Skirts for men have always been in fashion in in most of the world, but not in northern Europe and North America, where fashion designers are trying to make them popular.
A number of the fall menswear shows in held in Paris in January 2009 featured skirts for men. The designers who showed skirts on the runway included Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, Number (N)ine, Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rick Owens, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. The models shown ranged from flowing long skirts to skirt-like skorts.
Men’s Skirts are Popular in Many Parts of the World
Men’s clothing in many cultures traditionally includes garments made from fabric folded and wrapped around the waist. The traditional male skirt can either be short, like the Scottish kilt and Greek foustanella, or long, like the dhoti and lungi in India, the sarong in southeast Asia, and the lavalava in Samoa. Many millions of men today wear skirts for work, for play, and to both formal and casual occasions. Skirts have several advantages that contribute to their enduring popularity: they are cool in the mostly hot climates where they are traditionally worn, non-constricting, and in most cases are easy to make from a simple rectangle of cloth.
Western Men Prefer Pants, Resist Fashion Designers Who Create Trendy Skirts for Men
The love affair with skirts has never taken hold in North America and most of Europe. Western popular culture has long branded men who wear skirts as either effeminate or oddballs.
In the 1980s, fashion designers tried to create a groundswell of skirt-wearing men in the previously skirt-phobic regions of the West, but the fashion never caught on with the public. Apart from a few male celebrities, a few actors, like Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart (1995), Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000), and a few adventurous men who wear kilts at weddings or special events that emphasize a particular ethnic heritage, most Western men still wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt.
A Few Clothing Makers Offer Skirts for Ordinary Men
There are some western men who want to stand out from the crowd. A small group of clothing companies make skirts specifically designed for men. Men’s kilt-maker Utilikilts offers eight different styles of skirts, including mock-khakis for office workers, a kilt made from heavy-duty duck cloth for manual labor, a survival model whose pockets can hold “20 Bottles of the survival beverage of your choice,” and a formal kilt called the Tuxedo, made of lightweight black wool.
But there are few signs that the men’s skirt is about to become a fashion trend. Designer Marc Jacobs may wear a skirt to Fashion Week events, but the average Western man seems likely to stick with what skirt-makers like to call “bifurcated garments,” or pants.
The copyright of the article Skirts for Men, New Fashion Trend? in Men’s Fashion is owned by Christine Mann. Permission to republish Skirts for Men, New Fashion Trend? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I fell very strongly that there should be skirts for men. When there women
can just nwear anything that they like. I certainly would wear a skirt
everyday if they were ailable in the shop adn supermarkets for men. It si
vry sexist and discriminative against men, when men can't wear skirts but
women can wear trousers. It isn't just a matter of whether I lke
displaying my feminine side, it is a matter that I would feel more
comfortable in them that jsut displaying my legs for the women to look
at.
Deryck
Apr 13, 2009 6:56 AM
Guest :
Skirts on guys may not be mainstream at present but as one of the few with
sufficient self-confidence to try kilts and later other types of skirt I
can only wonder why more don't try it.
Skirted garments simply
allow a comfort and freedom that can not be achieved with trousers or
shorts, particularly when seated for long periods. Whether sitting at a
desk all day or stuck in the cattle class seats of an aeroplane a skirt is
vastly more comfortable than having a restrictive in-seam cutting into the
undercarriage.
So guys, if you've really grown a pair, try a
skirt; this will both prove your masculinity and open your eyes to the
comfort that fear of ridicule has denied you all your life.
Ian.
Apr 15, 2009 12:14 PM
Guest :
I agree 100%. It's time to ignore any hecklers that might go with the
male/skirt concept. We don't have to meekly fall in line with any trousered
community, just because everyone else does. Ian is right. Skirts, and
kilts, are a million times more comfortable (and fun if you want) than
pants. If more men would care to check that out maybe there would be less
grey faces of gloom to be seen on the way to their grey offices, in their
grey suits of regimental grey pinstripe. How monochrome and invisible do we
have to be just to fit in with folk we don't even know? Let's have some
freedom of choice for a change...and a few more suppliers of unflamboyant
male skirt designs would help. The weird and wonderful of the catwalk will
ALWAYS alienate the idea from ordinary guys who don't want to look like
they got a job in a pantomime. Can they not see that? Where's Sir Alan
Sugar and straightforward marketing intelligence when you really need him?
Let's get this unbifurcated show on the road big time. Pete
Apr 17, 2009 12:26 PM
Guest :
Hello,
I'm a man who wears skirts and you can visit my
informations website about skirts for men and men wearing skirts :
http://men.jupe-skirt.info
See you soon.
