When we try to imagine a men's skirt, the image of a Scottish kilt with a fanny pack comes to mind, which is also customary to wear without underwear. Few people know why in the 16th century the Scottish highlanders, known for their courage, preferred to wrap themselves in a piece of checkered cloth. The traditional Scottish “skirt” has many advantages due to its indispensability in the everyday life of a warrior: after removing the leather belt, you can hide with this blanket for the night, the dense woolen fabric is windproof, practically does not get wet and dries quickly, and in battle for complete freedom of movement rip yourself off.
After the Jacobite uprisings in Scotland in the 18th century, the kilt was even banned as a symbol of resistance, but was soon returned to the freedom-loving people. Now, for big holidays and weddings, all the descendants of the Celts like the Irish and the British can wear it, but it is, of course, held in higher esteem by the Scots.
In addition to the population of the British Isles, male variations of the skirt exist among the peoples of Southeast Asia, where men did not stop wearing the sarong on an equal basis with women, as well as the dhoti, the male version of the Indian sari. Due to the advantage of a loose piece of breathable fabric over tight trousers, as in a hot, humid climate, wearing them loses all meaning.
Skirt in protest
Many companies around the world have a so-called "no-shorts-to-work" policy, which allows men to wear only long trousers at work. If it seems difficult to sit in trousers in an air-conditioned office periodically during the summer months, then you can imagine the terrible conditions faced by those who work on the street. It is much easier for women in this regard, because their dress code includes a skirt that should cover the knee.
In June 2017, bus drivers in Nancy, France were among those forced to circumvent the shorts ban in a truly courageous way.
Members of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor solved the problem by wearing skirts to work.
During an interview with local media, drivers said they were jealous of women in skirts during a period of intense heat - in their closed cabs, the air temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius. “We want the company to pay attention to the situation so that in certain climatic conditions drivers were allowed to wear Bermuda shorts, for example.”
Record high temperatures in June last year brought discomfort to schoolchildren in the UK. School uniform boys did not allow students high school Exeter city wear shorts in hot weather, so they decided to use the only option available and wear school skirts.
A total of 50 boys from the ISCA academy defended their right to thermoregulation for four days. The protest was provoked when educational institution A 14-year-old boy was threatened with imprisonment in a "isolation room" if he came to school in shorts.
The principal joked that this wouldn't happen if he wore a skirt, and at that moment pitched the idea for a peaceful protest by the students. Undoubtedly, the brave act of teenagers has paid off: the school authorities have allowed the wearing of short trousers in the summer since 2018, subject to the color scheme and the unanimous decision of the parent committee.
celebrities without pants
If Hollywood actors are hereditary Scots who do not shock the public with their respect for the traditions of their people, then some show business stars chose skirts for beauty and convenience.
In the 2000s, rappers Kanye West and Diddy tried on skirts at their performances, and designer Marc Jacobs appeared in public only in women's skirts from 2008 to 2011. seen wearing a Comme Des Garçons kilt at his runway show before moving on to a classic Prada pencil skirt. With all the designer's love for this piece of clothing, he himself has never included a skirt in one of his men's lines - perhaps he wanted to preserve the uniqueness and not dress all the men of New York in his favorite detail.
The lack of masculinity cannot be blamed on actor Vin Diesel, and he appeared in a leather kilt at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2003, his stylists complemented the ensemble with a black sweater and rough leather boots.
Rapper Young Thug posed for a Calvin Klein ad campaign in 2016 wearing a dress from their women's line worn over trousers. In the commercial, he emphasized that clothes do not interfere with feeling like a man: "You can be a gangsta in a dress, you can be a gangsta in baggy pants."
One of the most stylish men on the planet and son is often photographed in skirts, calmly walks in them on the street and even put one on his prom. He explains his actions as an attempt to solve social problems: in an interview for Nylon magazine, he said that he wears a skirt not so much for the sake of image, but as an example for future generations.
“Five years from now, when a child goes to school in a skirt, the kids won't get angry and hit him… It just doesn't matter. I take the brunt of it so that my children and their children know that this is normal, ”said the young man.
As they like to write in the yellow press, "Men in skirts blew up the Internet." Indeed, this collage of the models of the American designer Thome Browne came across to me a hundred times on the net. And mostly - with indignant comments.
