Sightings "in the wild"

[Jock]

I've just returned from 5 weeks in New Zealand on holiday with Mrs Mac.

We were based in Wellington but went on a few road trips. On one of the latter up near Bay of Islands we called in a small roadside shop for supplies and were served by a man in a short white cotton dress and cardigan. He seemed in all other respects quite average (I guess he was 40 something) and was completely at ease. The dress, which had a crocheted bodice, really suited him.

Nearer to our base, I had gone out for a walk in the hot sunshine and encountered a dark skinned chap and his lady. The chap wore a short sleeved shirt and knee lenght black skirt. Later on I encountered another fellow with his young son both wearing A line black skirts. All seemed very much at ease and retunred my greetings with a smile.

I spent most of the time in knee length cargo skirt in stone colour. I have a couple of these, which are ideal for walking in warm weather. Reactions to me were zero, nada, zip. Just another bloke.

Great time - thanks kiwis!

[couyalair]

Not really in the Wild, just on tv.
An American series my wife likes, called el Mentalista in Spain.
The hero, who usually solves cases no-one else can, has been wearing a knee length pareos since the episode began this evening. As in real life, no-one has batted an eye lid or made unwelcome remarks. He seems to be on holiday in somewhere in Latin America. Apparently following the frequently offered advice: it,s easier to begin wearing open garments in places where no-one will recognize you.

Later : he,s now out in trousers , and has just been beaten up !!!!
Martin

[Caultron]

We have the same program here in the US, where it's called The Mentalist.

Unfortunately, he only were the pareos in the one episode. I think it's meant to reinforce the idea that he's given up police work and become a beach-dweller in a faraway place.

[skirtingseattle]

I am consulting down in Portland, Oregon (USA) the last couple of months, and I saw a guy last week near Couch & 3rd Street wearing a black, full length skirt. He was on the opposite side of the street walking in the other direction, so I didn't have the opportunity to say anything to him. Earlier that week, while I was dining this week, I saw another guy walking down the street in a black dress. He was much more fashionable than the guy I saw the week before, but once again I wasn't able to say anything either. Both cases I was wearing a non-tartan kilt and knee high socks, and I get lots of possible comments.

Chris

[pelmut]

Yesterday evening I was driving through the suburbs of Bath and saw two lads carrying skateboards walking from the skateboard park in the direction of some student accommodation. At first they both appeared to be wearing shorts, but then I noticed that one of them was actually wearing a skirt. It all looked perfectly normal and nobody was paying any attention to him.

Sadly, I was not wearing a skirt at the time, as I was on my way back from collecting a piece of ancient agricultural machinery and was dressed in my dirtiest rags.

[ethelthefrog]

I'm obviously hanging out in the wrong places. The only bloke in a skirt I ever see out in public in Cambridge is me.

Hey ho.

[renesm1]

The only times I see this is when people on Twitter take photos of guys in skirts. Trouble is, more often than not it's accompanied with a "witty" remark!

(Witty as not really that funny at all!)

[skirtilator]

Yeah bro, it is called the bigots try tho think. I saw a man in a skirt, whig and heels. *omgrfl* That's nothing, I saw a woman in trousers without being stoned to death or incarserated.

[Jack Williams]

I've just returned from 5 weeks in New Zealand on holiday with Mrs Mac.

We were based in Wellington but went on a few road trips. On one of the latter up near Bay of Islands we called in a small roadside shop for supplies and were served by a man in a short white cotton dress and cardigan. He seemed in all other respects quite average (I guess he was 40 something) and was completely at ease. The dress, which had a crocheted bodice, really suited him.

Nearer to our base, I had gone out for a walk in the hot sunshine and encountered a dark skinned chap and his lady. The chap wore a short sleeved shirt and knee lenght black skirt. Later on I encountered another fellow with his young son both wearing A line black skirts. All seemed very much at ease and retunred my greetings with a smile.

I spent most of the time in knee length cargo skirt in stone colour. I have a couple of these, which are ideal for walking in warm weather. Reactions to me were zero, nada, zip. Just another bloke.

Great time - thanks kiwis!

This blows me away! Gosh, I wish you had had an opportunity to visit me in Kelston, Auckland.

[crfriend]

Well, today is a red-letter day for this bloke as today represents the first time I've spotted another bloke in a skirt (aside from pre-arranged meets) since the first time in the 1980s that piqued my interest but which was subsequently misplaced until about a decade ago. So, this made for two guys in skirts at the Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island this afternoon.

The last time I looked, the sky was still where it's supposed to be, so all is well.

The skirt in question? A yellow-based tartan woman's kilted skirt, buckles and all but well below the knee and wrapping right-over-left, paired with massively heavy socks and engineers' boots. If that thing had been a conventional "tank" the guy would have sweltered in it.

I was in one of my new skirts, a very soft and floaty rayon-blend one with a very elaborate lace-trim hem (imagery to follow when I get it out of the digi-cam), black waistcoat with embossed velvet trim, and a teal-green shirt.

Running into another bloke in a skirt unbidden and unexpected was a treat.

[Tor]

Nice sighting. Do I take from the location that it may be attributable to your pounding the notion through at least one skull and driving it home until the thought became action? If so, congratulations on converting someone in person. I've spotted a utilikilt before, and I'm quite certain a boy wearing a dress.

Come to think of it, I once spotted a man wearing a grey jersey dress with a(n apparently) gold chain as a "belt".

[crfriend]

Nice sighting. Do I take from the location that it may be attributable to your pounding the notion through at least one skull and driving it home until the thought became action?

Nay, this was something he was already resonant with when I first started wearing skirts publically, and there was some conversation about it at that time. I don't follow his personal life closely, but this was the first time in the 15 years or so that I've known him that I've ever seen him in anything other than trousers.

When I typed the previous note, I'd managed to forget the couple of kilts I saw on the train trip out to the Pacific northwest last April as well as two Utilikilts, one on one of the assistant curators at the computer museum in Seattle. However, I don't view either proper kilts or Utilikilts as "skirts", and that's down to "brand recognition" and respect for those "brands". Me? I wear skirts. Period.

My pal in Providence took the thing well. My comment: "Nice skirt." His response: "Thanks." (He knows that I know what a real kilt is, and I know that he knows that as well.)

[JoeBro]

Let's be realistic folks. You have a better chance getting more men to wear Kilts or Utilkilts than you do skirts. Unless there is some major change in society. Yes, you will see some stray into skirts ( be it shorter than a traditional kilt or longer). However if women complain about high heels why would a guy want to wear them? And if skirts are so good, why are women so willing to embrace pants? Kilts, sarongs, all have their time. 60%-70% of the world's male population does not wear trousers. However they do not wear "skirts" as Western civilazation knows them. May be in time you'll see more men in skirts. But it will probably take a lot longer than you'd like. Wear what you like and be comfortable in it. If you're self conscious about it, don't bother.

[phathack]

A couple of weeks ago I saw quite a few men wearing Kilts.
Dozens of them in fact, but then I was a the Scottish Heritage Festival and Highland Games event here in town.

So I guess that doesn't apply any more than going to the Irish Festival or the local Irish pubs where you see men in Kilts all the time.

[JoeBro]

That's correct, I was addressing "skirts - longer or shorter than a traditional kilt" not kilts. I happen to be a kilt wearer of non kilt wearing heritage.