Jérôme
Apr 22, 2009 10:23 PM
Guest :
nice, bit i am looking for something longer and with more color.
I am not gay. I am a leader!
Apr 23, 2009 2:19 PM
Guest :
In high school physics, my teacher argued that skirts makes good sense. A
properly designed skirt would be warm in the Winter because it would
contain the body heat of both legs; an equally well-designed skirt in the
Summer would allow air to circulate more freely than trousers. He produced
physical evidence to demonstrate the truth of his findings.
May 31, 2009 9:43 PM
Guest :
i think its ridiculous whats next for you guys makeup? a purse? if your
thinking of wearing a skirt come out of the closet or get a sex change.
what happened to good old blue jeans and t shirts?
Jun 6, 2009 5:09 PM
Guest :
What has clothing to do with makeup or sex change?? Types of clothes are
not sex related except people doing it in their brain. Would you
surprised to know that a skirt was formerly just a male's garment and not
for women allowed? So let's think a little bit realistic: Is there
just ONE garment for men which is more comfortable for his body, his health
and body shape than a skirt? The answer is NO. There is only the question
why men do not wear skirts. Men should wear skirts, there is no
question! Just remove all the prejudices and start all over again.
Jun 8, 2009 5:00 AM
Guest :
The guest who asked what is wrong with blue jeans and t-shirts is welcome
to remain wearing such items. It is their choice and no-one should be
forced into wearing anything they don't want to.
Similarly, men
should not be restricted into wearing only trousers. A skirt is
comfortable, practical (unless climbing ladders, etc) and fit for purpose.
The only reason that men wearing skirts is not a common occurrence is that
most men just follow the herd. No disrespect to many football fans, but
you only have to look near a football ground on match day to see examples
of herd mentality.
Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead in a
football shirt. I am, however, happy to be seen in a variety of skirts and
it is a frequent ice breaker with many girls who probably wouldn't give me
a second look if I were in jeans and t-shirt.
I concur with
Deryck, Ian, Pete, Jerome and the other three guests. Try it once, you may
be pleasantly surprised.
Jun 9, 2009 12:01 PM
Guest :
It might be right that skirt for men reached already the mainstream. I just
wonder that so manly people have to talk, asking and discussing about
skirts for men. If men like it, just wear it. Where is the problem?
Dont come up with excuses that is not appropriate for men to wear skirts or
dresses, or it isn't a social norm - most people mix up social norms with
stereotyping and uniformizing people clothes. I think there is no better
wardrobe for men than skirts or dresses to keep the lower body down the
tights appropriate covered, but not sealed down to the floor. That will
help men staying healthy and the fresh air down there will enhance
masculinity without pills. That is the reason that our male ancestors could
survive their furture, pants brought just illnesses like testicle- and
prostate cancer (almost unknown in countries where men wearing skirts and
dresses as every day wardrobe). Think about. I saw some men in skirts
just recently and ALL of them were looking handsome.
Jun 14, 2009 3:00 PM
Guest :
I wear a Utilikilt (such as the one pictured) as often as I can. Today, we
went to a local park that was VERY crowded. The VERY young kids, i.e. 8-10
years old knew exactly what I was wearing and were discussing it accurately
with each other. I even heard an adult ask one of the kids what I was
wearing. So my kilt did get alot of positive attention. If I can inspire
just one person to think for themselves rather than always going with the
crowd, then all of this extra attention it is worth it. I don't mind
standing out from the crowd.
Jun 26, 2009 11:08 AM
Guest :
Today is my birthday - and I got the best present ever from my lovely wife:
A skirt. Regular jeans-skirt, above knees. I don't know how come
because for a long time she didn't like men in skirts, but it seems to me
that she changed like men have to change their opinions for skirts, too. sam
Jun 28, 2009 1:42 PM
Guest :
I am going with the new fashion trend for men, finally something different
to wear. It is sad that we have to discuss if it is appropriate for
men to wear skirts and dresses. Did we discuss was/ is appropriate to wear
for women? It's a pitiful sign of in-equality of sexes. And some men and
women do not see the reality what is really going on with that. What
makes the difference what people wear? Only the wearer, the personality,
the confidience.
Of course, men can wear skirts and dresses, and
I am not looking in the past when they did it, just use a little bit common
sense and everybody knows that there is no better wardrobe available which
fits best for males body shape. So, why the questions? What is more
important, health and comfort in contrast to old fashion imagination? Can't
wait to see some answers to my question. Martin
Jun 29, 2009 12:26 PM
Guest :
It is wonderful to talk about dressing options. I am missing men who are
showing up with the new trend, and not just talking about. I learned
that skirts on men looking terrific, so why do not more men showing up with
it? christine
Jul 1, 2009 6:26 AM
Guest :
Discusion on this subject is to help people accept the wear of skirts in a
society that dislikes oddities. Many men and women may bot even realize
this is a good option ofr men and reading articles like this inform and
enkighten. Now getting the skirts on men, another problem. This can happen
with ease if more women would just encourage the men they now to wear them.
