I can wear a dress to work and nobody criticizes me. I’d be really sad if I had to wear pants all the time, they’re just not as comfortable. Let’s normalize pretty dresses for dudes!
Yea, but let’s design some to work on male bodies. Dresses are generally built for female body shapes, and rely on curves most guys just don’t have in order to complete the shape - so we end up looking like Graveyard Barbie in them.
Guys tend to be a lot more oblong, and the overall design would need a rethink in order to actively work with that shape, instead of unsuccessfully trying to compensate for it.
No, I don’t know how to do this.
I was a slutty nun for Halloween and looking cute in a skirt is definitely possible, but man does it take a lot of work to find anything that fits decently. Dresses are simply impossible to find of course because, as you said, the shape is not at all made for men.
Also that outfit made me want to go full f1nn5ter and dress up in feminine clothes all the time lol. It’s so much fun! I’m so down for people to figure out how to make the shape work for masculine body shapes.
I was a slutty nun for Halloween
Just don’t make it a habit.
I don’t know if I could keep that vow.
TBH, I would rather be a slutty nun than a slutty priest.
You better, unless you want to hurt your temples
We needn’t worry, my cloister is hardened.
Dudes in parts of Africa and the Middle East have already got it figured out. Djellabas look fantastic on most men. I’d love to see more people wearing them.
My first thought when I read op was that trousers are a relative new development.
The Romans made fun of the Gauls for wearing them.
So if you decide to wear traditional Roman dress, trousers shouldn’t be included.
But it’s still designed for men.
Pretty cool how the Romans just took a good idea from a more primitive culture. Guess there wasn’t anyone around to scream about cultural appropriation.
The Romans calling the Gauls primitive is a bit like the British calling the Americans primitive.
True, but for Gods sake don’t look in the mirror.
Took me a while to figure you were referring to native americans, not the current 'muricans
Wait, what? No!
Yeah, well, I’m sorry, but yes viewing the current Merkins as stupidly violent savages is a thing on this side of the Atlantic.
We Europeans on the other hand would never attack someone without reason.
We’ve always had reasons, usually some variation of wanting their possesion for ourselves.
And warning: This post contains sarcasm.
Are you British? This sick sarcastic humor is so British, and I love it!
More like Robes than Dresses, maybe? Could start with some Indian or Middle Eastern fashions as a starting point…
Yeah, a men’s salwar kameez would make a damn good start, but I don’t want to limit it…
Love my khurta
That does involve pants though. I think something like a sarong is what they were referring to.
It wouldn’t be that hard, I think. Just make it more square on top and drop the accentuating part from the waist to either halfway between the belly button and hips or all the way to the hips. Or you could raise it to chest height and have a long, straight bottom part, more robe-ish.
You’re coming dangerously close to re-inventing the kilt
A lot of Muslim men wear what appear to me to be long white skirts, especially in the middle east and north Africa where wearing a flowing, loose garment that reflects lots of light is a practical measure for staying cool. I think it’s called a Kandora?
My point is that such garments DO exist, they just aren’t common in the west because of western views of male gender norms and Islam.
Agreed! There are a few enterprising designers out there with cool menswear dresses, but it’s still super niche.
Got a link?
I’ve seen Billy Porter in a gown or two. I’d add a link but not sure how to do that in Voyager / wefwef yet.
Honestly, one thing I hate about being biologically male is that men’s clothes all look so goddamn generic.
Oh, you’re wearing a suit. It’s. A suit. I guess. They all look the same.
You’re wearing jeans. And a t-shirt. And they all look basically the same.
Khakis and a polo? You madlad. Well, you and everybody else at the country club. Who all look exactly the fucking same.
The thing that really gets me is, it didn’t used to be this way. You look at pictures of people in paintings and whatnot and men had some wild shit going on. There was variety, if somewhat less, even into the early 20th. But… seriously tell me if I’m wrong here… it feels like we got to WWII and men’s fashion just stopped. Like an entire generation of men put on uniforms and eighty years later we still haven’t completely taken them off.
They don’t ALL look the same. It’s just that the stuff that actually looks non-generic are either super expensive or super uncomfortable.
Or, just bad. There’s nothing generic about Ed Hardy. Most people elect to look generic rather than be caught dead in that mess.
True that! I have some awesome looking denim pants, that are literally painted with colorful paint. I always get compliments from both men and women when I wear them. I also got them basically for free at the store, since no one were buying them.
But, they’re about as comfortable as you would expect denim pants painted with thick paint to be: stiff and scratchy.
or make you look like a stand user
Mainstream clothes for sure, but I feel the same way about mainstream women’s clothes. Waist high jeans, an inoffensively colored top and a vest or blazer. Switch out the jeans for beige linen pants in the summer. Yawn. If you want inspiration for some more interesting clothes in general but men in particular, you gotta look to non-mainstream subcultures. Especially ones that don’t give shit about gender. I hung out with hippies for years and men and women alike are dressed in cool, colorful and interesting clothes. Both genders wear pants, dresses, and skirts. It heavily inspired my style and believe me, I stand out a lot among other women. If you want more variety you have got to look further than what’s mainstream. Because that’ll always trend towards boring and basic.
Even mainstream clothes are better in the woman’s section. I was in Peacocks (fairly small cheap clothes shop - you can see most of what they’ve got by standing near the centre) and you can just tell where the men’s clothes are by the sea of dull, boring shades with not a single thing showing any sign of colour at all, like the brightness is turned down to 1 on the telly. The style differences are minimal. Even the material is just awful scratchy fabric for the most part. Look over to the woman’s section and it’s a sea of colour, many more different styles (not that many, as I said, this is a small cheap shop), and if you touch anything it’s instantly noticeable that the material is much better quality, softer. I don’t get woman who wear men’s clothes - why would you put yourself through that?
