Un homme bien dans ses jupes !

Why men need to wear skirts and women should let them do (cliquer)

Posted on July 16, 2017 by KeyaDesign

This title sounds a bit extreme – actually I am not the one to prescribe anyone what he or she should wear. But last week I posted a photo of am men’s collection with mini skirts and high heels on both my blog and private facebook page and got very funny comments. Therefore I thought writing a bit more about what actually was just an inspiring picture at first sight. So this lead me to the question why it is time for men to wear skirts. And time for women to accept it.

So to make it clear I am not talking about kilts. A kilt is actually the most menly piece of clothing to me. Whereas short trousers is the last piece of clothing a man should choose to impress me. The discussions were triggered by a photo of five outfits of the spring collection 2018 for men from Thom Browne. First comment I got was “Ridiculous” by a friend of mine. According to her opinion a kilt were ok but a skirt and especially with high shoes is a no-go for men. A man in a skirt is unmenly.

But why is that so? It may be that I read more into it because I am a trained fashion designer. So I just tried to explain why I liked it – I guess I failed because the next post of a former colleague was: “Bullshit”. So here I will try to do it again. I did not share the outfits because I want i.e. my husband to wear them. Most of all I like them because I expected those reactions above.

Just clothing – or “Fine feathers make the bird”?

For most people fashion is “just clothing”. But every single piece starts as an idea and especially haute couture is more textile art than wearable clothing. And one thing art always wanted to do is to hold up the mirror to society. I am lucky to say that I live in a country where men and women are equal to law – at least in the theory.

In my whole life I never was hold back just because of being female. Despite being a mother of two son I work fulltime and because of my high level of education my income makes more than the half of our family income. My husband also works fulltime which is possible because of a good infrastructure and our parents living next door to us. My surname became our family name. So behind a strong woman there is a strong man.

Though we are happy with our life people often confront us with society’s antiquated roles. People mocking my husband why he took my name. People telling me I should have stayed home the first three years after giving birth. And guess what – we are grown up, we can deal with it. But as a mother of two sons I cannot stand those roles affecting my sons.

Few years ago my oldest son came two me and showed me he had “accidently” tried my nail polish. While I found it funny and adorable that he tried it out my husband feared what could happen if another child in school had sawn it. And I cannot say that this did not come to my mind. Furthermore this reveals we got stuck somewhere in emancipation.

What is about gender equality for men who want to change?

We cannot emancipate women while forgetting men. And more than men women hold back each other. Gender equality means to me we can live the life we want to chose – whether being male or female. When a mother wants to stay at home with her child it is her decision. But if she wants to work – it is ok either. Both concepts have difficulties and instead of supporting each other mothers sometimes mock one another.

And do not forget men. I am amused when I have to answer questions like “Where are your children while you are working?” in interviews. While my husband has never been asked where the children stay over the day. Rather he lost a job once because he had to stay at home with a two year old having chickpocks. So where is gender equality for men? My husband did not have one employer in the last 8 years who understood the needs of a family with equal parents.

So why are women wearing trousers while men in skirts are considered to be “unmenly”?

Though I am always a bit jealous of the easy business dresscode for men I am glad to be a woman. Wearing skirts, dresses and trousers when I like to wear them is real freedom. And it is my decision to chose between comfortable sneakers or sexy but more inconvenient high heels. So this is what I want in the future for my sons. Being who they are and being allowed to express it through styling and fashion. If my son wants to wear a skirt he should wear it – without anyone saying it is “ridiculous” or “bullshit”. Or calling him unmanly or worse. In my opinion everone has active and passive attitudes within his or her personality we just call male or female attitudes. Everyone should have the right to express himself freely.

I do not think my friends meant to harm anyone by this comments though. But it shows we have still a long way to go to real gender equality.