Help them with choices. Women influance every thing men do. Ladies, when
the yguys tell you they don't have the legs for skirts, ask them :Do you
wear shorts?" - no difference as far as legs are concerned.
Jul 3, 2009 6:04 PM
Guest :
I'd try many times to encourage men to wear skirt, but the problem are the
men itself to each other. I already met some men in skirts, one in a dress,
they looked absolute great, but when it comes to talk to friends or my
husband they don't want to try it, because it is 'feminine'. To argue about
pants which are in their point of view 'masculine' and wearing by women it
is a "normal thing". Other men would like to wear skirts, so
what? I remember just one or two years ago the discussion was opposite. I can see a lot of male supporters for skirts on men, but I think the
diversity is between the men.
Jul 9, 2009 5:43 PM
Guest :
It might be right that a diversity is between men's opinions. But lately
there is changing, men becoming more interested in fashion. In the
Time magazine [FamTech] are newest trends for men explained: Guyliner and
Manscara, Murse and Manny hose, Mandals [sandals] are in a full trend. The skirt for men goes with that, it is a trend also for next year as
shown in Paris, Milan and London. Can't wait to see more men in skirts,
Murse, Many-hose and Mandals. [time.com/manscaping]
Jul 12, 2009 2:41 PM
Guest :
All you guys are lucky, especially the one whose wife bought his skirt.
Mine flatly refuses to allow me YO wear one. But then you all may be much
younger than my 69 years and after 40 years of marriage the change was too
radical. Brian
Jul 14, 2009 7:28 PM
Guest :
Brian, how to work with an original kilt? Refreshing a 40-year marrige with
that. Skirts are in a long view working like an enhancement through air
circulation, without taking pills. Just a thought, might be working, I know
that some were very successful. Breanne
Jul 17, 2009 10:12 AM
Guest :
I am a dutch man, which wear skirt for more than 20 years. The last 6 years
I wear them in public. Not especially real men skirts, but also natural
womens skirts like denim and cotton, without patterns. Patterns, I think is
for women.
I think it is pity that the men in Nothern Europe
prefer pants above skirts. I hope this will change as soon as possible. I
think a skirt fits more comfortable instead of pants.
Greetings
from RokSterNL
Aug 7, 2009 8:55 AM
Guest :
There is nothing wrong with jeans & a t-shirt as long as you are a
woman. A skirt is much more comfortable for the male body. If skirts
really are women's clothing, why aren't 100% of women wearing them 100% of
the time? One negative is than many men associate skirts with the freaks
who attempt to pass as being a female although they are male. Most
unfortunate. So the most comfortable garment has been abandoned by women?
Appears so. I hope that the skirt becomes a male mainstay. Hopefully
women will be forever be comfortable in their pants & never attempt to
remove the skirt as the new male garment of choice.
Aug 13, 2009 9:28 AM
Guest :
Jesus never wore pants. It is unchristian to wear pants.
Aug 17, 2009 6:57 AM
Guest :
I frequent the site http://skirts4men.myfreeforum.org/ where there are
scads of manly men who wear skirts and/or kilts when not riding horses or
Harleys. Personally, I've not worn trousers for anything since 2005 in
public and since 1982 in private. My name at that site is Skip and I am the
site founder/admin. Come by and check us out.
Aug 18, 2009 12:21 PM
Guest :
It is in the hand of men to get new items to their every day wardrobe. If
men want to ad skirts and dresses, they have to do it, nobody others can
help. There is no question that skirts and dresses (male dresses) are one
of the only choices men have to stay healthy and feel comfortable. Pants
are totally wrong because of the male body shape and their outside
reproduction organs. Actually it is very clear that men used to be
wrong clothes to look manly(????) - are pants "manlY"? I
would love to see men walking in skirts in future.
Aug 22, 2009 4:06 PM
Guest :
It won't catch on. It just won't. Personally I deeply regret this, I'd love
to be able to wear skirts, but sadly absolutely no way is this going to get
public acceptance. Celebrities and catwalks are one thing, but no brickie
will arrive to do his day's work in a skirt, no businessman will go to a
key meeting in a skirt, it's just a total no-no. It's possible global
warming may change things eventually but not in my lifetime. A very great
pity, but there it is.
