Photos by Jon Cope
If you are a man, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, I would like to issue a challenge: Wear a skirt for one day.
This is an experiment that asks, “What is manhood?” and why does wearing a skirt reflect upon one’s masculinity? In theory this task should be quite simple, but as I posed this challenge to many of my more open-minded and progressively thinking male friends, it proved to be laden with complexities.
I was elated when I met Tyler Holt, a white, straight, cisgendered male, at a party one night. I told him about this challenge and what it meant to me. A few days later, he and his girlfriend, Emily, were fervently looking through my closet as we sought to style him.
Holt’s final look can be viewed below, and the images of several other men who participated in this experiment appear above. These are males of varying sexual orientations and identities. They all show that men can be playful with their wardrobe and still be secure in their manhood.
“I wanted to see what it was like,” Holt says. “I consider myself a pretty open guy, and I don’t worry much about what the general public thinks about me.”
But many expressed reservations. The root issue seems to be feeling uncomfortable wearing a skirt casually around town, mostly due to societal constraints. Even Holt, who wore one of my skirts out on an all-day Richmond excursion the following weekend, confessed to having an “overall illuminating experience,” as he relished in the increase of ventilation and navigated the more subtle differences in how to carry oneself in a skirt. But he had concerns about parking close to his construction site, where his co-workers might see him, and admitted he would save skirt-wearing more for going out than wearing around during the day.
The 2003 Met Gala exhibition “Bravehearts: Men in Skirts” (Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
What is society’s hang-up with men in skirts? In 2003, Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City, curated an exhibition entitled “Bravehearts: Men in Skirts.” The book that goes with the exhibition explores in detail the history of men in skirts throughout time and in different cultures, to “dispel the myth that the skirt is an exclusively female garment.” There are examples of powerful and prolific males throughout history in nonbifurcated garments, next to images of designs by Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and others who have showcased the beauty of men in skirts throughout their collections.
As I see more examples of men, especially straight men, such as NBA basketball players Jordan Clarkson and Russell Westbrook, who have been wearing Thom Browne’s male skirt suits as of late, I see them as examples of warrior heroes broadening the scope of masculinity and supporting the idea of self-understanding through clothes.
This is a pivotal point in time to expand the notion of masculinity and integrate with a higher sense of self. We as men can stand to experiment with more examples of what it means to explore fashion in the same way women have been borrowing from the male wardrobe for centuries.
For those who opt not to wear skirts, consider this a practice in empathy. Support others in their quest to understand themselves. As Holt shows, you don’t have to be gender nonconforming or queer to be excited or curious about how all clothes make you feel.
Photo by Jon Cope
Creating a Look
Construction worker Tyler Holt sports a spaghetti-strap maxi dress printed with small red and light blue paisley-esque flowers with two slits on the side hems. To balance the strong femininity of the dress, it was paired with his red construction hat and boots inspired by Prada’s Monolith collection.
Jon Cope supports Richmond’s fashion and nonprofit communities as a stylist, educator and interior designer.
