There’s a reason why most of the male clothes available in stores are typically much more drab and plain than women’s clothes. Of course that’s not to say that men can’t or shouldn’t wear whatever they want. They absolutely should wear whatever they want! And we should stop gendering clothes so aggressively. We can all take a lesson from The Man Who Wears Heels and Skirts Daily because he absolutely rocks it!
But despite all that, this article is about the prevailing “acceptable” or “professional” male fashion in society that is dark colored suits and short hair. Alexandra Rowland tweeted this thread about how one man – Beau “Fucking” Brummell – singlehandedly caused this and ruined fashion for men:
OMG what a dick. Here’s the 30 Beau Brummell quotes and anecdotes link.
Source: Alexandra Rowland
(via: Geek Girls)
There’s a reason why most male clothing in stores is generally considerably more drab and basic than female clothing. Of course, this isn’t to imply that guys can’t or shouldn’t dress how they like. They should be able to wear anything they choose! Also, we should cease excessively gendering clothing.
I sometimes ask, “what article of clothing is acceptable for men to wear but never for women to wear?” A few years ago, there were plenty.
But now? My wife went to a wedding in a tux. “pantsuits” are just men’s suits for women. Anything in my closet would be totally acceptable. Hell, women can wear men’s underwear, we’ll just think it’s sexy.
The only article of clothing I could think of that was still exclusively male was the athletic cup. Of course, a little research tells me that, once again, this is untrue. There are women’s athletic cups (and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing).
I think that it is good that women can basically wear anything (in broader western society, I’m not talking about backwards conservative fashion or misogynism). Basically, no one bats an eye if a woman walks down the street of New York wearing the most traditionally male outfit imaginable, and YAY that’s kinda what we should have! But a guy wearing a dress? That’s going to get reactions. I’ve never heard a man say, “It’s not a kilt, it’s a skirt!” Did you know high heels were originally invented for men? Now you’d be laughed at.
This is not to say that I want to wear a dress, but I should have that option and not be ridiculed or worse. Toxic masculinity is extremely harsh and unforgiving of anything that doesn’t conform to it. And it is so prevalent, that even if we all suddenly agreed that it’s okay for men to wear anything in the women’s section of the store, an overwhelming majority of men still wouldn’t do it. It will take a lot of time and concerted effort to break society of that mindset.
Surprisingly, this actually wasn’t Beau Brummel’s fault – he was a prominent exemplar of the style rather than then instigator (Nicole Rudolph has done an excellent video about this: https://youtu.be/MKKiMNnD3iM). He was a massive dick, though.
He didn’t intend to ruin fashion for men, but he did a good thing in doing so.
The current fashion industry is based on toxic femininit – hash and unforgiving of those who don’t conform. Women’s clothes seem designed not to last. I am currently wearing a grey polo shirt with jeans – both about 20 years old. I do also own several Hawaiian shirts but it is not quite warm enough for them. Most of them are around 20 years old too.