What can you not read about this photo! “Where the world is heading, men want to dress like women!!”, “Masculinity is no longer in fashion, there will soon be no normal men left!!”…
Most of these commentators are firmly convinced that men have always, from time immemorial, worn trousers. And nothing, no other clothing configuration other than trousers and trouser suits can be acceptable for a man's wardrobe. Men should dress strictly and simply, and all sorts of embellishments, folds and frills, high-heeled shoes and bright makeup are women's territory. And so it has always been! Seriously?
Let's take a brief excursion into history.
Men's costume of Antiquity
Although analogues of modern trousers were invented in antiquity, the ancestors of modern European civilization - the ancient Greeks, and after them the Romans - did not wear trousers. They considered trousers an idiotic invention, and those who wear them - barbarians.
In the cradle of modern philosophy, law, science and art, in Ancient Greece men wore chitons and togas (that is, in fact, draped dresses). gladiators in Ancient Rome wore armor over short tunics - their courage and strength did not suffer from the absence of trousers on them.
As the Roman Empire spread beyond the warm countries of the Mediterranean, the Roman colonialists gradually adopted the style of wearing trousers. For a banal reason - it was warmer in the pants than in the toga.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, various types of trousers were already quite common, but we have little visual evidence of the fashion of that period. Therefore, we will not linger in the gloomy Middle Ages, let's fast forward to the Renaissance!
Renaissance men's fashion
We have plenty of evidence of this period, there are even portraits of historical figures. For example. On the left is King Charles IX of France. On the right is the English King Henry VIII.
Charles IX is the one under whom the bloody Bartholomew night happened in France. And Henry VIII is the same King "Bluebeard", who was married six times. Moreover, the marriage with four of his six wives was annulled on his orders, and he also executed two of them for fidelity. Cruel age, cruel morals. You can’t call these men pampered and effeminate, you can’t say that they have lost their masculine appearance.
However, take a look at their costumes! Legs in white stockings (!) are open well above the knees. Charles IX has very short and very puffy trousers, a tightly drawn waist - the silhouette is more like an exaggerated female figure than a male one. At Henry VIII actually a dress with a short pleated skirt. Renaissance fashion prescribed women only long skirts that completely concealed their legs, but men showed their knees without hesitation.
Men's fashion of the 17th century
The fashion for demonstrating slender male legs continued into the era of the Sun King. Here is Louis XIV in person. Pay attention to the red (!) Stockings on the left and pale blue on the right. Also pay attention to the heels!
Louis XIV lived a long life full of all sorts of pleasures. We will not give a list of his mistresses and favorites here, as this would lengthen the article twice 😉 However, he, like his father Louis XIII, began to go bald early. Under Louis XIII, the fashion dictated that balding men hide this unfortunate fact and wear long wigs that match the color of their mustaches and beards, imitating their own hair. But the entertainer Louis XIV went further. He brought into fashion long, lush, curled wigs that did not even try to pretend to be "native" hair. And they were worn by all men "from society", not only bald ones. The wig has become a mandatory attribute of the costume.
In addition to wigs, bows on shoes and feathers on hats, wealthy men equipped their suits with lace frills and cuffs, large jewelry and precious embroidery. And also, you won’t believe it, they used powder and blush with might and main!
Rococo Men's Fashion
But all this decorativeness, pretentiousness and unnaturalness reached its apogee in the 18th century, in the Rococo era. Men here competed with women in the fight for the title of the most decorated and brightest peacocks. 
The men's costume consisted of short pants - culottes (yes, modern fashionable women's ones originated precisely from them), a white shirt, a vest and an upper caftan - a justocor. The word "justocor" (from the French juste au corps) in direct translation means "exactly in the body." And in modern French this word refers to the elastic leotard worn by gymnasts.
The very wording “exactly to the body” makes it clear that this men's caftan was cut tightly fitting and was supposed to emphasize the figure. Justocor and waistcoat were richly decorated with embroidery, galloons, and decorative buttons. Modest and restrained, this men's suit could only be called blind.
And even in the XVIII century, men were strangled and painted no worse than women. Both ladies and gentlemen wore powdered wigs, they always bleached their faces with powder, blushed their cheeks strongly, painted their lips, and glued flies. Men's make-up was no different from women's. The “painted” face determined not gender, but a high, privileged social status. Therefore, the rich bourgeois, who did not belong to the aristocracy, but really aspired to go there, also painted brighter, imitating the nobles.
