This article first appeared on theage.com.au
Additional images: style.com
Menswear is in a tizz over skirts again. Despite howls of protest, key celebrities are flaunting “manskirts” and more than the usual radical sprinkle appeared on runways in London, Milan and Paris at last month’s Spring 2015 menswear shows.
Not surprisingly, the trend is polarising fashion followers – again; “Leave this one to the ladies,” says Sydney menswear designer Brent Wilson. But, “Why not?” counters a typical commenter on US-based Facebook page Let Men Wear Skirts.
It’s not the first time manskirts have ruffled conservative male feathers. Skirts have flounced in and out of menswear since French designer Jacques Esterel proposed a kilt-bottomed business suit in 1966 and later, Jean Paul Gaultier showed the first of many frock-like options in his “And God Created Man” collection in 1985. But, as quickly as manskirts appear on fashion’s fringe, usually flapping around the hairy legs of rockstars and radicals such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Robbie Williams, fashion greats Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen, and that league-of-his-own soccer Adonis David Beckham, they’re shoved right back out by conservative masculine culture.
Too sissy? Too bloody right, is the average bloke’s response to anything frocklike. Until now.
A new generation of young men is reportedly more comfortable with their masculinity and its so-called feminine side than at any time since 1966. The reasons are complex and probably involve the rise and normalisation of gay culture, as well as multiculturalism and the metrosexual man. But, whatever the cause, the effect is obvious.
Manskirts are no big deal for these young blokes; just another cool wardrobe option. Pop stars Justin Beiber and Austin Mahone, and 15 year old Jaden Smith, precocious son of Wil, are regularly listed among the most influential of young celebrities for this teen generation. Their nonchalance about menswear’s voluminous skirt-like garments is obvious in every paparazzi snap. Often their “skirts” are actually oversized tops, or the kind of skirt-like garments quickly becoming fashion counterpoints, especially on European runways and streets, for menswear’s decade-long trend of lean tailoring and slim silhouettes.
Bieber, Mahone, Smith and their generation grew up in dropped-crotch pants, sagging, oversized T-shirts and sloppy skatewear. For them, it’s a small step to fashion’s new volumes; oversized, raglan sleeve Tees and singlets, graphic patterned frock-coats, manskirts and knee-shorts gathered so generously the low crotch is hidden to resemble a skirt. Groundbreaker menswear brands including Agi & Sam, Givenchy, Rick Owens, Dolce & Gabbana and many others showed these manskirts and skirt-like garments for spring 2015.
It’s true, however, that menswear trends move at a notoriously glacial pace. Any change is met with resistance and new looks evolve painfully slowly. In the past two years for instance, many high profile early adopters of the manskirt, particularly those older than Smith’s generation, have borne the brunt of this menswear phenomenon.
Rapper Kanye West, for example, whipped up controversy with his now infamous black Givenchy leather manskirt. Media and fans who saw him wearing it in a 2012 concert were polarised by their “hot” and “not” opinions. West was defiant about the protesters at first, but crumbled when a fellow rapper ridiculed him with sissy-boy insults. He reportedly requested that all photos of him wearing the skirt be erased.
Jared Leto. Photo: Getty/theage.com.au
Other influential male celebrities however, continue to frock on. Bugger the detractors. Diddy, Jared Leto, Vin Diesel, actor Omar Epps and others have been snapped recently in manskirts styled with ruched trousers underneath, or boxer boots, plimsoles, chunky high tops. The look is right for the Zeitgeist. Many others have also swapped trousers, on special occasions, for the less controversial Scottish kilt.
Could this be the seed of an evolution (menswear evolves too slowly for revolutions) that will see manskirts swinging on the same racks as tailored trousers in two, five, or 10 years? Or, is it another flash in the fashion pan, as predicted by Brent Wilson: “I’m an advocate for people embracing their own sense of style,” he says, “But, I’m also quite old fashioned…unless it’s part of your heritage or religion, leave this one to the ladies. (It’s) another fad that has come and gone and been on the runways and celebrities many times before.”
Janice Breen Burns, jbb@voxfrock.com.au
