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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle

Time to drop the taboo around men’s skirts

Row of kilts
‘I have about 14 kilts in my closet now,’ says Kevin Hendryx. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

As the writer indicates, male celebrities wearing skirts to events is different from the average man wearing one day to day (So you’d never wear a skirt in public? Men, you don’t know what you’re missing, 3 January). This is usually ignored by the fashion magazines that occasionally try to promote the wearing of them. However, this article – with its positive tone – got it right and gave me the final push that I needed.

So, that evening, I walked through the West End of London wearing a grey utility kilt (heavy fabric, knee length and with pockets), dark red tights (it was cold, I was worried about a strong breeze, and, apparently, they’re on trend), Dr Martens and a leather jacket. I got a few glances, but no one said anything, and it was nowhere near as intimidating as I thought it might be. It was fun wearing something so different from the ubiquitous trousers and enjoying the small buzz of breaking a convention, even if it was about as conventionally masculine a look as wearing a skirt can be.

I won’t say that it gave me a better understanding of how a woman or a non-binary person feels when challenging a patriarchal society. But what I do know is that it would be my female friends who would be most supportive of me wearing a skirt. Rather than me standing up for feminism, it will be feminists standing up for me.
Andrew
London

• I find it hard to fathom a feature article about men wearing “skirts” that paid no attention whatsoever to the traditional (and resurgent) Scottish tartan kilt, worn for centuries by soldiers, aristocrats, crofters, as fancy dress and as casual hiking gear. I have about 14 in my closet now.
Kevin Hendryx
Verona, Wisconsin, US

• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.

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