Women have the pants/skirt problem also.

[Brandy]

Earlier this year I was looking to buy some new Utilikilts and on Face Book I found out that UK have a San Francisco store. Since I was going to get stuck with the tax I decided to save the shipping went to the store.

I went to FB to get store times etc., and while on their page a Like: "No Pants 2011" at first I thought is a guy swearing of pants for UK's it turns out to be a lady who was tired of her jeans, drab wardrobe, and made the pledge to swear off trousers and opened a website; http://nopants2011.com/, here is where she started from; http://nopants2011.com/post/2634373910/ ... ng-slumber

It has been interesting watching her daily posts through the year. Yes she is female and wearing dress and skirts are no big deal for her.

BUT the point is it took her a lot of effort to stop wearing pants.

Back at previous job when I actually wore a kilt to work it caused a stir. One of the Ladies I worked with tapped me on the knee one day and said could I wear that kilt thing again? I was stunned and I did. BUT her problem was she had worn jeans to work for so many years she had talked her-self into a corner that she could not wear a skirt because, .... jeans are what "other" people expected her to wear. She tried a skirt a few times and then went back to jeans. She also got some of the same razzing I got.

--Brandy

[skirtyscot]

Rather less of a problem for women! Despite what your colleague felt, nobody really though it in the least odd when she wore a skirt, did they?

But it does seem that skirts are in danger of going out of fashion altogether. We all need to do our bit to keep them alive!

[Dale]

Rather less of a problem for women! Despite what your colleague felt, nobody really though it in the least odd when she wore a skirt, did they?

But it does seem that skirts are in danger of going out of fashion altogether. We all need to do our bit to keep them alive!

It just may be up to us men to do just that. It would be somewhat ironic if men wearing skirts is all the preserves the skirt in western society! Alright, everybody man-up and wear your skirt all the time privately and publicly.

[Brandy]

... nobody really though it in the least odd when she wore a skirt, did they? ...

Yes they did that is why she was razzed and went back to wearing jeans. Admittedly if she wanted to pursue the skirt thing she would have a larger selection and people would have been supportive quicker.

--Brandy

[skirtyscot]

Exactly. All she had to say was "Ha ha but I'm going to carry on wearing skirts anyway." A change for her, maybe a wee suprise for her colleagues, but no a big deal. You, on the other hand - if you said that ...

[crfriend]

[... a] Like: "No Pants 2011" at first I thought is a guy swearing of pants for UK's it turns out to be a lady who was tired of her jeans, drab wardrobe, and made the pledge to swear off trousers and opened a website; http://nopants2011.com/, here is where she started from; http://nopants2011.com/post/2634373910/ ... ng-slumber

I've been watching that as well, and it's been fun.

I'd not ditch trousers entirely for they do have a place, but for most things I do just fine in my skirts.

[STEVIE]

Hope this isn't seen as a digression, but here goes.
Is a denim skirt comparable to a pair of jeans? In our office, jeans for men and women, except on specified occassions, are banned.
However, denim skirts are tacitly permitted.
The dress code states "attire should be professional and presentable" It is so loose as to be almost meaningless, but there is the specific on jeans and denim leggings.
The strange effect I have noted comes on "dress down days". Many more of our female colleagues wear skirts, usually denim, than would ever normally. Is it denim that's taking over our whole clothing consciousness?
A few ideas for the pot?
Steve.

[skirted_in_SF]

Is it denim that's taking over our whole clothing consciousness?
Steve.

I hope not, I hate denim. The way it feels, the way it doesn't drape, etc.

[SkirtRevolution]

Is it denim that's taking over our whole clothing consciousness?
Steve.

I hope not, I hate denim. The way it feels, the way it doesn't drape, etc.

I agree, I hate denim, especially denim jeans. Why have we popularised these peasant garments? If I am doing labour work which requires pants then I will opt for cargo pants. Denim makes no sense as casual garments (unless maybe it’s a skirt), yet it has become the new uniform for men and women.

