Would you ok your son wearing a dress?

I think you could argue a kilt or sarong is a type of skirt, but I don't think a cassock is really a dress. It's not made the same way.

Well said TableFlowers!

red flag 😂

If the kid doesn’t get bullied and all the responses are positive, happy days but why on earth any parent would insist on putting a child in such a position is beyond me.

These days, boys in dresses are unlikely to get bullied at school, if your school is anywhere near half decent anyway. My state comprehensive growing up was in special measures and still no one would have bullied a guy in a dress. I genuinely think in this day and age it's not the red fish to a bull a lot of posters seem to think it is. Ultimately, you can be picked on for anything- the only way you can guarantee a kid won't be is not to send them to school at all.

slippers 😂

I’m sure but some pjs are had time distinguish between bed wear and day wear. I still put my boy in tops that I can’t say for certain aren’t pjs- superhero type ones. So no one else would know the difference either...

I’m talking about stripey, no mistaken are they aren’t they pjs with dressing gown and skippers....

Indeed - Why not PJs? My DC went to school Christmas party in (clean) polar bear pyjamas. I have no fucks to give about what clothes people choose to wear (although I draw the line at wearing clothes. I accept that is a pretty universal agreed minimum standard!)

You do you, save your energy and outrage for something more meaningful.

There’s certain things that are in the control of the parent. To allow them to wear something that isn’t standard to prove a point --and jump on the bandwagon-- is just is pointless.

If the kid doesn’t get bullied and all the responses are positive, happy days but why on earth any parent would insist on putting a child in such a position is beyond me.

If you’re that bothered just send them in in their pjs?! End of the day clothing is clothing is clothing, right? If you insist it shouldn’t matter what they wear then why not PJ’s....

Society doesn't cater for boys wearing dresses.

The great thing about mumsnet is that it allows you to talk to people from all over the world and also parallel universes.

Clothes do not design sex

No he won’t be wearing dresses he’s a boy

So my mother should not have sent me to school because I was being bullied ? Bizarre

Yet my brother spent a large portion of his childhood wearing my dresses. We regularly used to wear eachothers night clothes, so I'd wear his pjs and he would wear my nightie. He's now a male chauvinist manly man who wouldn't be seen dead in a skirt, except when he dressed up as a woman and was quite derogatory towards them.

My own DS2 used to wear my pretty tops as dresses around the house.

Indeed.

Not to mention the fact that throughout history men have worn items of clothing that were shaped like skirts (the Romans. the Greeks...) and in some cultures/countries (Middle East, Africa) men wear long robes, so this notion that trousers are the default option for manliness is pretty idiotic.

I always thought Nirvana's Kurt Cobain looked great when he wore a dress too...

highly likely

If you want to know why a boy (or girl) might want to wear something vibrant and sparkly, in the words of Tim Rice:

“I look handsome, I look smart
I am walking work of art
Such a dazzling coat of colours
How I love my coat of many colours

It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And red and yellow and green and brown and
Scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange”

“Skirts and dresses are generally designed to show off the curves of a woman's body aren't they?”

No.

I would consider my parenting a success if my (adult) son was to wear a dress outside or inside his home. Other peoples opinion of what he wears is nothing to do with him. He would have to be secure in himself to do this, therefore I brought him up to feel secure in this world. I mean it's possible that other men would say something but he has a dry wit and for the most part could talk himself out of trouble. That trouble would happen is not a given. Fionne Orlander manages just fine.

I remember the thread about the skirts, and I think that was a fairly silly argument WRT them. Uniforms by nature limit choices and no one has a "right" to be allowed to wear a skirt in a uniform. It was, however, also silly to eliminate them in the name of equality.

If someone was trying to copy Harry Styles, I would be concerned whatever they were wearing.

I would think for older boys it’s a style/fashion thing and going with a tribe, just like the New Romantics back in the day

I don't really get why older boys would want to wear skirts?
My two are younger, but they liked skirts for dancing in, because of the way they feel. I can imagine a male dancer wanting to coordinate their moves with their clothing.
My granny used to say that just as some women looked really, er, odd in trousers (her opinion) some men would also be flattered by skirts.
As well as the above re skirts being cooler in summer.

Usually, when people do bend and subvert thm, it's not because they have some burning desire to dress that way, or even any more because there is some really unfair disadvantageous expectation.

I remember a thread a while back about a school where, in an attempt to engender equality, they had banned skirts altogether. No non-trouser uniform option. Lots of posters were up in arms about it because skirts are much more comfortable in summer, because some girls hate the way they look in trousers, because they shouldn't have rights removed from them to make things fair etc.

There are lots of reasons people want to wear skirts and dresses. They're very comfortable and practical garments.