Men in skirts - why don't more men wear skirts?

[CervixSampler]

At the risk of a bun fight this is a genuine question.
I was at a rock festival yesterday and there were a few men in skirts rocking the whole steampunk look. One guy was in a red tartan kilt but I didn't get a good look at the rest of his outfit-he was quite different to the others dressed in steampunk. I think it was a denim jacket. These men looked amazing and it got me thinking as to why when women now wear trousers (as opposed to historically predominantly being in dresses and skirts), that men don't wear skirts to the same extent. Is it socialisation? Blatant sexism? Practicalities? Lack of availability outside of cosplay type retailers? I prefer trousers/jeans because I hate my legs, I'd end up with it caught in my knickers, thigh rub, the whole tights/stockings/socks/footwear issue and my tendency to sit legs akimbo. I love dresses but sadly we aren't compatible.

My ds is 6 and chose to wear a flower crown. There were plenty of men also wearing these. A Slayer T-shirt and a flower crown combo is an unusual look on a man but no one batted an eye. Maybe festivals are some kind of alternative universe in general where people are more likely to flout restrictive norms for clothing? Whatever it is I found it fantastic.

I'm just watching How To Train Your Dragon for the millionth time and I've only just noticed that a few of the male characters wear skirts or in the case of Fishlegs a kind of shift dress.

I can see myself going down a history of clothing rabbit hole with this but yesterday really piqued my interest and got me wondering why it's acceptable for women to wear trousers but not for men to wear skirts/dresses.

[NiceGerbil]

Re practicality if men don't wear them due to impracticality why are dress/ skirt type garments perfectly standard for men in other parts of the world?

Enjoying some of the responses to examples of men wearing skirt/ dress garments in public eye-
Oh that was for the stage
Yeah but they looked ridiculous!
Etc

Very strange!

Is a dress/ skirt on a man not a dress/ skirt on a man is it is seen as looking silly/ on the stage/ not Laura Ashley?!

[NiceGerbil]

images.app.goo.gl/UXEQQUPHMgneLcn88

On stage and not frilly for sure

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Easily dealt with by black underpants

Or not sitting with their legs apart.

[NiceGerbil]

(he's out with his wife pushing a pram)

[NiceGerbil]

I mean saying oh yeah he only wore for stage or posed...

I mean you said that for sure?

Have you seen every snap read every memoir etc etc?

Did you know him maybe?

Or just oh I've only seen posed or on stage so that must be all.

[KimikosNightmare]

Men on the whole just don't want to wear skirts/dresses. If they did then there would be 'masculinised' versions of these garments. Designers have tried in the past, and there was just no interest. Society isn't any the worse for it.
I think people on this forum overestimate the popularity of skirts/dresses amongst women, let alone men. Where I live, you only really see women wearing dresses in hot summer weather. The rest of the time it's trousers or leggings. Men tend to wear those loose longer length shorts in hot weather, I guess they're comfortable enough

I think people on here underestimate the popularity of skirts and dresses amongst women- it comes across as a sort of bizarre wish fulfilment .You can see it on here- posters who don't like skirts or dresses but who can't leave it at that. Skirts and dresses are useless/ impractical so why would anyone want them? Of course the same impractical garments magically become practical and wonderful when worn by a man- per several comments on here about kilts or every egotistical rock star who once wore a dress or something vaguely resembling a dress.

Zara for example sell gazillions of dresses. I don't shop there but the Zara dress which sells out every year is very much a thing.

I also think posters on here overestimate the wish for doing away with "women's clothes" and "men's clothes". No doubt that's because everybody (apart from posters on here) is brainwashed by the patriarchy to want to keep them different.

[KimikosNightmare]

@NiceGerbil

I mean saying oh yeah he only wore for stage or posed...

I mean you said that for sure?

Have you seen every snap read every memoir etc etc?

Did you know him maybe?

Or just oh I've only seen posed or on stage so that must be all.

Googling "Bowie in a dress" comes up with few results other than the staged magazine shoots and stage costumes which clearly aren't dresses but are obviously only stage costumes.

Bowie is better known for his sharp suits if anything- a look which he maintained throughout his life.

[Cocolapew]

Those are trousers Bowie is wearing

[AnnyFadams]

There are parts of Southern Asia where a sarong type of bottom half is culturally the norm. The Burmese wear the Longyi and (European, Male) friends of ours would wear them to the office sometimes if requested to or to formal occasions and by all accounts became very attached to them.

Also, a friend of my Fathers that was based in Singapore in the Royal Marines said that they all wore sarongs when off duty in the barracks as it was the only thing that was comfortable in the heat (although in my experience that lot are first into drag at the sniff of a fancy dress party )

[Cocolapew]

About 30 years ago Jeffrey Daniel from Shalamar was presenting Soul Train on C4 and wore a black kilt, I still think about him in it .
At a Biffy Clyro gig there were a lot of guys in black kilts with DMs and a band tshirt, its a look I really like, but tight mini skirts on men is a no for me.

[JaneJeffer]

[NiceGerbil]

Oh lol Coco

Anyway plenty on Google.

The point is that men can and do wear dresses skirts from time to time. In the UK. That aren't kilts.

The response oh but that situation/ oh but he looks crap is really random.

The fact that men all over the world wear skirt/ dress type garments as a norm continues to be ignored.

[NiceGerbil]

It's just a cultural norm and a heavily enforced one.

Nothing more complicated than that.

[NiceGerbil]

'Bowie is better known for his sharp suits if anything- a look which he maintained throughout his life.'

Lol. Ziggy wore a sharp suit? That's one way of describing his usual look

I don't get what point you're trying to make anyway.

