Gone Quiet

[yardstick]

"Gone Quiet" I would argue that this is actually what we want. We want men to be able to go about their business in a skirt and get no push back from society and the normal population in the street.

Agreed, the sooner its not a novelty the better as its not just the push backs but also the self consciousness of being "different" that is stopping the majority from trying skirts.
Personally I'm still not fully out there but little by little my confidence is growing helped massively by not getting sarchastic comments when pushing myself a little further.

[Stu]

On 1st August, I started this thread and said "Am I imagining it, or has the progress to accept men wearing skirt stalled? We don't seem to be hearing much about it in the media these days, even among fashionistas and there are few stories in the press relating to it. Is this a temporary lull? "

That was nearly six months ago and, from what I have seen, the lull continues. A couple of years ago, we were regularly seeing men and boys in skirts in the media, or on catwalks, but it's all dried up. When was the last time there was a story showing progress? Does the change of political climate in Europe and the US have something to do with this? Have we won the battle - or have we hit a brick wall? Where do we go next?

[Seb]

I think it probably just lost media interest, not generating the clicks they want which means it's non news for the public. That is a good sign in my book!

[Coder]

I think it probably just lost media interest, not generating the clicks they want which means it's non news for the public. That is a good sign in my book!

I'm of this opinion too. "Man in skirt? pfft, that's so 20th century."

I also see a lot of support on Instagram from commenters when men dress outside of the box - they aren't controversial anymore which I think is a hopeful sign.

Lastly - I think we've seen a diminishing excitement over "non-binary" - the novelty wore off and with that out go the news articles focusing on it. This last bit is my uneducated opinion, though. I'm not saying people are no longer committed to nb status - but this is the time where we find out if it was just a fad or a human condition.

[Stu]

I think it probably just lost media interest, not generating the clicks they want which means it's non news for the public. That is a good sign in my book!

You could be right. We still see very small steps - including for boys as this dress by Primary.com shows:

Screenshot 2025-01-22 at 14.36.16.png

Stu

[Modoc]

On 1st August, I started this thread and said "Am I imagining it, or has the progress to accept men wearing skirt stalled? Have we won the battle - or have we hit a brick wall? Where do we go next?

Stu, I understand what you mean and agree that MIS has lost the big MO (momentum) with regards to becoming a movement that sees many men opt for our kind of fashion freedom. I won't even speculate as to why since my whole perception of human motivation has taken a considerable beating as of late. I wouldn't say the battle is won or lost because I'm unsure who the enemy is. I lean toward the idea that skirts for men don't get much traction because men just aren't ready to step out and try it, or those who want to just can't summon the fortitude to do so. Next, as far as I'm concerned is that those of us who wear skirts continue to do so and when possible encourage any we encounter who just might want to give it a go.
As for me, I'm glad that this community exists because even though it's relatively tiny it reassures me that I am not alone.
$.02
Modoc

[crfriend]

I'd not say that we've "hit a brick wall", but would posit that we've hit a patch of quicksand that we need to extricate ourselves from. It mainly depends on where the edges of the patch are.

The "enemy" is blatantly visible before us, and that is the sort of reactionary that would damn us to Hell for not adhering to their medieval notions of what men should be. This has been made clearly and plainly visible in the United States thanks to some recent dictates from our recently-reinstalled Fuhrer.

[Grok]

Not sure that would be much point in journalists discussing MIS now. How many times can you discuss the basic idea-after multiple articles over the years-before that topic is done to death?

[Barleymower]

Not sure that would be much point in journalists discussing MIS now. How many times can you discuss the basic idea-after multiple articles over the years-before that topic is done to death?

Yes it is done to death. The discussion over MIS is limited and never taken seriously as an option. However imagine a world where it really happened. Humanity could take a new direction.

[denimini]

I think gone quiet is good. How many articles do we see about men wearing pants?
The acceptance of men wearing skirts is just a small segment of freedom of choice of clothing.
To me the challenge is over and I am here now to give support to others starting off as was so valuable
to myself.
I know that it may not be so easy in all countries.

[Stu]

Interesting responses and when I ask "have we won?", that begs the question as to what winning would look like? And do we care about winning or are we all happy to just do our own thing? I would say we have won a number of battles, but not yet the war. I say that because I will think we have won when:

1. a man will go to buy a men's suit and we are asked whether he would like one with trousers, skirt of shift dress.

2. for those men who wear uniforms or corporate dress for work, they have the same options as female staff.

3. we could walk into virtually any clothing retailer or supermarket that sells clothes and there are skirts on the menswear rails.

4. it is commonplace for boys to wear skirts for school and summer dresses in warm weather

5. youngsters are amused when we tell them that, when we were their age, any man who wore a skirt would be considered to have been crossdressing or trans, just as when it was unheard of for women to wear trousers.


We are clearly not there yet, but progress has been made. We can see that by the fact that I can go onto Amazon and type in men's skirt or unisex skirt, and we can see examples modelled by men. I showed an example of a boy modelling a dress at primary.com above, and many primary and secondary schools have had the odd case of boys turning up in a uniform skirt of dress. It is unusual but certainly no longer an aberration to see a man in a busy public place wearing a skirt. These would have been unthinkable a few short years ago. My concern now is that this progress may have stalled and, if it has, we will end up going backwards. Some UK firms that had dipped their toes in the men-in-skirts water a couple of years ago (H&M, Adidas, Levis, Zara) seem to have abandoned that - perhaps because they were left with unsold stock.

I am not sure where we are going.

[denimini]

I am not sure where we are going.

So long as we can each choose what we want to wear, it does not matter what others prefer or what fashion and the market dictates.

[Mouse]

I think we are in a golden place in time in the UK. It is unremarkable now to see a man in a skirt on the street, but on the other hand you are an interesting person with style if you are out in a skirted outfit.

The other day I saw a man with a marvellous mohawk. It was bright red with black tips standing at lease 4 inches high from his forehead to his neck. He was just minding his own business on a tube train as I was in my skirt. We had both made choices which made us interesting, but we were both going about our life without a problem from the many other people on the tube.

I think we now have choice, but it requires confidence and bottle to take that choice. I guess the guy in the mohawk may get push back in some work spaces, however one site I work on, has a main contractor who has a small black mohawk going on, where I am at work in a toned down skirt outfit.

Looking back, I remember when I first started wearing a bush hat. There were no gender issues to worry about, but I was still making a choice which was not normal. I had my hair loss/headaches reason to wear a hat, but to the person in the street, I was just making a style choice. Sometimes I get asked about my "Cowboy" hat and where's my horse....it's a bush hat from Australia....shouldn't it have corks?....

[denimini]

Mouse, tell them that they are called stockmen in Australia and that you would not be wearing a skirt if you were riding a horse. Also there are no flies around hence you don't need corks.
The stockmen I know have taller hats which with your height and heels would be knocked off in wvery doorway.

[Sepchugang]

I think we are in a golden place in time in the UK. It is unremarkable now to see a man in a skirt on the street.

What does seem remarkable is that you rarely see a woman in a skirt on the street now either. It may be because it is winter but in a carriage on the underground the other day there were six women of various ages (not in a group but individual passengers). They were all wearing blue Levi jeans. Today I went for lunch in a nearby pub and I was the only one in a skirt. All the women and all the other men were in trousers. We now may seem ‘strange’ to others not because we are MIS but simply because we are wearing a skirt.