Women's Clothes

[Since1982]

In my opinion, we men do not ever wear "Women's Clothes" If we buy or in some other way OWN them, they become Men's clothes as long as a man is wearing them. If we're ever going to make skirts etc. mainstream for men to wear, we're going to HAVE to refer to them as MEN's clothes or MY clothes. Not Women's clothes or my wifes clothes but only as our clothes, men's clothes.

Yes, I bought most of my skirts from a Women's wear catalog, but I told the saleslady on the other end of the phone line that I was a man and the person that was wearing the skirts I bought as a man, not a pretend woman. I told her I felt a man had just as much right to wear a skirt as a Scotsman does to a kilt, a Hawaiian has to a sarong or kain, an Indian does to a wrap skirt or any man anywhere on the planet not wearing trousers but a skirted garment, aka MUG, of any kind.

[JohnH]

I have also been thinking - a man's skirted suit -
A short man's suit jacket with a suit skirt ordered from the women's section -

[crfriend]

I have also been thinking - a man's skirted suit -
A short man's suit jacket with a suit skirt ordered from the women's section -

Recall that ChrisM has been contemplating putting something like that together for his daughter's upcoming wedding -- and it could well work.

From my perspective, and your mileage will likely vary, a normal-length men's jacket could work if the skirt was on the longer side -- it certainly would not with a short skirt, which seems to be the fashion for women's skirt-suits these days. Too, the fabrics would need to match perfectly (or very close to) for the notion to work well. I suspect the latter is possible, but it might be difficult to find a matched set that work well together.

This is definitely a look I would like to explore.

[JohnH]

If you have a short skirt, then you would need a short jacket - e.g., I normally take a 46R jacket but with a knee length skirt I would make it a 46S jacket. It would be much easier to match if solid colors are involved - e.g., dark navy. With solid dark colors a perfect match would not be necessary.

[skirted_in_SF]

I think you could get away without the skirt and jacket fabrics matching. Think of the traditional sport coat/blazer and slacks combo for inspiration. I wore a navy blazer and long black skirt to the symphony one evening last winter. I think I have some pictures here somewhere I could crop, recompress and post now that I've figured it out.

[Kirbstone]

For my money, Sports jackets &c. are not worn to weddings....especially as Father-of-the-Bride.
I've already marched both my daughters up the aisle in the conventional sense, so all that's history for me.

Were I to attend a wedding unbifurcated, especially as the Elder major player I'd go for the full kilted regalia, which makes for Universal admiration and will look Great in wedding photos to admire afterwards. The tartan can be chosen to compliment the overall colour scheme for flowers, bride and bridesmaids....The only male garb that can do this.

[crfriend]

I think you could get away without the skirt and jacket fabrics matching. Think of the traditional sport coat/blazer and slacks combo for inspiration.

That look produces a vastly more informal look than a proper suit, which is what I was thinking of. Sport-coat and slacks somehow just reminds me of TV sportscasters.

I wore a navy blazer and long black skirt to the symphony one evening last winter. I think I have some pictures here somewhere I could crop, recompress and post now that I've figured it out.

If the blazer was a very dark navy, that could work (subject to the casual aspect mentioned above). The proof would be in the image unless it's underexposed so everything looks black (a common vice of many digi-cams).

I seem to remember being told as a kid to avoid mixing black and navy; whether that has any basis in style or fact eludes me but I still try to avoid it save for my shoes.

[skirted_in_SF]

I would suggest that the odds of getting the color and texture of a jacket from the men's side of the store to match a skirt from the other side of the store would be near zero. This was my reasoning for not trying to match jacket and skirt.
My color vision isn't real great in low light. One morning I put on the jacket from one navy suit with the pants from another. The match was close enough for me to walk by my mirror and leave the house. I got on my bus, looked down and said Holy S__t. Got off, walked five blocks home and changed one of them. They were both navy, just not the same navy.

JohnH, wouldn't a short jacket also be short in the sleeves? Now, I understand that is the trend now days, but I don't think it would be the look you want.

[Kirbstone]

I wasn't thinking of matching a girl's dress with a men's suit material, I was merely recalling the vast range of colours for men available in, for example, Harris Tweeds.
A look at a Scotweb traditional outfitter's site would blow your eyes away with options, some of them pretty expensive, I must admit.

