crfriend wrote:Those are interesting patterns. The web-site mentioned is more interesting still!
My personal notion of a man's "shirt dress" would be a top that's pretty much identical to a standard male dress shirt (button-down optional), but reasonably well fitted to the body, and then flaring at a moderate angle to whereever the wearer might like the hem to be. I'm given to understand that there can be problems with the fullness and flare in a classic A-line rig, and that to "get the flare right" one might have to resort to a gored skirt (essentially turning the design into a shirtwaist), but that those problems can be overcome.
Another avenue worth pursuing, based on my brief perusal of "oldpatterns.com", might be the "jumper" look worn with a classic man's shirt underneath. Some of the jumpers shown, especially those with a moderate "V" front might work quite well for a man.
Out of curiosity, what's the current thoughts about shirts with full (read, "puffy") sleeves? I happen to like them -- a lot -- but that's just me. Can they still work for guys after the infamous "Seinfeld episode"?
I don't know anything about seinfeld, and by the way, are we drifting too far away from MEN,s skirts / Men in skirts? I personally think not, but..
I think that noe the step has been taken, there is no sense in stopping at skirts alone. I think that dresses, as dresses or shirt dresses whatever should be a great summer thing to wear, if not all year round. They have no restrictive waist, and that i imagine can be very comfortable. And give even more felling of freedom. Probably feels like walking naked, yet nobody can see anything.
About the blouses, I've seen rather "old fashioned" blouses, looking like the blouses which also women wear ( they wear everything) as official blouses to wear with kilts. So why not have some new wind blow through the dusty men's fashion, be inventive, and bring some new things into it. Like I have said before, without wanting to look like a woman, in women's fashion there are so many good ideas to be used for mens fashion, (Ideas that probably originated from men's fashion any way) especially regarding what to wear with skirts.
As always, the people ( MEN ) who are satisfied with what they have now, well go ahead as before. Don't change. No one's gonna make you do anything. But for the rest of us, let us not denie us the golden opportunity to expand the possibilitys which we have before us.
It is quite interesting how often women's clothing is labelled, as if to say, this garment is a male garment, but now changed to show that it is meant to be worn by women. Like "women's" skirts. If all skirts were previous to us wearing them now, all for women only, why then label them "women's"?
That's because skirts always have been for both sexes, no wrongly stated, for everybody.
So who's gonna get sewing and make some NORMAL clothing suitable for the male posture, on the basis of dresses / shirt dresses, which is the next step to take, once men have worn a skirt. Just think about a very manly lumberjack shirt, only the blok pattern going on into the skirt part underneath, all in one garment.
Or would men feel "naked" wearing a dress, and it being so new to them that it would be too much to take in in one day, or longer...
I'm not saying that men should wear dresses, but it is a logical step after taking the step to free yourself from pants only. And hallo, don't shy away because they are called "dresses" well, men wear "skirts"now, so why not think of dresses in the same way as skirts.
We are starting a clothing revolution, after it died in the seventies, now we're back.
We are on a winning streek, let's get while the getting's good. For the guys who don't like a model, pattern, colour of a skirt or dress, well you're FREE to choose out of the available products. We men don't have to look like women, no we are standing up for the right to wear what we want.
Diverstity. I'm glad there are men out there who see opportunity in different clothing.
Think of it like riding a bycicle. Tighten the handlebars in a straigh out position, and you can't ride the bike. Only by manoevring left / right, even minutely can you steer to the way you want to go. Or like having one good car, make and model for everybody. Not every body wants the same car, and if you have the best, how can it stand out if all the others are the same as yours?
That's the same with fashion. Bij having a large diversity of styles etc, of skirts, and perhaps dresses, we can choose out of them what suits us individually. That's better than having only a handful of skirts which may be very "manly" but have the same effect as the jeans pants. The pants are made by different manufacturers, but essentially look practically all the same. That's not how skirts and......should be.
So enough enthousisame for now.
Peter v.
A man is the same man in a pair of pants or a skirt. It is only the way people look at him that makes the difference.