Like florals for spring, seeing men in skirts on runways is basically a given these days. In fact, so ingrained in fashion’s consciousness have they become, that the menswear subgenre has started to spawn its very own microtrends, spanning everything from mini to midi to maxi — if hemlines traditionally indicate economic peaks and troughs, perhaps men’s hems correlate to societal masculinity.
According to the designers who have just shown at Milan Fashion Week, come autumn, it’ll be all about the maxi-length, floor-sweeping skirt for men. Make of that what you will, but one thing is clear: the longer the skirt has come to define experimental menswear, the longer it’s grown in length.
First appearing last season in Stefan Cooke’s mosher fell-seamed jean-skirts, the trend also cropped up in pinstripes at Luar – ideal for e-boys – and in Willy Chavarria’s monastic robing. From there, the stage was set for the trains of denim, tartan and charcoal wool kilted numbers that we saw skim along runways from Gucci to Etro this season.
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Of course, Gucci’s man has been getting dolled up in frocks and skirts since Alessandro Michele took the helm back in 2015. This season, however, was different. Though it was the first collection without the long-locked designer in charge, the house’s design team nodded to his legacy, extending his tartan miniskirt of AW15 into a makeshift trouser-cum-skirt, slashed down the front. Alongside an office-core suit skirt – impeccably lined, it should be noted – these lehenga-length cuts were subtly adapted to suit a classic gentleman’s wardrobe. Think chino twill maxis for weekends in the Cotswolds, and dry wool numbers with hemlines that almost hit the trading floor.
Conversely, Martine Rose – expectedly – took a rather more louche route, channelling late eighties and early nineties partywear in a double-hemmed denim skirt and a sleek satin version teamed with a trailing bondage belt. The latter could almost have been mistaken for a pair of suit trousers – complete with front pleats and a placket – but, ultimately, erred towards skirt. Still, the ambiguity at play was a crucial aspect of the show’s triumphant effect, marking out an uncanny area between blokey sleaze and frumpy femme.
Etro’s bohemian flair translated into pirate suits with belted kilts below, courtesy of Marco de Vincenzo’s debut menswear collection. Again, a male archetype was co-opted, but then reworked, the buckle moved from side to centre, and the heavy pleating steamed out or the worsted wool swapped for an airier alternative from the Etro archives. Each grazed the floor as models walked, forgoing a virile flash of calf for an artier cut.
Among these moves, the running thread, it seems, is more about playful skews on mundanity than queering the fashion schedule. Indeed, the latter is old news. Ultimately, what’s refreshing is the way that men’s skirts have grown (literally) beyond being ostentatious statement pieces. Rather, they’ve quickly becoming mundane staples of guys, gays and theys’ wardrobes — tools that allow for the nuanced expression of personality and gender identity, rather than pieces that make people think you’re professing to be fashion’s answer to Judith Butler.
After all, it’s just a skirt. Now men have the chance to wear their long, prudent skirts and navigate rainy floors, taxi doors and flirt with the danger of a revolving door! Now that is what you call equality.
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All images courtesy of Spotlight.