There are co-ordinated kilt & jacket outfits which non tartan, too. All of these would be made up bespoke to measure, which would cope with any short jacket/long sleeves problem.

[skirted_in_SF]

Symphony skirt 09 crop_1.JPG

I can see the difference between the dark navy jacket and the black skirt on my original file. But like Carl suggested after recompression the contrast isn't as great. I wore this outfit to a Wednesday evening performance by the San Francisco Symphony last January.
Sorry face fans, this picture was taken before I had as much confidence as I have now.

[Since1982]

Sorry face fans, this picture was taken before I had as much confidence as I have now.

Giggle giggle

And you're definitely the better for it. You have a very masculine body and face. Overall, a very good looking older man. (I can say older man as I'm 68 years young).

[crfriend]

I would suggest that the odds of getting the color and texture of a jacket from the men's side of the store to match a skirt from the other side of the store would be near zero.

There's been a reasonably recent surge in "suiting" fabrics for women's styles that might match up with some of the men's fabrics. Now, I'm not saying that you wouldn't have to be incredibly lucky to actually find any matches "on the peg", I'm just hinting that it might be possible.

One morning I put on the jacket from one navy suit with the pants from another. The match was close enough for me to walk by my mirror and leave the house.

Oops. (Been there, done that.)

[AMM]

To un-drift the topic a bit (or perhaps to create another branch):

What's so terrible if somebody says you're wearing "women's clothes," anyway?

It reminds me of how much energy a lot of guys here put into making sure that, when they wear skirts, they look "masculine" enough, and how uncomfortable quite a few people here are about the idea of men looking too "feminine." (There used to be quite a few men here at the Cafe who would get very upset about discussion of looks that they saw as too feminine, but most of them left during one or another of the brawls we've had on the subject.)

Now, I also see a lot of people here at the Cafe asking, why aren't more men willing to try skirts?

Well, I think that most men in the general population (at least in what we call "the Western world") reject skirts, and even bright colors (especially pink) for pretty much the same reason: they are trying very hard to be seen as 100% masculine, and so they reject almost anything that somebody can claim makes them seem in any way "feminine" or "like a girl."

So I say, we're not all that different from the Docker-wearing men (and the Marlboro-man wannabees) who run from the idea of wearing skirts as if they would -- ahem -- cut off their most valuable parts. And if we want to understand how to get more men to accept the idea of wearing skirts, we need only look inside ourselves to see what is likely to work (or not work.)

Personally, I wish we men could just give up this paranoia that all manner of concepts, mannerisms, colors, and pieces of cloth are just waiting to take away our sacred masculinity.

And if anybody here figures out how, could you let me know how you didi it?

[AMM]

There's been a reasonably recent surge in "suiting" fabrics for women's styles that might match up with some of the men's fabrics. Now, I'm not saying that you wouldn't have to be incredibly lucky to actually find any matches "on the peg", I'm just hinting that it might be possible.

The problem is that, unless the fabric comes from the same bolt (or the same dye lot), it's almost impossible to get an exact match. Even if you can't see the difference, plenty of people can. It's not just the color, it's the weave, the quality of the yarn, the treatment of the cloth after weaving, etc.

That's why it's a good idea, if you buy an expensive suit, to order more than one pair of trousers. Otherwise, when the trousers go (and they usually wear out before the jacket), you basically have to retire the jacket. It's impossible to order a replacement pair that matches the jacket. (Been there, done that.)

If you want a skirted (or kilted) men's suit that will look as put-together as the suits that guys wear in those jobs that require suits, you're probably better off finding a tailor. (I.e., a shop that specializes in made-to-order suits.)

[skirted_in_SF]

AMM, you explained the point I was trying to make much better than I did.

I'm one of the guys that is willing to wear a skirt the is less than masculine. I just bought two yards of dark teal blue stretch velvet to have made into a winter skirt. Beautiful liquid, drapey fabric. I had an interesting discussion with two clerks in the fabric store about how I was going to use the yardage. One of them was quite enthusiastic about my planned use. When he asked and I told him it was my first visit, he warned me that one I get hooked, I would be back again.