Makeup was a way to pretend to be someone you are not. I remind you, we are talking about men 😉 With blood-red painted lips and black flies on their cheeks!
Everything changed in the 19th century
And only at the beginning of the 19th century did something happen that in the history of fashion is usually called the “great male refusal”. The legislator of British fashion, the founder of dandyism, Bo Brummel, introduced into use a “simple” men's suit, devoid of decor, variegation and fuss. The emphasis in the men's suit was on the perfect cut and silhouette, high-quality fabrics and minimalism. The concept of conspicuous inconspicuousness, which is so popular with people of taste today, dates back to the 1810s in London.
However, this "understated", "simple" London dandy suit looked something like this. Tight light leggings revealed such details of the male physique that we do not expect to see in the middle of the street today.
Dandies did not blush their cheeks and did not wear bright costumes. But to achieve the perfect silhouette, so that the shoulders seemed wider and the waist narrower, they wore tight corsets! The corset was pulled down until he lost consciousness - in the truest sense of the word. Overzealous dandies fainted at balls like those muslin young ladies. Corset - you see, it does not make out whether you are a man or a woman, it strangles everyone the same.
During the 19th century, European men's fashion underwent several more metamorphoses, corsets remained in the past, the silhouette became more and more simple. And by the 1900s, men's fashion came close to the standard that it still adheres to today. The 20th century brought only small variations.
Lapels on jackets became a little wider or a little narrower, bow ties, lace ties and ties in general came in and out of fashion. Vests and three-piece suits have sunk into oblivion. Bomber jackets, knitted T-shirts and, of course, jeans broke into and forever settled in the wardrobe of every man. They flew up to the fashionable Olympus and inevitably rolled down flared trousers, pipe trousers, trousers with tucks, chinos ... But always trousers. Pants only. We are so used to them that we do not see anything around.
Pants Alternatives
Nevertheless, trousers are not the only possible form of clothing for a man today. A classic example of an alternative is the Scottish kilt, that is, a men's plaid wrap skirt. The kilt has survived in its originality despite the centuries-old procession of trousers throughout Europe. The Scots still love and wear kilts. Including Sir Sean Connery, the legendary James Bond, awarded a knighthood. Do you think he looks effeminate in this outfit?
A traditional element of the Japanese samurai costume, the hakama is a pleated skirt with numerous pleats. The silhouette of the hakama is such that it is not immediately possible to determine whether it is trousers or a skirt. Did the samurai become less masculine because they didn't wear traditional straight pants "like all men"?
In many Arab countries men still wear the traditional jalabiya - that is, a long white ... dress to the toes. And nobody counts Arab sheikhs less masculine and less attractive because they go around in "dresses" and with headscarves on their heads. The traditional Chinese men's costume also includes a toe-length "wrap dress" girded with a wide sash.
And these are only secular men! Needless to say, priests of many denominations and monks of many orders have worn clothes that most closely resemble a long dress for centuries.
So what is the revolution?
And yet, when menswear designers suggest that European and American men wear something that looks like a dress or a skirt, it is a bombshell. The public reacts as if Martians were on the podium instead of men.
Excuse me, but all these “new” male models are just well-forgotten old ones! How is this model from the New York designer Thome Browne (pictured right) fundamentally different from the traditional Scottish suit with a kilt (pictured left)?
And these models from the Thome Browne collection (in the center and on the right) with their idea and silhouette strongly resemble the Japanese hakama (in the photo on the left).
And in the end, why not? Modern fashion does not impose anything on anyone and does not oblige anyone to anything. Whoever wants to can continue to wear the usual trousers, no one forces you to change into a skirt! But why forbid experiments to those who are ready for them? Why can't modern men wear a short tunic, why are they worse than gladiators?
Most surprising in these discussions are women who wear trousers, jeans and shorts of all kinds and stripes, but at the same time categorically deny men the right to a skirt! Although women have been wearing dresses to the heels throughout the history of mankind, and only the 20th century, with its wars and upheavals, allowed them to throw off both the corset and long skirts, and set the full dress.
And this process was not simple, women in trousers caused almost more public censure and hatred than men in skirts cause today. Then the conservative society reconciled. Then I stopped noticing. And then ... A new generation of people has grown up, which no longer remembers that it was once different. It’s hard for today’s 30-year-olds to imagine how their grandmothers didn’t wear trousers when they were young.