No men in England don't often wear skirt/ dress type garments.

Well unless they're on a stag night or a cross dresser or etc etc.

[NiceGerbil]

His long dresses with boots pics are all posed? Stage costumes? He looks pretty comfy to me and it suits him.

Not sure what point is trying to be proved still.

It's a strongly embedded cultural norm in the UK for men to buy wear skirt dress type garments.

Actually hold on. I've seen men in non standard attire for England -different cultures- in skirt/ dress type things plenty of times now I think of it.

I'm not sure why a dress type garment becomes not a dress if it's not styled in the usual way when it's made for standard UK market either.

If that's the question then it's a different one. Not why don't they wear skirt/ dress type garments but why don't they wear ones that look similar in pattern etc to those that patterned cut etc similar to those that are currently sold in women's shops.

Are we at cross purposes?

[TooBigForMyBoots]

Societal pressures. Back in the 90s, all but one of the men in my group loved skirts. They found them comfortable, cooling and practical. Its disappointing that men wearing skirts is still unusual in 2021.

It will probably change with climate change.

[KimikosNightmare]

@NiceGerbil

'Bowie is better known for his sharp suits if anything- a look which he maintained throughout his life.'

Lol. Ziggy wore a sharp suit? That's one way of describing his usual look

I don't get what point you're trying to make anyway.

No men in England don't often wear skirt/ dress type garments.

Well unless they're on a stag night or a cross dresser or etc etc.

Ziggy Stardust was a short- lived stage personality. I don't know what point you're trying to make but Bowie did not go around in every day life in the Ziggy Stardust outfit.

Bowie on the other hand was famous for being smartly dressed in tailored suits. There's loads of them from all decades of his career. You'll find far more of those than Bowie in a dress.

I really don't understand the determination of some posters on this board to drag Bowie in at every opportunity as evidence of a "ooh, man who looked good in a dress".

[Echobelly]

I do think it would be great if more men wore skirts - it would help dispel that there's something shameful or belittling about traditionally 'feminine' things. I find it very telling that historically in many western societies all children wore skirts, but boys moved into trousers when they were older - as if women remained children.

DH for a while had a great slightly Japanese-style unisex wrap skirt (black with red lining and piping) that was easy to wear casually in summer, I don't think he ever got negative reactions while out wearing it.

[NiceGerbil]

Because he's a famous example of a man wearing a dress!

Not sure what looking good has to do with it. Some look good some don't. Same as women.

Should women only wear dresses if they look good?

[KimikosNightmare]

@NiceGerbil

His long dresses with boots pics are all posed? Stage costumes? He looks pretty comfy to me and it suits him.

Not sure what point is trying to be proved still.

It's a strongly embedded cultural norm in the UK for men to buy wear skirt dress type garments.

Actually hold on. I've seen men in non standard attire for England -different cultures- in skirt/ dress type things plenty of times now I think of it.

I'm not sure why a dress type garment becomes not a dress if it's not styled in the usual way when it's made for standard UK market either.

If that's the question then it's a different one. Not why don't they wear skirt/ dress type garments but why don't they wear ones that look similar in pattern etc to those that patterned cut etc similar to those that are currently sold in women's shops.

Are we at cross purposes?

You are talking about Bowie's stage costumes- not every day wear.

Bowie is completely irrelevant to the point raised by the OP. If you watch any documentary about him it's obvious the stage clothes are for performances only.

[KimikosNightmare]

@NiceGerbil

Because he's a famous example of a man wearing a dress!

Not sure what looking good has to do with it. Some look good some don't. Same as women.

Should women only wear dresses if they look good?

Sigh, he's a famous example of a man who very briefly for shock value many decades ago once or twice wore a dress and some outrageous costumes on stage. Off stage for the rest of his life he wore men's clothes- frequently very tailored suits.

Bowie is beyond irrelevant to the point the OP raised.

[KimikosNightmare]

Not sure what looking good has to do with it. Some look good some don't. Same as women

Should women only wear dresses if they look good?

No idea what you're on about here. I only mentioned "looking good" in the context of the tedious regularity Bowie gets cited as a good example.

[Kanaloa]

I think the point people are making by pointing out that Bowie was generally dressing for the stage is that actually it isn’t and has never been common for men to wear skirts/dresses in Britain. Same as with kilts - some people are pointing these out as if actually it’s normal and common for a man to wear a skirt and op’s question is difficult to answer.

In fact, it’s very unusual for a man to wear a skirt of any sort in the UK for daily wear - outside of something like a stage costume or cultural wear, and it’s generally because they would probably be ridiculed. I don’t think that’s right, but op’s question is fairly simple to answer. Men generally don’t wear skirts because they’d be likely to draw comments and they don’t want that.

[PlanDeRaccordement]

In China we have many young people today doing new Hanfu. They basically wear various traditional chinese clothes which include robes/dresses for men (as well as women) instead of western clothing. It’s pretty popular.

It’s really a modern western/European cultural thing that men only wear trousers. Ancient and medieval European men wore tunics/dresses of various lengths, from very long to very short. Even the soldiers did.

[KimikosNightmare]

@PlanDeRaccordement

In China we have many young people today doing new Hanfu. They basically wear various traditional chinese clothes which include robes/dresses for men (as well as women) instead of western clothing. It’s pretty popular.

It’s really a modern western/European cultural thing that men only wear trousers. Ancient and medieval European men wore tunics/dresses of various lengths, from very long to very short. Even the soldiers did.

Hanfu men's robes are absolutely gorgeous. They also look "right" - whilst Billy Porter and Harry Styles, to me anyway, just look silly.

As others have said it's all down to cultural expectations.