Men wearing skirts?

Men wearing Scottish kilts

Model wearing a skirt, courtesy from H&M

What do you think about the women on the left? Pretty? Attractive? Slim figure? She's wearing a brown pencil skirt, which is a very feminine clothes in the modern society. While women wear skirts or dress especially in the summer to flaunt their feminine bodies and identity, men are seldom seen in skirts/dresses except the traditional Scottish kilt worn by Scottish men during mostly formal occasions, or the Malay sarongs for the same purpose. 

The Scottish kilt was invented in the 1720s for the Highlanders working in charcoal industry. It soon became popular among the Highlanders. But it was banned in the mid-1700s by King George II for 35 years. This can be seen as a constitutive power over people's clothing. The sarong was never banned in history, but it's now modified to fit into modern fashion and mainly worn by women. Men only wear sarongs during religions prayer occasions. 

Skirts worn by men have now become a cultural symbol instead of an everyday outfit. Men wear pants, jeans or shorts and women wear skirts or dresses has become a common praxis in most cultures. This has become such a stereotypical view that men wearing skirts/dresses are perceived as a little homosexual, while women wearing pants are not usually perceived as such. (And this is a curious case to be studied) It's a body practice for women to wear skirts or dresses to show their intelligible bodies. And since society imposed masculine on men's intelligible bodies, men usually shun clothing that makes them look "unmasculine". 

On the other hand, in the individualism era especially in the Western countries, some men choose to express their ego by dress in "unmasculine" way like wearing leg-hugging jeans, have long hair and earrings. They choose to turn away from the common body practice to "be themselves".

The art of tying a Malay sarong -- just for your curiosity as I assume most people do not know this Malay traditional outfit for men.