According to my modest forecasts, 10 years will pass, 20 at the most, the scandal will subside, society will get used to it, and a man in a skirt will look just as normal, unremarkable as a woman in trousers looks today. See you in 10 years, check? 😉
The history of clothing is the history of civilization. In our modern culture, men and women wear trousers, but this has not always been the case. At one time, trousers were considered exclusively men's clothing. And the ancient Egyptians wore dresses and skirts. Even earlier, they were worn by the ancient Sumerians. Alexander the Great conquered the whole world by wearing a skirt. The Greeks wore togas, and the Chinese wore dresses (and men too). So men in skirts are far from new from a historical point of view.
Excursion into history
How long did men continue to wear skirts? Consider Christopher Columbus. He wore a green tunic 
, tights and leather shoes, as well as a wide raincoat and a leather cap. This picture, perhaps, is not a model of masculinity in our view.
Thomas Jefferson didn't wear trousers either. He wore pantaloons. In the 1760s, most men wore tight knee-length pantaloons and stockings. 
. Sailors began to wear very loose work trousers in the 1580s, but such clothing was only reserved for men of the lower classes, and gentlemen wore skirts until the 1760s. The French Revolution of 1789, among other things, protested against the fact that trousers belonged only to the upper classes. Then the first peasants in trousers appeared.
So men's pants 
is a fairly new fashion. Men have worn skirts for at least ten thousand years. And we have only worn trousers for the last two centuries. And most of the male population of the planet today still wears skirts.
Our days
The very idea that a man modern society can wear skirts, today causes heated debate and discussion. Is the skirt both feminine and masculine, is it experiencing a renaissance as a fashion item? ancient world? This question is of great interest to many today, and some are ready to accept the idea that a man can wear a skirt in one form or another.
It seems that today many men are rediscovering the comfort and practicality of a skirt. Men's skirts are often not called skirts, using words like kilt, sarong or pareo for this, because they are afraid to associate the word "skirt" with men. The skirt-style garment is undoubtedly the least restrictive on the lower part of the male body. Interestingly, some doctors believe that loose, non-constricting clothing can help a man live more healthy life and have higher reproductive capacities. The indisputable fact is that skirts are very comfortable for both men and women.
In different parts of the world such as Indonesia, Africa, Middle East, India, Philippines, men often wear skirts. In certain cultures (in Scotland and Greece), kilts and men's skirts are still part of the official military uniform. After men's skirts began to flicker on the catwalks of Paris and Milan in the last couple of years, it seems that this trend is starting to take root. The main reason for the doubts is that men are afraid to wear skirts so that they will not be considered homosexuals. However, the fashion trend is not for men to wear women's skirts, but for them to wear skirts designed specifically for the male figure.
Types of skirts for men
Skirts designed for men appear in different social circles, from hikers and joggers to carpenters and artists. The most widely known men's skirt is the kilt, which has been worn by Scottish men for centuries. A kilt is a knee-length, deeply pleated skirt, usually made of plaid woolen fabric, that is part of the men's dress in the north and northwest of Scotland. Traditionally, men don't wear anything under their kilt, and sometimes, with a gust of wind or random movement, this becomes apparent.
Ready-made kilts are not so difficult to find, including in online stores. Today, manufacturers offer modern kilts for men. Companies such as Utilikilt, Amerikilt and Union Kilt have taken the old idea and modernized it with cargo pockets and dedicated tool compartments. Other brands such as JDEZ offer lightweight cargo sarongs as well as hiking skirts that convert into shorts. 
. Macabi Skirt make unisex backpacking skirts. Men-in-Time and AMOK offer haute couture items such as men's long skirts.
A kilt is best worn with a plain white shirt. Kilts are worn at weddings, funerals and special occasions. It's a good idea to wear something under the kilt. You can even use a pin or a special tie to make sure that the kilt stays closed even during strong wind. You can often see kilts in parades around the world. Some music bands include a kilt in their dress code. This is especially effective when the band is playing Scottish bagpipes.