[couyalair]

Denim for trousers looks awful (usually pretty shapeless after a few wearings, and patchy colouring at the joins and joints), but I do find it is good for a skirt. Personally, I'm not look for skirts that get transparent in bright light or that waft around with the slightst breeze, so firm denim cloth does the trick for me.

Martin

[JohnH]

Here's an interesting reverse situation: I was going to the community chorus rehearsals always wearing a denim skirt. One week I wore long pants. I really got razzed on that one by a fellow bass (I am also a bass) for wearing pants!

John

[STEVIE]

Now I have got to say I don't mind jeans on occasion, a decent well fitting pair do not necessarily go shapeless, the colour changes lend them a certain individuality. For fit in the past, I have worn female ones, but that is another story. I certainly do not regard them as "peasant wear", in fact, I would liken them to combats, our name for cargoes, as a multi-functional casual trouser.
Jeans wasn't really the question but denim was, whether used for a skirt or trousers. The fact that a denim skirt, on a guy, passes unnoticed,
while a cotton one of any other form will get some attention. Is denim taking over, not jeans?
The other question, as a matter of discrimination, is it fair to be allowed to wear a denim skirt, but not jeans?
The fact is, my preference is for skirts. If I worked in one, it would not be denim. In terms of what I would wear to the office, if I could, the first photo in the "First outfit" pics and looks thread would be O.K. in my mind.
When I first wrote that post, I wondered about the relevance to the original thread. This is actually a case where a female in a skirt is actually more than equal to a colleague in pants, whether male or female.
Steve.

[crfriend]

Jeans wasn't really the question but denim was, whether used for a skirt or trousers. The fact that a denim skirt, on a guy, passes unnoticed, while a cotton one of any other form will get some attention. Is denim taking over, not jeans?

My interpretation of this phenomenon revolved around visual "fatigue". Denim is positively everywhere in our modern world, and the eye, from my experience, is very good at tuning out things that are uninteresting (or unthreatening); hence once a fabric is subconsciously recognised as denim it tends to get ignored no matter what shape it may take -- the brain merely fills in the rest and it doesn't necessarily register. The flip-side to that is that the brain is very good at subconsciously recognising things that are unusual; I suspect that the "familiar" tends to dominate, somewhat, the unfamiliar, especially if there is no immediate threat involved. So, even if a denim skirt is noticed, it may be shuffled aside mentally without overt recognition where a skirt of non-denim is first noticed because it's unusual for a fabric and then that it's something other than trousers -- and that, in turn, gets conscious attention.

The other question, as a matter of discrimination, is it fair to be allowed to wear a denim skirt, but not jeans?

I suppose that depends on the side of the fence you're arguing from. My personal tack would be to ban the fabric -- any sort of cotton duck, actually, to solve the "khakis" problem -- for any sort of garment to just level the playing-field. I am reminded of a story that Sapphire once related to me about a bloke that worked for IBM -- that bastion of conservatism -- that absolutely banned dungarees (as they were known at the time); this caused one bright wiseguy to commission a suit made from denim. Even us adults like to occasionally put a sharp stick into the eyes of officious tin gods; we here just do it to a larger degree.

[STEVIE]

Must admit that I fleetingly dreamt of wearing a denim skirt to work, just to prove a point. However, to take a longer term view, that would have done me, or the wider cause, no good whatsoever.
Steve.

[Dale]

This may be interesting. The wife of my best friend gave me all of her daughters skirts a few weeks ago. Her daughter has not worn a skirt for some time and her daughter says that she would not be caught dead wearing one anymore. The only thing her daughter will wear are jeans and shorts. Nearly all of these skirts fit me just fine, the ones that do not I will donate to a thrift shop that supports homeless cats and dogs. In the mean time I have a good selection of skirts. I might add that I was looking around in the women's wear section of a store the other day, and about all I saw were pants, tops, and underwear, only one rack with a few skirts on it (none in my size).