skirtcafe.org

Hi Guy,
There was a huge trend at Paris Fashion week of very short shorts.
As the article says : All clothing eventually changes status. Short pants, once reserved for men and forbidden to women (it was the case for shorts in France), have become a garment considered feminine.

https://hommeurbain.com/mode-homme-2025 ... cro-short/

I find the move that many women have made from short skirts to shorts, very disappointing. I understand why and acknowledge that a lot of short skirts now have attached shorts. But, I still love how a skirt moves as a person walks, and shorts just do not have that. IMHO

I don't like being hot, nor consider air conditioning sustainable. So, before I graduated to skirts, my shorts were generally short. Normal shorts when growing up, but men's fashion changed to long shorts, so regular shorts became known as short shorts. When not homemade cut-offs, the shorts therefore came from the female section of the store.

I associate the move to longer (and often baggier) shorts to the US. When I was a kid (UK, late 70's and into the 80's) shorts were largely the preserve of the sports field and the beach. It would be unusual for me or my friends to wear shorts out of these settings. The shorts I had at this time were pretty short - ending not far below the crotch. And this, as far as I can see, was the norm -



In around 2005 (when I was still residing in the UK), I purchased a couple of pairs of nylon sports shorts that I still have (and use) to this day. They are a bit longer in the seam than we see in the picture above, but still not the norm for modern day America.

I now have many pairs of "dress shorts" in my collection and I pretty much hate all of them. Not only are they too long, they are too baggy. Whilst on my more recent fashion odyssey, I picked up a couple of pairs of shorty shorts, and I love them! The problem is, the wife doesn't Same problem as with a skirt, my wife is worried about what other people will say / think (to be fair, I did have a pretty embarrassing episode once, which I'll write about on this thread when I have a bit more time).

I find it mystifying why society currently sees a guy with a 5" inseam on his shorts as being either gay or some sort of freak to be mocked.

I have noticed that men's shorts, or at least younger men's shorts, have gotten shorter and snugger again. Even the skirt-like basketball shorts are passe. I am often reminded of my mother's often-repeated phrase; There is nothing new in fashion; every style just keeps getting recycled.

I wear short shorts, it's in the song.
Maybe not quite the quasi underwear things that some females are sporting but?
I'm told that I have decent legs so why not and besides, it also annoys some people more than the skirts do.
Steve.

Many years ago there was an online vendor named International Male. They had very short denim shorts. They also had a leather one made from the same design. I would wear those all the time in the summer for casual wear. Even when short shorts went out of style I was still wearing them in the 90's and 2000's. Would get some looks now and then.

Never found an alternate source once International Male went out-of-business.

Pleats wrote: ↑Mon May 19, 2025 2:46 pm Many years ago there was an online vendor named International Male. They had very short denim shorts. They also had a leather one made from the same design. I would wear those all the time in the summer for casual wear. Even when short shorts went out of style I was still wearing them in the 90's and 2000's. Would get some looks now and then.

Never found an alternate source once International Male went out-of-business.

International Male went Online only and split with the under wear they sold being sold under at undergear.com
undergear.com I still in Online but nothing I'm intrested in.

Me about 40 years ago.

denimini wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 12:19 pm Me about 40 years ago.

You've barely changed Anthony

I remember wearing them as a kid, young adult.
Now, I don't think they would work for me as I'm
still 'suffering' from furniture disease.

( Furniture Disease = That's when the chest has fallen into the drawers )

They were very cool and comfortable

Uncle Al

I happily wore the usual short shorts in the late 1960s and 1970s (and wore shorts to school until I was 12, though the school uniform ones were on the large and baggy side). Tubular shorts which reached nearer the knee were then the mark of a foreigner. After recently taking up running as exercise, I resented the modern fashion for baggier men's shorts, which make ones legs look spindly unless of a rugby-playing or weight-lifting build. I see no reason why running shorts for men should be so much longer in the leg than those marketed for women. I also dislike shorter shorts with a slit at the side, presumably to show off one's manly thighs. I had to shop online to find an alternative to the 7-inch shorts which seem to be standard now.

As it happens, I spent yesterday in a pair of denim short-shorts purchased online, where they were in the women's section under the name of "boy shorts". If the sight of so much leg causes some passing gay bloke to have palpitations, that's his problem

denimini wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 12:19 pm Me about 40 years ago.
Mungo0001crs.jpg

AFAIC, That is what shorts are supposed to be. The ones they wear today that are several inches bellow the knee.
I'm wearing Yoga Shorts these days. They are available in Inseams from 2" to 10"

phathack wrote: ↑Thu May 22, 2025 1:21 am

denimini wrote: ↑Tue May 20, 2025 12:19 pm Me about 40 years ago.
Mungo0001crs.jpg

AFAIC, That is what shorts are supposed to be. The ones they wear today that are several inches bellow the knee.
I'm wearing Yoga Shorts these days. They are available in Inseams from 2" to 10"

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I said "nice capris" to some guy with comically long shorts, I bet they'd quit wearing them for fear of being to vaguely like something women wear.

Ah yes, grew up in the mid-70s...our jeans when worn out would get cut off to be our shorts. Buying shorts? We didn't have the money for that. They were generally on the very short side but that was normal.

The required gym class shorts were the same length for boys and girls, maybe 1" inseam. They certainly didn't leave anything to the imagination. I remember wearing Ocean Pacific/OP "cord shorts" (corduroy) in the summers in college and they were definitely short and rather tight.

I still like my shorts on the short side, maybe that's why wearing some shorter skirts doesn't faze me.