Sarong is a multifunctional version of the skirt. Sarong can be called by different names, depending on where it is worn. Pareo, pakome (Thailand), lava-lava (Samoa), sulu (Fiji), kanga (Brazil), malo (Kingdom of Tonga), ki-koi (Kenya) or lungi (India) are all names for men's skirts, similar to sarong. Any piece of fabric will work for a sarong, but a real sarong always has an interesting pattern. For a sarong, it is better to choose fabrics in brown, black, green, dark orange and yellow, as bright colors look feminine. The pattern on the sarong should always be traditional ethnic, there should not be any floral motifs. With a sarong, you can wear tight-fitting T-shirts or short sleeveless shirts. Shoes with blunt toes are best for winter and sandals for summer. The sarong can be worn with a more daring option: a three-button jacket and an open-necked shirt. A thicker fabric is fine for a warm sarong, but in the summer months it is better to wear a sarong made of lighter or heavier cotton. In winter, linen trousers should be worn with a sarong, and in summer, anything.
Hakama is a type of skirt worn by samurai. There is a more modern version that bears the same name and looks almost the same, although the modern version is split in two (has legs). The samurai hakama didn't have pants. Hakama-like clothing has been traditional for warriors in many cultures.
Pants are mostly European or American clothing. Men in the rest of the world often wear skirts, kilts, dresses, or sarongs of one kind or another. Going to a foreign country, try to wear typical clothes for her and you will be pleasantly surprised. Such clothes will help you stand out from the crowd. In addition, you will not be considered a stranger, and you will be received with great hospitality.
Europe continues to delight with updated European values, we can only sigh enviously about the inaccessibility of the delights of visa-free admiring them and enjoy the pictures and reports, like that, which is lower, since new trends have not yet penetrated the masses and our ordinary tourists on the streets cannot yet see this.
However, the beginning is a dashing misfortune, once women who appeared in trousers also shocked the public, now to see a girl in a dress is rather luck, so a man's skirt and heels have a great future, watch and learn, old-fashioned Russian men ...
Kilt and cult: why European designers dress men in skirts
RIA - 12.07.17 What clothes are for a woman, for a man they are a means of combating injustice. Last month, 30 students from the academy in Devlin, UK came to class in skirts. In this extravagant way, the students protested against the ban on wearing shorts in 30-degree heat.
Shortly before this incident in another part of the UK, office worker Joey Barge showed up to work in a dress. This demarche was also a response to the company's management's ban on wearing shorts.
Not only the British saw in women's clothing a salvation from the heat and despotism of the authorities. Across the Channel, in Nantes, France, bus drivers went to work wearing skirts as part of their strike. Almost at the same time, Men's Fashion Week was taking place in Paris, where leading designers from Dior to Alexander McQueen, by agreement, supported this spontaneous flash mob and presented collections in which there were practically no gender signs. 
AP Photo / Francois Mori
Thom Browne Spring/Summer 2018 Menswear Show in Paris
The fashion industry's attempts to dress men in women's clothing did not begin yesterday.
A pioneer in this area was another Briton - stylist Ray Petrie. In the 1980s, he began to promote the image of a man in a skirt. Inspired by his work, Jean-Paul Gaultier developed this theme in his collections. He was followed by Vivienne Westwood, Dries van Noten and other eminent fashion designers.
Although men's skirts did not become a mass phenomenon, they entered the world of pop culture. From the hippies of the 60s to the shock rock of the 90s, stars used women's clothing as an outrageous element in their stage images. What are the reincarnations of David Bowie or the performances of the leader of the Nirvana group Kurt Cobain in floral dresses. In one of them, Cobain appeared on the famous cover of The Face magazine. 
AP Photo / Jacques Brinon
A model during the show of the men's collection autumn / winter 2012-2013 of the French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier
In 2003, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art opened the exhibition "Bravehearts: Men in Skirts" ("Bravehearts: Men in Skirts"). The title is a reference to famous movie with Mel Gibson, where the fearless Scots fight for independence in the traditional clothes of the highlanders - kilts. The exposition was devoted to the transformation of a skirt from a universal element of clothing, such as, for example, a toga in ancient Rome or the same kilt, into a wardrobe item clearly tied to gender.
The fastening of the label "men's clothing" to trousers occurred not so long ago - only in the middle of the 19th century. Before that, in Europe, children's clothes were not divided by gender at all. Girls and boys were dressed in tunic dresses up to the age of seven, and only then did the tradition appear to give the first trousers to the young man as a symbol of turning into a man. 