Aug 24, 2009 8:01 PM
Guest :
The only person who can change that fact is ...you. We as men have to get
out there and just do it. I know easier said than done, but keep chipping
away at it little by little. Women fought to wear what they wear and it
takes a pretty strong person to fight such strong social stigmas. People
are more open minded than you think...there will always be detractors who
live in the past....forget them and live for yourself.
Aug 26, 2009 6:00 PM
Guest :
Anomymous, if you won't catch on what others think, that might be your
opinion or just frustation that you are not be able to do like some other
men. But you CAN do it, just one person can make the change.... if he/she
want it. And, it was happen 3 or 4 years ago, a business man showed up in a
skirt-suit to a key meeting, in San Francisco. It was more than
eye-catching, but very real. That means, it is possible, and if you do like
to wear a skirt, just DO IT. I want to go wth the last comment, there
are indeed more open minded people around us than we think. Troy
Aug 31, 2009 2:31 PM
Guest :
Social forces (horseback riding) placed men in pants, but who is most to
blame for enforcing this conformity by falsely attributing it to
"normal brain chemistry?" Why, psychiatry, of course, the dismal
non-science, non-medicine posing as science and medicine. The NY Times,
May 27, 1876, page 6 editorial "A Curious Disease" said women in
trousers were afflicted with "permanent mental hallucination" and
needed "the usual treatments in use at the best conducted hospitals
for the insane." Psychiatry equates social conformity with normal
bodily processes, such as normal kidney function. This is a truly GREAT
error. In psychiatry (where diseases are INVENTED) if a few people are
doing something, it's a "disorder" BUT if a majority adopts the
behavior, it's no longer an "illness." Why? Because psych
diagnoses are STRATEGIES---not facts---they are strategies to suppress
nonconformity! In real medicine, malaria is a disease whether a few have
it, or if a majority has it. Psychiatry once said slaves who wanted to
escape had "drapetomania." The American Psychiatric Association
journal still features image of Benjamin Rush, who in the 1790's held the
theory that Blacks skin color was due to disease! We have Greeks and
Albanian men wearing petticoats, Fijian soldiers and policemen wearing
skirts serrated at the hem, Bhutanese dancers in petticoats, Dervishes in
skirts, Tongans and Samoans in skirts---strong, manly brutes---yet
psychiatry says "transvestism" if a man wants to wear a skirt.
Truly the mental "health" (equating social conformity with bodily
health) movement is the successor to the Holy Roman Catholic Inquisition
and the witch hunts. And only in psychiatry is the possession of a
"medical" degree claimed by implication to confer immunity
against the "disorders" with which that fake specialty is
concerned. If mental illness is "like any other illness" any
mental health "professional" could have such "illness."
Yet since these designations are slanders, never medical diagnoses, they
do not slander themselves. And only THEY are "qualified" to
diagnose it, so conveniently they never diagnose themselves with
"disorders." Only exception is if they get into conflict with
their employers like whistleblower psych Duard Bok with National Medical
Enterprises, who said he had a "personality disorder" when he
denounced their massive frauds to Federal investigators who ended up
hitting them with $300 million + in fines. Skirts are as sex neutral as
H2O.
Sep 5, 2009 3:46 PM
Guest :
Shoot, I don't think men should wear skirts any more than women should wear
pants. I'm of the persuasion that men should dress like men (in a
masculine fashion) and women should look like women (in a feminine
fashion). It's all well and good that in some cultures men wear
skirt-like clothing -- that's them. Besides their clothing doesn't look
like a "skirt" by our standards per se. Our clothing style
is known as "western" because of the idiosyncracies of our
culture (such as women in skirts and men in pants). "Men in
skirts" is something that is fundamentally against our culture which
is why it will always encounter opposition. For pity's sake, when you
go to a public restroom how are the figures dressed to identify the men's
or women's restroom?
Sep 6, 2009 7:24 PM
Guest :
Men should wear skirts as women wear pants. It is fact that men got all
diseases (testicle-prostate cancer, reduced enhancement, heart attacks
through stess, related to male tide dressing style) what pants can
"produce" to them. I don't agree the last statement/opinion
because I am missing all explanation why men should not wear skirts.
Culture? Oh my gosh, what is that when we are living in a country with as
minumum 112 different cultures. So what? Enlish, Scottish, Irisch men
wearing already traditional skirts because kilts are skirts. And what
"makes" a man? The outfit, the bifurcated gsrment? It makes a
man when he is innovative, creative strong, wearing what ever he wants, and
at least some couragement doing something different than the herd around
him.
