Style

[Uncle Al]

When it comes down to patterns versus solids,
I use a patterned top(shirt) and solid bottom(skirt/trousers).
When I wear a tartan pattern kilt, I always wear a solid color shirt.
What is a real turn off is vertical stripes on a shirt with horizontal
stripes on a skirt.

Uncle Al

[Faldaguy]

When it comes down to patterns versus solids,
I use a patterned top(shirt) and solid bottom(skirt/trousers).
When I wear a tartan pattern kilt, I always wear a solid color shirt.
What is a real turn off is vertical stripes on a shirt with horizontal
stripes on a skirt.

Uncle Al

Hey UA; show us some pictures -- better than a thousand words!

[robehickman]

Not everything she says will work on men due to different body proportions, but the general ideas work.

Color theory would be an example of something that could be used by anybody. Also, guidelines regarding the use of different patterns in the same outfit.

Yes. Something that I've noticed often makes a man wearing a skirt look odd, is if the bottom is too bright in relation to the top. It draws the viewers eye down too much.

In general, the skirts that I've noticed look the most natural on men are black / in other dark colours, and are not visually fussy.Basically they are not designed to pull the viewer's eye. The natural visual focus of the male body is generally the shoulders, drawing the eye elsewhere tends to look odd.

Bright / highly pattered bottoms should be paired with equally bright or pattered top garments. One piece 'dresses' in a uniform fabric also solve that problem.

In historic menswear that includes skirts, such as Tudor doublets, the whole garment is designed to work harmoniously with itself.

Also, I think that the main reason skirts on men tend to look odd are because men do not know how to choose appropriate garments, or style them in ways that work, not anything inherent in skirts as a semantic concept. Direct copying of female styles almost never works due to body shape differences.

[Mouse]

Most of my outfits have the main colour/pattern thing as the skirt. I have done some with colour in the top and tights, when wearing a black skirt, but I am not really into patterned tops. I used to wear a lot of tops with logos, witty phrases or other stuff on them, but as I have got older, I just want to be me and not shout at the world with what is on my chest. Hence I mainly wear plain tops with a lot of them being white or black.

I now think the skirt is the main thing in my style and look, with my hat, top, legs and feet playing accompanying roles.

I am very happy to try new things a learn however I don't appear to be following the above rule?