Paramount Pictures
Shot from the film "Braveheart"
The organizers of the exhibition noted that such a division historically has nothing to do with femininity or masculinity, but is only a consequence of imposed cultural associations. “Since the 1960s, with the development of subcultures and the trend towards informality, men have gained greater freedom in dressing, but still do not have access to the full variety of women's wardrobe,” said exhibition curator Andrew Bolton with regret.
Artist Viktor Sosnovtsev
Photo from the personal archive of Viktor Sosnovtsev
Fashion model, artist, Santa Claus: how to stay young at 75
The logic of designers who seek to return a man "to the roots" is simple: if a hundred years ago trousers entered the women's wardrobe, why shouldn't the skirt enter the men's wardrobe? Fashion gurus are echoed by show business stars. In 2003, actor Vin Diesel appeared at the EMAs in a leather skirt. And two years ago, the son of American actor Will Smith, Jaden, began to appear in dresses and skirts, and even starred in an advertising campaign for the Louis Vuitton women's collection.
In one of the interviews, the teenager explained it this way: “In five years, when a boy comes to school in a skirt, no one will beat him or be outraged for this. I do this so that in the future my children and the next generations consider things normal, previously considered unacceptable.
The young man was supported by rapper Young Thug, who appeared on the cover of his solo album in a dress from Italian designer Alessandro Tricone, saying that women's clothing "sits much better, like a rock star." The well-known fashionista Kanye West does not shy away from walking in spacious hoodies.
Nevertheless, it has not yet been possible to massively register a skirt in the men's wardrobe, which means that designers this season are taking risks, offering the strong half of humanity a choice between coat dresses, elongated hoodies and peplums. In their quest to break yet another stereotype and conquer a new market segment, the fashion visionaries seem to have forgotten that even the brave-hearted Scots don't wear a kilt to school or work.
RIA Novosti https://ria.ru/culture/20170712/1498304148.html
And a characteristic reader comment under the RIA material -
Andrey Fedotov
Idoras because... And they want to make everyone else like that. The children of the prophet already use them with might and main instead of donkeys - to mutual pleasure ... ;-)
For 300 years, Russia has admired Europe, its development and culture - it’s just that it looks like Europe degenerated into the very thing that I described above - and it’s time to enclose it around the perimeter with a fence - in order to localize this infection at least there ...
12.07.2017
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Everything happens gradually, not all at once, here are just the last few years of the development of men's fashion:
Look, this is 2013, Dolce Gabbana, still on the verge of decency, albeit already with a bad smell -
It's 2015, cute boy models in new clothes, latest fashion trends in the world of high fashion, here it is the harsh men's fashion -
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This is 2016-17, everyday, catwalk and urban fashion -
this is what is on the streets now, it's just still marginal -
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Here are the fashion trends in menswear for the current summer-autumn, 2017 -
But this is the trend for 2018, for those retrograde and conservative men who are not yet ready to stand on their heels and put on a dress, a compromise option for the gradual deprivation of masculinity - 
Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani and Moschino
Balmain, Dolce & Gabbana and Etro
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And, if you think that these are fruitless theoretical delights of designers, then here are pictures spied on the streets for you -
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And here is the elegant style of the men's business suit for the 2018 season, risking becoming a classic.
So why does Europe dress men in skirts and put them on heels?
And yes, the argument - "we did not see this during trips around Europe and in the offices of our European partners" - does not work.
Women's trousers were also once news and a challenge to public taste, more recently, by the way, by historical standards.
By the way, in the same France until 2013, according to the law, it was impossible to wear trousers. Such a law was adopted 200 years ago and, due to the sluggishness of officials, it could not be canceled in any way, of course, in fact, in recent decades, no one has been punished for wearing trousers, but its official abolition has occurred only now.
The wording for the repeal of the law was "incompatibility with the principles of equality between men and women"...
So why don't men start wearing skirts and heels as massively as women wear trousers? After all, we aspire to Europe with our soul and body, but true European values are dear to us, aren't we?
P.S.
All materials about eurovalues in this blog at the bottom under the post...
A PHOTO Getty Images
Tunics of the ancient Romans and harem pants of Eastern women, universal Indian sarongs and African djellaba, which are worn by men and women at the same time - these and other types of clothing show that in the world history of fashion there is no clear connection between skirts and trousers with a certain gender. It all depends on the specific place and time of action. According to the standards of our European culture of the last centuries, the appearance of a man in a skirt in public is an outright outrageous or a sign gay. Meanwhile, there are more and more such men. Why?