Sep 7, 2009 5:57 PM
Guest :
Men can wear skirt or kilt. A skirt is good for men and the testicle are
not skeze when you seat for long time.And because they are not skeze you
dont come effiminated. Somme men are affraid to have a hard on on men who
wear a skirt, for that they are some men who are completly again skirt for
men. May be they are affraid of not be able to do the difference betwen men
and women. The figure of a man is not the same as a femelle. And a man who
wear a skirt will be a man not a gay. Juste see in movie, gay dont wear a
skirt, they wear uniforme with chain. Somme gay juste look like any other
man. you will not know if they are gay or not. Somme women get maried to
gay and divorse a few years later.
Sep 15, 2009 4:49 PM
Guest :
Would love to wear one. They feel & look great. I was able to try a
couple on in the store when I was shopping alone. I almost bought one.
One was denim and the other cordroy. I don't think my better half would
approve. Would probaby have to wear in secret which is a shame. The were
on sale. Probably the denim one would be best to start out with. I would
like one that is nylon or satin.
Sep 18, 2009 10:14 AM
Guest :
If you want to check your partner on you wearing skirts - then spend your
home time in a shower wrap. When she asks why tell her it is more
comfortabvle. Then maybe you can work up to - you know if I wore some sort
of skirt I would be able to answer the door and other stuff.
Sep 19, 2009 4:45 PM
Guest :
It's not a shame that you like skirts, dresses, nylon, satin etc. It is a
shame that men do not want to say what they like because they fear it could
be a shame. Only one thing must be in your consideration: What is
comfortable, what do I like and what feels good on me. If you can find
that, eat, drink or wear it. It is the only way to get satisfied, inside
and out. Bess
Sep 21, 2009 10:06 AM
Guest :
amazing the number of websites where similar discussions are taking place.
Safe the fact that a skirt for men is more healthy especially when being
seated for long periods, the notion that skirts were not appropriate in
northeren europe is a misconception. In histiry books one can find referals
to the rural areas where men were wearing skirt(like Garment)s till late
19th century. Nowadays there are sufficient women wearing the shirt
and sock of their husbands, no questions asked. E.g. One day my ex asked me
if she could borrow a pair of socks eventhough she had done so many trimes
before, in turn I asked whether I could from het a pair of stockings. She
frose and never again borrowed socks. She also indicated that she
would like to see me in amongst others in a skirt like garment, even
indicated that she would buy me a kilt but never did so and when I had
tried and learned to appreciate the comfort, she filed for divorce as I
would be a transvestite. such is life. I have the notion that she only
needed a reason for a divorce she had planned long before or cuased by
influnce forthcoming from third parties.
Sep 22, 2009 4:42 PM
Guest :
If a women/wife lives in double standards, men cannot do what women can do,
you actually can do nothing because it is a lack of intelligence and
education. When you got married the priest will ask you a very
serious question, "....are you willing.... in good and bad......"
these words are almost forgotten when it comes to the man/husband and his
possible positive movement toward easy dressing. And I think that the
exploration of freedom of clothes when wearing a skirt or dress can only be
decribed as a good moment for the man, some wives turning that into
bad.
Sep 25, 2009 1:48 AM
Guest :
Yes men should wear skirt as part new fashion but need to change to replace
boring old same trousers so skirts may help high street shop from go bust -
men seem quite like wear skirt as Im straight male and wear skirt all time,
feel good and very comfortable also it doesnt matter which one for men to
wear in women or men skirt type depend on your size, it normal clothes we
like to wear. It quite fun to wear skirt and go out for walk but need
more men wear skirt in public that may chnage very fast plus shop selling
more skirt for men as well.
Oct 11, 2009 4:50 PM
Guest :
I think that selling men's skirts in men's department will not happen next
time because there is not enough demand to go for that. I know a lot of men
would wear skirts but hesitating to do so because thinking it is not in
general fashion. So men are not encouraged enough. You know what? I
wish men would have the spirit we have when it comes to new and exciting
fashion - most men don't care what's going on with fashion. Really,
men do not look bad in skirts, all I say recently looked terrific.
Oct 26, 2009 4:37 PM
Guest :
Yes, selling skirts in men's departments won't happen next year, but that
means prostate cancer frequency will be still increasing. Trousers kills,
it's no joke! There's simple mechanism that keeps our testicles in right
temperature (lower than rest of the body), a pair of muscles adjusts the
distance between each testicle and body. If there is hot, the distance is
increasing and breeze make the temperature lower. In trousers that method
(the only one we have got) doesn't work. The overheating of testicles
causes infertility, testicular cancer and hormonal instability which is
shown as a temporary very high testosterone level that damages prostate and
causes benign and prostate cancer. Strikemaster
Mar 14, 2009
