feminine, whatever).

Indeed, and one of the reasons that the notion is confusing even to those who might partake of it themselves is that there are no "rules" -- or "guidelines" even -- for how men can integrate anything other than trousers into their everyday wardrobes. I suspect that if one pursues an androgynous look -- or an overtly feminine look -- then one will get accused of "trying to pass" vastly more often than the bloke who swaps trousers for a skirt and makes it look natural and believeable.

I actually really like the grass-eater image above, but if I saw him walking down the street I would think he was a lady, so in terms of furthering freestyle fashion for men it probably achieves very little in tearing down the fashion walls. That said, he's definitely rocking it anyways. What I feel we need is men walking down the street in styles like that, though.

The image in question smacked too much of the "kinderwhore" look that I find distracting at best and distasteful at worst. It can work in some settings, but I know that if I saw a guy so attired on the street I'd wonder what his problem is.

The only way to change what is normal is to be abnormal.

I like it!

[JohnH]

I think the Japanese grass-eater fashion would be off the wall even for a young genetic woman. If I saw a young woman wearing that outfit, I would wonder what her problem was. In this part of the country (Dallas, Texas) a woman has to be careful what she wears when she is wearing a dress since dresses are so seldomly worn on an everyday basis. If I wear a dress I want it to be age-appropriate - the grass-eater fashion would look strange on a 58 year old woman, let alone a 58 year old man as myself.

John