No skirting a tradition
THE bearded TV actor Johnny Sibilly complained about feeling intimidated by disapproving glances from female shop assistants while trying on skirts.
All the looks were of approval, however, as he wriggled into numerous dresses for the web- series Drag Babies. Now he shops at New York’s genderless fashion outlet Phluid.
The futuristic unisex fashions premiered in the ’ 60s had a one- way androgyny. When Star Trek introduced miniskirts as a unisex uniform it lasted only three episodes.
Now “men in skirts” has become a political or fashion statement. English schoolboys, Swedish train drivers and French bus drivers donned dresses protesting a ban on shorts in a heatwave. Senator Bernardi and an Adelaide mother protested gender morphing when schoolboys were required to wear dresses for the charity fundraiser One Girl.
The Met and Victoria & Albert museums did Braveheart exhibitions demonstrating, historically or globally, male skirts are not a new phenomenon. Culturally it had nothing to do with eroded masculinity, autogynephilia, transgender or cross dressing.
From ancient civilisations to modern national costumes, skirts have been embraced as standard or traditional dress, from the tunic and sarong to the kimono and kaftan.
A more controversial garment of male attire is not a Jean Paul Gaultier creation sported by David Beckham, but the Scottish kilt.
The legendary fighting ability of particular clans gave birth to the adage “A man in a kilt is worth a man and a half”.
Much of the history associated with the tartan kilt is myth. Macbeth wore neither tartan nor a kilt, although Macbeth tartan is big business. Recent research claims Braveheart wore a saffron yellow skirt.
The costume designer of The Outlanders had to pander to expectations rather than accurately reflect archaeological realism. Jamie Fraser carefully folds his clan great kilt under the adoring eyes of his time- traveller wife.
The then British Parliament banned kilts from 1746 to 1782. The Mavis Bramston Show in the ’ 60s had a skit with two Scotsmen making disparaging remarks about transvestites only to be revealed in kilts.
As far as male outer garments are concerned the cassock may yet become the most controversial. WILLIAM ROSS,
Cranbrook.