A man in a skirt is an image which many fashion designers tried to portray. Throughout fashion history we have seen many attempts but it never sticked and reached the consumer. Which is strange, thinking that the trousers actually don’t exist that long as the typical daily male attire. But today I think the image of a man in skirt is getting more and more accepted by the crowd. So can we say we are on the verge of seeing more men skirts in our street image?
Brief history of the skirt
In Greece the skirt symbolized virility and youth, as does the Scottish kilt. The kilt is actually an English invention as the tartan robes the Scottish men wore, weren’t practical in battle. Thinking that the robes existed out of long pieces of cloth wrapped around the body. If you think you have to fight for your life, you don’t want to wear gear that falls of your body easily. Because of this same practicality the kilt design was adopted.
The roman and greek daily male attire wasn’t that much different from the female attire. We all imagine the Greek and Roman people wearing toga like robes. Today still in some cultures in Africa, Asia, and Oceania the pants doesn’t exist in their traditional costume.
Trouser an item of combat
Trousers were invented as robes weren’t that comfortable on horseback. And in battle those who wore trousers often had the upper hand. Mainly for this reason the trouser was adopted by many civilizations all over the world to survive battle. So we actually can say that the trouser had mostly a military purpose.
Masculinity
So knowing now about the history of the skirt and trousers, we definitely can say that men were wearing skirts way longer than trousers. But why don’t we see the image of men in skirts in our daily street fashion? Here is why; Since the 19th century the skirt got strictly banned as a male garment as it didn’t fit the concept of masculinity, a moralistic criteria imposed by Christianity. So it is actually religion that wiped out the skirts for men as it was not found masculine enough. Why is not known to us, an image of men in skirts was seen for centuries but was no longer accepted.
We find this remarkable, as the christian religious attires are mostly long robe like flowy shirts and sometimes combined with lace depending on the position you have in the Catholic Church. Now why would we find this image masculine? I personally don’t have a clue.
The image of a man in a skirt or in a feminine outfit is still for so many people in today’s society a strange picture. Well I think it is time to change this thought. Of course it will not happen overnight and perhaps it will take years for it to be fully accepted in the street style image. But for now if we don’t set in the change for sure nothing will happen. People, it is time to change our perspective on men in skirts!
What does Haruco-vert contribute in this change
Our mission is that we believe that by reimagining fashion we can inspire others to be more (self)conscious. By saying this we actually mean to give the viewer a new perspective on fashion. All our collections are made for people who dare to make a statement, regardless of age, size or gender(identity). We believe it is very important that people can safely be themselves. This said we also believe it is important to support the men in skirts community. And by actually put skirts on the fashion market for men is how we do it! Currently we have 3 unisex skirt designs out and they will be the first of many. We are actually proud to say that these skirts are one of our best sold items!