“This trend is not entirely new,” says culturologist Olga Vainshtein. - Remember the French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier's Une garde-robe pour deux collection with men's skirts - this was in 1985. In 2003-2004, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted the famous exhibition “Bravehearts. Men in skirts "(" Daredevils: men in skirts "). But, of course, in the last two years, the number of men's collections with details women's clothing significantly increased, moreover, this fashion began to actively move into life.
Celebrities are increasingly appearing in dresses and skirts on the red carpet or socially significant events. Among them are 18-year-old Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith, actors Jared Leto, Van Diesel, rapper Kanye West. And of course, the most famous fan of the kilt, skirts, sundresses and other women's wardrobe items is the American fashion designer, creator of his own brand Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs.
What social changes does this trend indicate?
Ekaterina Orel, psychologist:
Partly about desire modern men understand women better. After all, disputes about the social role, rights and opportunities of women in society do not stop, on the contrary. On the one hand, trainings “wear skirts and serve your man” became more active, and on the other hand, a powerful wave of discussions of family and sexual violence, women’s interest in traditionally male professions ... And it seems to me that the fashion for men’s skirts is a kind of continuation of this conversation . AT English language there is a good expression - standing in my shoes (literally "to stand in my shoes"), denoting the acceptance of the opinion, situation, ideas of another person. Fashion designers literally force men to try on the role of a woman with all its features, advantages and limitations.
Olga Weinstein, culturologist:
I perceive this trend primarily as part of a general trend towards the destruction of conventions and cultural stereotypes in fashion. In this row - protest campaigns against photoshop, the appearance on the podium obese women, people with handicapped, older models. And in a narrower sense, this trend is described by the concept of "gender-bending", which means the expansion, softening of the rigid boundaries of gender. Today, the convergence of roles, the feminization of men and the emancipation of women are taking place at various levels. Women are becoming more powerful and successful. In the English-speaking world, there is the concept of "empowerment of women", which means strengthening the positions and opportunities of women, increasing their self-confidence. And men, on the contrary, are increasingly demonstrating softness and femininity - remember the type of metrosexual that appeared in the early 2000s, and at the same time new principles of male self-care, self-care came into fashion.
Skirt - a sign of masculinity?
On the one hand, the process of feminization of men is becoming a serious problem today. The loss of their identity by men devoted a separate book to the classic social psychology Philip Zimbardo 1 . " C Are modern boys failing academically, socially, and sexually, and are women under the age of 30 outperforming men in both education and earnings? - emphasizes Philip Zimbardo. “Harmony between man and woman is increasingly disturbed. In order to restore gender balance, it is necessary that the right to raise issues of equality is also given to the man.”
In this regard, the development of skirts and dresses by men - good sign trying to restore balance. Indeed, women have been wearing trousers since the beginning of the last century, so why do men still have to separate clothes into men's and women's?
Designer Marc Jacobs
But fashion trend there is another angle. “Like any phenomenon in the postmodern world, men's skirts carry a double message: in many ways they emphasize the masculinity of their wearer,” says psychologist Ekaterina Orel. - After all, the first association with a man's skirt is a kilt, the clothes of mountaineers, who have an aura of courage and aggressiveness in Western culture. Therefore, putting on a skirt, a man, on the one hand, tries on female image, and on the other hand, it declares its strength and superiority, emphasizing the connection with the image of a warlike highlander.
“Men in skirts look quite masculine,” confirms Olga Weinstein. – Let us recall at least the ancient Roman soldiers in short tunics. Or, for example, a black leather skirt, coarse men's boots, stubble on the face and muscular male arms - this combination creates a rather brutal image.
One way or another, the loosening of cultural stereotypes and gender boundaries, their relativity is obvious. This is facilitated by the process of globalization. “Bloom pants, traditionally oriental clothing, are becoming fashionable all over the world, sarongs are worn not only by people from Southeast Asia, but also by Europeans, David Beckham, for example, loves them,” reminds Olga Weinstein. - That is, of course, we can talk about the rapprochement of the East with the West and the expansion of cultural borrowings. The emergence of transgender models - men and women who change their sex in a surgical way - testifies to the loosening of stereotypes.
1 F. Zimbardo, N. Colombe “A man in isolation: Games, porn and the loss of identity” (the book is published in August 2016 by Alpina Publisher).
