skirtcafe.org

https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/33367 ... ts-for-men

https://www.vogue.com/article/mens-ball ... shion-week

Good to see the movement getting some attention this year.

I usually wear at least a medium or kitten heel with a skirt or dress but I recently bought a pair of flats in unbelievably soft leather. They are by Carmela (not Carvela) and cost £85 from a local independent shoe shop. I find bare feet in shoes a bit squelchy but sandals are OK, so I wear tights with them. Opaques are best for this (the shoes are black). I suspect people who want to keep a low profile in a skirt would be happiest in these - they are WAY more comfortable than male shoes.

As to comfortable shows Mary Jane and Ballet Flats are nice no heel shoes available.

were these ever off limits? Ballet itself was inented by a man so why would there be anything wrong with wearing mens ballet shoes?

I used to enjoy wearing Capezios. This was when dance wear as street wear was a "thing."
I had their plain unadorned flats; something called U-shell buckle shoes, flats which had a
strap over the instep and was intended for folk-dancing or square-dancing; and their jazz
oxfords, a soft lace-up shoe which I really liked. I had the oxfords in black, white, and
taupe. These styles all went up to size 12. This was around 1980. (I was never a dancer.)
I looked at the Capezio web site and they are still in business as a dance supplier, but
the variety of their footwear has been cut way back.

Those are not real ballet flats like women wear. The designers just could help themselves and instead "manned-up" the shoes to give a more masculine look. Overall this article and the links are very disappointing. I love women's ballet flats because of the feminine flare. We need to femme up our looks, not masculinize women's shoes like ballet flats.

jamie001 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:40 pm We need to femme up our looks, not masculinize women's shoes like ballet flats.

Why?

Steve.

STEVIE wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 10:22 pm

jamie001 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:40 pm We need to femme up our looks, not masculinize women's shoes like ballet flats.

Why?

Steve.

I second that question. I don’t wear skirts to be like a woman. I don’t feel more “femme”, just more relaxed.

I'll third that. I like to wear what I like with no intention of femming up. If someone else's chooses to assign that characteristic to me then that's their issue to deal with.

jamie001 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:40 pm Those are not real ballet flats like women wear. The designers just could help themselves and instead "manned-up" the shoes to give a more masculine look. Overall this article and the links are very disappointing. I love women's ballet flats because of the feminine flare.

What makes these ones "masculine" and not feminine? What determines if a pair of ballet flats are feminine?

Google any pair of ballet flats for women. They don’t look like the ones in the article above. The different is very easy to spot. The designer of the flats tried to make them more masculine. When can’t they just make feminine shoes in larger sizes without masculinizing them? Stuff for
Men is too masculine and not pretty. We need to be pretty.

jamie001 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 4:11 am We need to be pretty.

We need to have choice Jamie, we do not need to be anything other than ourselves.
"Pretty" is only a matter of opinion anyway, an idealised concept which in itself has no basis in reality.
Humans, male and female come in all shapes, colours and variety, are they not all pretty/beautiful in some way?
Just count yourself lucky that you can be as prettily feminine as you need to be, not everyone has that luxury!
Steve.

jamie001 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:40 pm Those are not real ballet flats like women wear. The designers just could help themselves and instead "manned-up" the shoes to give a more masculine look. Overall this article and the links are very disappointing. I love women's ballet flats because of the feminine flare. We need to femme up our looks, not masculinize women's shoes like ballet flats.

I personally love the idea of a ballet flats and agree with you, I have a pair I wear now with my skirts and kilts that are in a mary jane style. I love them and they are so comfortable.

KiltedBigWave wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 4:38 pm

jamie001 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:40 pm Those are not real ballet flats like women wear. The designers just could help themselves and instead "manned-up" the shoes to give a more masculine look. Overall this article and the links are very disappointing. I love women's ballet flats because of the feminine flare. We need to femme up our looks, not masculinize women's shoes like ballet flats.

I personally love the idea of a ballet flat and agree with you, I have a pair I wear now with my skirts and kilts that are in a mary jane style. I love them and they are so comfortable.

Yes attempting to masculinize the shoe totally kills the look. The logic comes from the archaic viewpoint that anything a man wears has to be different and distinct from anything a woman wears because men are superior and would never wear a women’s artistic clothing or a shoe.

Another one of biggest gripes is in the design of men’s shoes. Biological males naturally have larger feet than biological women. Therefore, you would think that shoe designers would design men’s shoes to make the feet look smaller. Unfortunately, this is not what happens. Shoe designers design men shoes to make the foot look even larger, sometimes almost clownish, like Sasquatch or Bigfoot. I believe that the shoe designers do this because they are trying to make the shoe look more masculine by being big, gigantic powerful looking even though in reality, they look like boats should be sold with oars to be used as bathtub toys. in reality shoe designers should be designing men’s shoes to make the foot look smaller. However, they believe that the foot look smaller would be viewed as unmasculine. Oh the horror!!! For myself I always wear women’s shoes, usually ballet flats, or pumps with a little heel, or when the weather permits open to scrappy sandals. I have never found a men’s sandal that looks good with my bright, red or hot pink toes and toe rings however, women sandals are designed for this look. The only way to ever achieve the quality in fashion to market women’s items in larger sizes to fit men. They don’t need to change the design of women’s shoes just offer them in larger sizes so that biological males with larger feet can wear them on the other hand it is my opinion that the design of skirts need to be changed in order to accommodate the proportions of the biological male body and therefore the skirt manufactures should take the same skirts for women and modify them to accommodate the biological male body. They should not, and I will repeat again not change the design regarding the colors or the materials of the skirt to make the skirt appear more masculine by using drab colors, and very heavy materials. Aaaaaaarrrrggghhh! Therefore, the skirt manufacturer should give us feminine looking skirts using exactly the materials and colors that are used for women but the proportions and cut of the skirt modified to fit the biological male body. This is my two cents for whatever it is worth.

jamie001 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 5:49 pm Another one of biggest gripes is in the design of men’s shoes. Biological males naturally have larger feet than biological women. Therefore, you would think that shoe designers would design men’s shoes to make the feet look smaller. Unfortunately, this is not what happens. Shoe designers design men shoes to make the foot look even larger, sometimes almost clownish, like Sasquatch or Bigfoot. I believe that the shoe designers do this because they are trying to make the shoe look more masculine by being big, gigantic powerful looking even though in reality, they look like boats should be sold with oars to be used as bathtub toys. in reality shoe designers should be designing men’s shoes to make the foot look smaller.

Why? Because you say so?

I mean... it honestly doesn't matter. It just doesn't. Flip a coin - heads masculine is desirable, tails femininity is. Now flip the coin multiple times. It literally doesn't matter. I just... sheesh. All that should matter is freedom of expression. Your ability to wear what you want, my ability to wear what I want. There is no ideal - any ideal is bunk because it excludes others. Yes, I would like more choice, yes, men's designs are often laughable/clownish. So what?