There is more variety for sure, but my point kinda was that most people, men and women, don’t really make full use of the variety there is. Almost everyone dresses kinda dull. Women have easier access to special and colorful clothes than men (although the latter can definitely find some if they look for it) and they do use it a slightly more but actually interesting clothing takes a little willingness to stand out that most people simply do not have. Maybe it’s different in other countries though - where I live conformity and not standing out is woven into every aspect of our culture.
What does this have to do with being biologically male?
Aren’t males born wearing cargo shorts and a blue polo?
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. I think what we should do is learn how to sew. I already bought a sewing machine but I haven’t had time to learn how to use it. Hopefully I will be able to learn the basics in the few work-free days I will have in the summer. My point being, we (men) need to take fashion into our own hands and start designing what we want to wear.
I (woman) have been learning to sew for a while mostly due to the indignity of never having pockets unless I put them in myself. But I also took the plunge and made my husband a novelty Christmas shirt last year and honestly even though it seemed like it would be terrifying it was surprisingly straightforward! Now he can have all the ridiculous colorful shirts he wants.
Basically I’m saying yes, learn to sew, it’s bloody brilliant.
Thanks for sharing your story. Now I’m more excited to learn how to sew
Not sure about other places but most women around here wear clothes that are mostly the same as well it’s not exclusive to “masculine” clothes
Tbh, I just want to blend in… but of course be as pompous as you want!
A few summers ago I brought up the idea that men should be allowed to wear shorts to the office if women can wear dresses and my boss literally laughed in my face. We work in a small-ish office and are not client facing so who tf cares what we wear? A while later they made a whole big deal about us being allowed to wear jeans to the office ever day (vs only on Fridays) you could hear a pin drop at the staff meeting. It was painful but satisfying to watch. Fuck those assholes…
If the corporate policy doesn’t explicitly require you to wear pants (or prohibit shorts), then just go ahead and wear em I reckon, they can’t fire you for wearing shorts.
they can’t fire you for wearing shorts.
True, but they can disrespect you for failing to fit in with the corporate culture. Honestly, I’d rather be fired.
There are plenty of workplaces where you can wear “whatever you want”, and I’m happy to work at one of those… But the clothes you choose to wear still has consequences. I can totally turn up to work in a full suit/tie/etc if I want. But I’d stick out like a sore thumb.
At least if men wore more skirts and dresses then manufacturers would add pockets.
Real talk.
And why shouldn’t you get pockets, after all it is your garment.
My wife wears (almost) exclusively skirts or dresses when she is out and about. She refuses to own any without pockets.
Always thought this guy was a boss!
Bring back the kilt!
Pants are optional when entering my house however underwear is mandatory lol.
A lot of comments here are not wrong. Men’s clothing in general doesn’t have a lot of variety. 4 different colors of the same style shirt or more doesn’t count as variety. Look in a big box clothing store and you’ll see that the women’s section is almost always 2 to nearly 3x larger.
I have 4 kilts and wear them to work when I want to, almost as a dare to management so I can retire off a lawsuit. Utilikilts and Verillas have great kilts with pockets for workin’ men that like a pretty skirt.
Wear whatever the hell you want, right? Screw genders and made up rules around them.
Gender Abolitionism/Accelerationism ✊😤
Right? I’m on this train. Hell if you want to be naked do it. But hell…being naked is uncomfortable and impractical.
Yes. But. Not sexual nudity. Nudity is fine in itself, but the fact that most people see it as sexually explicit, sexually suggestive, or an actual sexual activity, is the problem. Consciously I am for this, but subconsciously I’d still react to nudity as sexual (as most other people), because I’ve not yet encountered enough non-sexual nudity to get used to it. It’s like going to a beach - at first it’s “niiice sexy bodies”, but on the second day it’s like “meh, people making it hard to get to the water”. It’s the novelty.
Yeah so true! Go to some festivals or a nude beach!
renormalize tunics
The Romans saw the Gaulic northerners as savages because they wore pants rather than the esteemed and unfettered skirts and robes
An elegant garment, for a more civilized age
Some workmates and I petitioned our boss for the return of 70’s office shorts over the course of one hot summer, to no avail.70s? Those are just summer work clothes in Australia.
Oh man I wish, I was stuck in shoe length cotton blend for three years of my life and I dreaded February coming around
But they’re so classy and adorable! Your boss is a monster.
I can barely contain myself
That what happens when the shorts are too short
There were so many adventurous men’s fashions in the 70s - I like watching old shows like Columbo partly because of that. It feels like we lost a lot going into the 80s and beyond in that respect - I’m glad to see men trying more diverse clothing now.
Those are some ridiculously short shorts, especially on the left. How is he not hanging out the bottom?
Don’t get me started on shorts. Modern shorts which go down to the knee - what’s the point?!
Those only work if you also have the 1970s sexual-predator combover and/or pornstache as well as a The Mask necktie.
But I like my pants…
I may be in the minority on this, but I wear pants to work every day, even in the summer, and it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. I just like wearing my jeans, and if anything, I’ve gotten more flak from friends about not wearing shorts enough
My boss made it very clear that while the pictures in our dress code handbook are of the general gender stereotypes, doesn’t mean we are holding people to that. As long as you are business casual it doesn’t matter how you represent.
I’m cool with pants. It’s one less thing to worry about, not having my crotch exposed or readily available.
Plus, if I fall, my legs are more protected
